Two-dimensional coherent optical en/decoder using parallel–cascaded coupled third-order microring resonator

A two-dimensional optical en/decoder based on parallel–cascaded coupled third-order microring resonator (MRR) is proposed to solve the problems that the extinction ratio and the shape factor of the reflection spectra are small for coherent optical code division multiple access (OCDMA). This device can enable the simultaneous tuning of wavelength hopping and the spectral phase. According to the coupled mode theory, the en/decoding theory and the principle of parameter selection for this en/decoder are discussed in detail. Numerical analysis indicates that with a sharper rolloff spectrum of 50 dB in the extinction ratio and 0.58 in shape factor, the ratio of auto-correlation peak level over the maximum wing level (P/W) and the maximum cross-correlation level (P/C) of this en/decoder are approximately 5.1 and 8.6, respectively, which exhibits superior decoding performance than the MRR en/decoder presented.