Q-enhanced racetrack microresonators

A Q-enhancement strategy for racetrack microresonators is put forward. The design is based on the modification of the resonator geometry in order to mitigate the two main sources of radiation loss in the presence of curved waveguides: the discontinuities at the junctions between straight waveguides and the bent sections, and the continuous loss at the curved waveguide sectors. At the same time, the modifications of the geometry do not affect the versatility of coupling of racetrack resonators in integrated optical circuits, which is their main advantage over ring microresonators. The proposal is applied to the design of high-Q racetrack resonators for the silicon nitride CMOS-compatible platform having bent radii amenable for large-scale photonic integration. Numerical calculations show over 100% improvement of the Q factor in Si3N4/SiO2 resonators.