Design and performance analysis of

optical microring resonator based

J − K flip-flop

Nidhi Verma
Sanjoy Mandal

Nidhi Verma, Sanjoy Mandal, “Design and performance analysis of optical microring resonator based J − K
flip-flop,” Opt. Eng. 56(3), 037103 (2017), doi: 10.1117/1.OE.56.3.037103.
Optical Engineering 56(3), 037103 (March 2017)

Design and performance analysis of optical microring

resonator based J − K flip-flop
Nidhi Verma* and Sanjoy Mandal
IIT (Indian School of Mines), Department of Electrical Engineering, Dhanbad, India

Abstract. A simple design of optically pumped J − K flip-flop using a two GaAs–AlGaAs based optical microring
resonator (OMRR) is introduced. The nonlinear property of a GaAs–AlGaAs based ring resonator is explored to
use it as an optical switch. A high-intensity optical pump pulse is used for the switching operation of the OMRR.
A theoretical model of the proposed J–K flip-flop circuit is developed by applying the delay line signal process
approach. Z-domain model of the circuit is explored to analyze its performance. Various performance param-
eters—such as contrast ratio (CR), extinction ratio (ER), on-off ratio (T on-off ), and amplitude modulation (AM)—
are determined from the simulation results obtained on MATLAB. The optimum values of CR, ER, T on-off , and AM
are calculated for the proposed model, which confirms the feasibility of the flip-flop. © 2017 Society of Photo-Optical
Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) [DOI: 10.1117/1.OE.56.3.037103]

Keywords: optical logic circuit; optical flip-flop; optical switching; signal flow graph.
Paper 161370 received Sep. 1, 2016; accepted for publication Feb. 17, 2017; published online Mar. 8, 2017.

1 Introduction filter,19 multiplexer and demultiplexer,20 all-optical parity

Nowadays, high capacity optical networks require an all-
optical data processing and computing system. This includes
all-optical logic gates,1,2 combinational and sequential logic
circuits (such as logic shifter, multiplexer,3,4 etc.), memory
unit, etc. The speed and size of the electronic devices are
the major limitation in the modern communication system.
Therefore, optical circuits could be extremely useful in the
present scenario as they offer high speed, compact size, and
large bandwidth in comparison with the conventional elec-
tronic circuits. Many researchers have realized ultrafast opti-
cal logic operations using different optical devices, such as
Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI),5 semiconductor ring
lasers,6 highly nonlinear fiber,7 single I/Q modulator,8 quan-
tum-dot semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA),9 Febry–
Perot laser diode,10 etc. Recent research indicates an
increasing demand for nonlinear waveguide-based optical
devices that allow ultrafast switching and elementary logic
operations.11,12 From this point of view, the use of a non-
linear waveguide-based resonating cavity in the development
of various optical logic circuits could be extremely propi-
tious, since it offers high accuracy and faster operations.13
Van et al.14 have reported nonlinear integrated photonic devi-
ces which employ a resonator to enhance the nonlinearity.
Several optical microring resonator (OMRR)-based opti-
cal logic circuits are reported by researchers because they
potentially reduce the power consumption and provide
intensity amplification.15,16 Microring and microdisk resona-
tors were first reported by Marcatilli.17 OMRR has various
other advantages, such as being simple in construction,
compact and planar structure (i.e., input waveguide and
output waveguide are lying on the same plane), easy to
cascade, high operating speed, low power consumption,
etc.18 Because of these versatilities, it is widely used to
design various devices, such as optical channel add-drop
*Address all correspondence to: Nidhi Verma, E-mail: nidhiverma280@gmail
.com
generators and checker circuits,21 all-optical reconfigurable
logic circuits,22 etc. Besides the diversity in function,
it can be fabricated using a wide range of materials, such as
glass,23 silicon,24 indium phosphide, gallium arsenide,25 etc.
Recently, the microfabrication technology uses the tightly
confined semiconductor channel waveguide,26,27 which is
not only helpful in reducing the size of a microring resonator
up to 2.5 μm in radii but also successful in achieving a
quality factor as high as 1000.
Optical flip-flops are the most important logic circuits,
and can be developed by combining various basic optical
logic gates in an ultrafast optical data processing network
system. The optical flip-flops are very useful in a system,
because they can work as an optical packet switch, where
routing, switching, and forwarding are directly carried out
in the optical domain.28,29 Dorren et al.29 and Liu et al.30
have proposed optical packet switches, where flip-flops
are used to store the switch control information and commute
the switching operation. Up to now, all optical flip-flop using
silicon microring resonator switches,31 S-R flip-flop using
dark bright soliton,32 J–K flip-flop based on two photon
scattering in single crystal,33 and polarization encoded opti-
cal shadow casting34 have been reported.
In the present article, J–K flip-flop using GaAs–AlGaAs
based OMRR is presented. The nonlinear behavior of
GaAs–AlGaAs based OMRR is explored to use it as an
optical switch when operated at 1.55 μm. The mathematical
model of OMRR based J–K flip-flop circuit is developed
using Z-domain model and its performance is analyzed in
MATLAB environment.
Shcherbakov et al.33 have reported a J–K flip-flop con-
figuration using third order Bragg light scattering by acoustic
phonon in a uniaxial crystal. The higher order nonlinearity
used by Shcherbakov et al. can influence the performance
of the flip-flop. Maruthi et al.35 have also published the
0091-3286/2017/$25.00 © 2017 SPIE

Optical Engineering 037103-1 March 2017 • Vol. 56(3)

 Verma and Mandal: Design and performance analysis of optical microring resonator. . .
k1
Input
port
Drop
port k2
Fig. 1 Diagram of single OMRR with two couplers.
SOA-MZI based J–K flip-flop, but its performance suffers
due to the inherent problem of stability feature in an
MZI-based device, whereas the proposed design of J–K
flip-flop employs an optical ring resonator, which is a
self-reference type and very stable in nature. In addition,
the purposed circuit has various other advantages such as
being simple in structure, having a high operating speed,
low operating power, high contrast ratio (CR) between the
two states, a simple mechanism of switching, and high oper-
ating bandwidth.36 Due to these impressive qualities, the
proposed design may be used in the development of combi-
national and sequential optical logic circuits. In particular,
a high-speed optical counter circuit with suitable memory
element can be developed by connecting several proposed
J–K flip-flop circuits in a cascaded manner.
2 Principle of Operation
2.1 Modeling Methodology
The refractive index of nonlinear material based OMRR
depends on the intensity of the applied optical field. It
can be used as a switch in pump and probe configuration.
The basic structure of OMRR3 can be configured using a
ring cavity between two straight bus waveguides and two
directional optical couplers with coupling coefficients k1
and k2 , as shown in Fig. 1.
The relation between input and output waveguides37 can
be expressed in the form of a 2 × 2 transfer matrix, as shown
in Eq. (1). The block diagram of an optical direction coupler
is shown in Fig. 2:

1

1 
Eo C −jS Ei
¼q ; (1)
E2o −jS C E2i
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e001;63;286
where E1i , E2i and E1o , E2o represent the inputs and outputs of
the coupler, respectively, and q is thepamplitude
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi transmission
coefficient of the coupler. Ci ðCi ¼ 1 − ki Þ represents the
1 C
E E
i o
- jS
2 2
E E
i o
C
Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of optical directional coupler. E 1i , E 2i are
the inputs of the coupler, E 1o , E 2o are the outputs of the coupler, C
is the through-port transmission coefficient, and S is the cross-port
transmission coefficient.
Optical Engineering
pffiffiffiffi
Through through-port transmission coefficient and Si ðSi ¼ −j ki Þ
port
represents the cross-port transmission coefficient, where
ki ði ¼ 1;2Þ is the coupling coefficient of the coupler.37
The coupling coefficients are assumed to be wavelength
independent and the effective group refractive index is
also assumed to be constant.
OMRR acts as an optical reservoir to build up the power.
Add A constructive interference may occur if the full round trip
port phase shift of light signal inside the ring is equal to an inte-
gral multiple of 2π. However, if the optical path length of
round trip is an integral multiple of the effective wavelength,
then constructive interference may occur and OMRR will
have an “ON” resonance state.38 In the “ON” resonance
condition, OMRR transmits the resonant wavelength to the
through-port from the input-port and the drop-port gets low
transmittance.38 This “ON” resonance condition will change
its state by pumping the high intensity optical pulse to the
ring from the top. It happens because pumping leads to
the change in the refractive index of the material due to
the Kerr effect39 (induces the free carrier in the waveguide).
The refractive index changed by the Kerr effect can be
expressed as follows:39
P
Δnk ¼ n2 I ¼ n2 : (2)
Aeff
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e002;326;510
Thus, the effective refractive index of the ring can be
expressed as
n2 P
neff ¼ n0 þ Δnk ¼ n0 þ ; (3)
Aeff
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e003;326;445
where n0 and n2 are the linear and nonlinear refractive
indices of the material, respectively, and I, P, Aeff are the
intensity of the optical pump pulse, power of the optical
pump pulse, and the effective area of the ring.40 A shift in
the resonance wavelength is also caused by the change of
refractive index,38 which can be expressed as
Δneff L
Δλres ¼ ; m ¼ 1;2; 3 · · · ; (4)
m
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e004;326;336
where m is the order of the resonant mode, and L ¼ 2πR is
the cavity path length, where the radius of the ring is R.
The important principle to design a resonator-based switch
is to use the rapid shift of resonances with an optical field
that arises due to the application of the pump pulse. The
process of pumping from the top of the OMRR and the shift-
ing of the resonance spectrum due to the application of
a pump pulse is shown in Fig. 3. These pump pulses are
practically generated by an actively mode locked ring laser.41
During the absence of a pump pulse, the probe has high
1 transmittance at the through-port and low transmittance at
the drop-port. When the pump pulse is present, the resonance
wavelength of OMRR gets shifted due to the change in
refractive index, which results in the high transmission at
the drop-port and low transmission at the through-port.
Again, when the pump pulse is removed, the resonance
wavelength shifts back to its original position and shows
high transmittance at the through-port of the ring.42 The
operational table of OMRR as a switch under pump–
probe configuration is shown in Table 1.
037103-2 March 2017 • Vol. 56(3)
 Verma and Mandal: Design and performance analysis of optical microring resonator. . .

0.8

0.7 Resonance spectrum

when pump pulse absent
0.6
Resonance spectrum
0.5 when pump pulse present

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
1.54 1.542 1.544 1.546 1.548 1.55 1.552 1.554 1.556 1.558 1.56

(a) (b)
Fig. 3 (a) Application of pump pulse from the top of OMRR. (b) Shift in resonance spectrum (from 1.55 to
1.548 μm) due to application of pump pulse.

Table 1 Truth table for OMRR-based switch. The through-port output (Et ) and drop-port output (Ed )
(when the pump pulse is absent) can be expressed as follows:
Control pump Through-port Drop-port
Input signal signal output output Et ¼ ðC1 − C2 Z−2 ∕1 − C1 C2 Z−2 ÞEi1
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e005;326;507

0 0 0 0 þ ð−S1 S2 Z−1 ∕1 − C1 C2 Z−2 ÞEi2 ; (5)

0 1 0 0

1 0 1 0 Ed ¼ ð−S1 S2 Z−1 ∕1 − C1 C2 Z−2 ÞEi1

EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e006;326;453

1 1 0 1 þ ðC1 − C2 Z−2 ∕1 − C1 C2 Z−2 ÞEi2 : (6)

2.2 Mathematical Modeling of Optical Microring
Resonator
In the present article, mathematical modeling of OMRR is
done in Z-domain using the delay line signal process
approach. The key feature of this modeling methodology
is to modulate the unit delay. The unit delay can be expressed
as T ¼ nLu∕c, where n is the refractive index, Lu is the unit
delay length, and “c” is the velocity of light.43 Once unit
delay is determined, total delay can be calculated as an inte-
gral multiple of the unit delay. The transfer function of the
ring resonator in Z-domain is obtained by applying Mason’s
rule43 in the circuit as shown in Fig. 4, assuming the optical
network as being linear and time invariant.
The drop-port and through-port transmittance response
of the single OMRR in the absence of an optical pump
pulse are shown in Fig. 5.
When the pump pulse is applied, the refractive index of
the material is changed, therefore, the unit delay is modu-
lated from Z−1 to e−jφ Z−1 . φ is the phase shift due to
the application of a pump pulse, which can be expressed
as φ ¼ K n L44 [K n is the propagation constant; K n ¼
ð2π∕λresonance ÞΔn]. The expression can be further simplified
as follows:
e−jφ ¼ e−jð2π∕λres ÞðΔnÞL :
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e007;326;297 (7)
n P
According to Eq. (2), Δn ¼ 2Aeffpump , which comes to
around 2% of n. Therefore, φ can be further reduced to
 
2π  ð0.02Þ  n  L
φ¼ : (8)
λres
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e008;326;238

Equation (7) can be expressed as follows:

e−jφ ¼ e−j½ð2πc∕λres Þð0.02nL∕cÞ :

EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e009;326;182 (9)

Since c∕λres ¼ f, 2πf ¼ ω, and 0.02nL∕c ¼ 0.02T,

Fig. 4 Z-transform schematic of single OMRR, E i1 and E i2 are two
input ports, E t and E d are the through-port output and drop-port
output, respectively.
e−j0.02ωT ¼ Z−0.02 . So, e−jφ is included in the transfer func-
tion in terms of an additional unit delay Z−0.02.
Thus, the through-port output (Et ) and drop-port output
(Ed ) (when a pulse is present) can be expressed as follows:

Optical Engineering 037103-3 March 2017 • Vol. 56(3)

 Verma and Mandal: Design and performance analysis of optical microring resonator. . .

(a) 0 (a) 0

–0.1 –0.1
Drop-port transmissions

Through-port transmissions
–0.2
–0.2
–0.3
–0.3
–0.4
–0.4
–0.5
–0.5
–0.6
–0.6
–0.7
–0.7
–0.8
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
–9 –0.8
Time (ps) × 10 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
(b) 0.8 Time (ps) × 10
–9

0.7 (b) 0.8

Through-port transmissions

0.6
0.7

Drop-port transmissions
0.5
0.6
0.4
0.5
0.3
0.4
0.2
0.3
0.1
0.2
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 0.1
–9
Time (ps) × 10
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Fig. 5 (a) Drop-port and (b) through-port transmission response of a Time (ps) –9
× 10
single OMRR when pump pulse is absent.
Fig. 6 (a) Through-port and (b) drop-port transmission response of
−2 −0.04 −2 −0.04 a single OMRR when pump pulse is present.
Et ¼ ðC1 − C2 Z Z
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e010;63;397 ∕1 − C1 C2 Z Z ÞEi1
þ ð−S1 S2 Z−1 Z−0.02 ∕1 − C1 C2 Z−2 Z−0.04 ÞEi2 ; (10) proposed circuit, the nonreciprocal microring resonator is
coupled with two nonreciprocal straight waveguides,
Ed ¼ ð−S1 S2 Z−1 Z−0.02 ∕1 − C1 C2 Z−2 Z−0.04 ÞEi1
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e011;63;354
which have different wave vectors and phase shifts for clock-
wise and anticlockwise directions. This model encounters
þ ðC1 − C2 Z−2 Z−0.04 ∕1 − C1 C2 Z−2 Z0.04 ÞEi2 : (11) the phase-shift in clockwise direction only. The values of
the ring radius, waveguide width, and the gap between
The through-port and drop-port transmittance response of I/O waveguide and ring are considered as 10.48 μm,
the single OMRR in the presence of an optical pump pulse ε (ε ¼ 630 nm), and 5ε (¼265 nm), respectively.45
are shown in Fig. 6, which confirms the switching action In the present model, the drop-port output of OMRR 1 is
of OMRR on the application of pump pulse with the fed to the OMRR 2 and the through-port output of the
assumption that there is no input at the add port.
Using Eqs. (5)–(11), the OMRR can be designed to
perform as an optical switch.
Drop-port Add-port

0.5ε
3 Mathematical Modeling of J–K Flip-Flop using
ki

Two Optical Microring Resonator OMRR 1

ε
J

3.1 J–K Flip-Flop Design Principle R

Through
In addition to logic gates, a digital system uses many other Input-port ki 0.5ε port
BC ε Output
functional modules built on gates, such as a flip-flop, Through Input-port ki 0.5ε
counter, etc. A simple design and mathematical model of port

J–K flip-flop using OMRR with an all-optical feedback OMRR 2

K ε
path is proposed in the present article. OMRR is a very prom- ε R
Feedback
ising choice for the optical integrated circuits. Specifically, in
Drop-port 0.5α Add-port
resonator near resonance, a strong dispersion occurs, which ki

causes a large group delay and temporarily stores the optical

signal before releasing it.38 The schematic representation of Fig. 7 OMRR-based optical J–K flip-flop. ε, waveguide width; R,
J–K flip-flop using two OMRR is shown in Fig. 7. In the radius of the ring; BC, beam combiner.

Optical Engineering 037103-4 March 2017 • Vol. 56(3)

 Verma and Mandal: Design and performance analysis of optical microring resonator. . .

Drop-port
( Ed 1 ) Add-port

– jS1
C1
–1
Z OMRR 1 Z –1
J

Input-port C2 Through-port
( R1 ) – jS2 ( Et 2 )
BC Output
Through-port Input-port – jS3
( Et1 ) ( R2 ) C3

Z –1 OMRR 2 Z –1
K
Feedback Drop-port C4
( Ed 2 ) – jS4 Add-port

Fig. 8 Z-transform schematic of J–K flip-flop using two OMRR. Through-port of OMRR 2 is the output
port of the model. BC, beam combiner.



OMRR 1 acts as main input to the OMRR 2.The light beams, C3 − C4 Z−2 Z−0.04 C1 − C2 Z−2
which comes from the through-port and drop-port of OMRR T f2 ¼ :
1 − C3  C4 Z−2 Z−0.04 1 − C1  C2 Z−2
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;sec3.2;326;528

1, are combined by the beam combiner46 before the input-

port of OMRR 2. When the through-port of OMRR 1 has
a low transmittance or the input-port of OMRR 2 has no sig- Case (iii): J ¼ 1; K ¼ 0: The control pulse is present at
nal, then the signal present at the drop-port of OMRR 1 will OMRR 1, so its through-port has low transmit-
come through the feedback path and provide the input to tance, which leads no input to OMRR 2. Thus,
OMRR 2. Output of the circuit is taken from the through- the input to OMRR 2 is provided by drop-port of
port of OMRR 2. OMRR 1 through feedback as it has high trans-
To perform the J–K flip-flop operation, two optical mittance for this case. Since no control pulse is
pump pulses (J and K) are applied on OMRR 1 and present at OMRR 2, it will show high transmit-
tance at the through-port and the output of the
OMRR 2, respectively, in the form of Boolean “0” and “1,”
circuit is at the “set” condition. The transfer
where “0” represents no pulse and “1” represents an active
function (T f3 ) of the flip-flop in this condition
pulse.
can be expressed as follows:



C3 −C4 Z−2 −S1 S2 Z−1 Z−0.02
3.2 Simulation and Result T f3 ¼ :
1−C3 C4 Z−2 1−C1 C2 Z−2 Z−0.04
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;sec3.2;326;366

The Z-transform schematics of J–K flip-flop using two

OMRRs is shown in Fig. 8. The detailed description of work-
Case (iv): J ¼ 1; K ¼ 1: The control pulse is present at both
ing of the J–K flip-flop is given below assuming that the
OMRRs, thus, both the OMRRs show high trans-
previous state of the J–K flip-flop is high (Qn ¼ 1):
mittance at the drop-port. In this case, the input to
Case (i) J ¼ 0; K ¼ 0: Since no control pulse is present, OMRR 2 is provided by the drop-port of OMRR
both OMRRs will show high transmittance at 1 through the feedback path. Thus, the output of
the through-port. Thus the output of the circuit the circuit becomes low and the output gets
will be high, which satisfies the “no change” con- “toggled.” The transfer function (T f4 ) of the flip-
dition. The transfer function (T f1 ) of the device in flop in this condition can be expressed as follows:
this situation is determined by applying Mason’s

C3 − C4 Z−2 Z−0.04
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;sec3.2;326;227

rule on the signal flow graph in the Z-domain of

the optical circuit shown in Fig. 8:



C3 − C4 Z−2
T f1 ¼
1 − C3  C4 Z−2
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;sec3.2;63;209
T f4 ¼
1 − C3  C4 Z−2 Z−0.04


 −S1  S2 Z−1 Z−0.02
C1 − C2 Z−2 × :
: 1 − C1  C2 Z−2 Z−0.04
1 − C3  C4 Z−2

The functional table of J–K flip-flop is shown in Table 2.

Case (ii): J ¼ 0; K ¼ 1: The control pulse is now present at The simulation results of J–K flip-flop are shown in Fig. 9.
OMRR 2, so it will indicate a high transmittance It is expressed in terms of normalized probe transmission
at the drop-port and low transmittance at the intensity. For better understanding, a data bit X (X ¼ 1001)
through-port. Thus, the output of the circuit will is considered. According to the different conditions of the
be at a “reset” condition. The transfer function pump pulse, the variation of the output intensity (shown
(T f2 ) of the flip-flop in this condition can be in simulation results) satisfies the conventional output states
expressed as follows: of a J − K flip-flop.

Optical Engineering 037103-5 March 2017 • Vol. 56(3)

 Verma and Mandal: Design and performance analysis of optical microring resonator. . .

Table 2 Functional table of J − K flip-flop. 3.3 Discussion

In the design of the proposed J–K flip-flop circuit, we
Previous Conventional Simulation consider a GaAs–AlGaAs based OMRR coupled to the
Input state (Q n ) J K output output (Q nþ1 ) waveguide. The simulation results shown in Fig. 9 confirm
1 1 0 0 No change 0.7
the operation of a cascaded OMRR as an optical J–K flip-
flop circuit. The performance of the proposed J–K flip-flop
1 X 0 1 Reset 0.11 is simulated in MATLAB by considering the radius of
the ring R ¼ 10.48 μm, effective cross-section area (Aeff )
1 X 1 0 Set 0.8 0.49 μm2 , resonant wavelengths (λ1 ¼ 1550 nm), the round
1 1 1 1 Toggle 0.1 trip power loss of 1.6%,27 and coupling coefficient ki ¼ 0.35
with negligible propagation loss in the bus waveguide.
Note: “X” denotes to the don’t care condition. The full-width half-maximum (FWHM) of the resonant

1
Normalized I/P intensity

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Time(ps) –10
× 10
(a)
0.8 0.9

0.7 0.8
Normalized I/P intensity

Normalized I/P intensity

0.6 0.7

0.6
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Time (ps) –10
× 10 Time (ps) –10
× 10
(b) (c)
0.9 0.9

0.8 0.8
Normalized I/P intensity

Normalized I/P intensity

0.7 0.7

0.6 0.6

0.5 0.5

0.4 0.4

0.3 0.3

0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
0
0 0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5 –10
Time (ps)
–10
× 10
Time (ps) × 10

(d) (e)

Fig. 9 Simulation results of the OMRR-based J–K flip-flop logic circuit. (a) Normalized Input intensity,
(b) output response when J ¼ 0, K ¼ 0 (NC state), (c) output response when J ¼ 0, K ¼ 1 (reset state),
(d) output response when J ¼ 1, K ¼ 0 (set state), and (e) output response when J ¼ 1, K ¼ 1 (toggle
state).

Optical Engineering 037103-6 March 2017 • Vol. 56(3)

 Verma and Mandal: Design and performance analysis of optical microring resonator. . .

wavelength is calculated as Δλ1FWHM ¼ 0.16. The quality λ20

factor (Q-factor) defines the ratio of stored energy in the FSR ¼ ; (14)
Lu n
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e014;326;752

ring to the power lost per optical cycle and can be expressed
in terms of resonant wavelength38 as follows: where λ0 is the resonance wavelength, Lu ¼ 2πR ¼ 65.84 μm
λ1 is the effective path length of the OMRR, and n ¼ 3.48 is
Q1 ¼ : (12) the refractive index of the material. Thus, the calculated
Δλ1FWHM
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e012;63;708

value of FSR becomes 10.48 nm.

The calculated values of Q-factor at the resonant wave- Finesse is defined as the ratio of FSR with the FWHM at
lengths are 9800. The corresponding cavity photon life resonance, which is a measure of the sharpness of resonances
time (τ1 ) is also calculated from the expression:38 relative to their spacing:47

Q 1  λ1 Finesse ¼
FSR
:
τ1 ¼
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e013;63;632 : (13) EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e015;326;640

FWHM
(15)
2πc
The calculated value of τ1 comes out to be 9.1 ps. The The calculated value of finesse is 71.42. Another impor-
free-spectral range (FSR) in terms of wavelength can be tant parameter for OMRR-based device is the ERdB , which
expressed as follows:38 can be expressed in terms of coupling coefficient48 as follows:

8hpffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiih pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffipffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffii92

>
< ð1 − k21 Þ þ a ð1 − k22 Þ 1 − a ð1 − k21 Þ ð1 − k22 Þ > =
ERðdBÞ ¼ 10 log10 hpffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiih pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffipffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffii : (16)
>
: ð1 − k21 Þ − a ð1 − k22 Þ 1 þ a ð1 − k21 Þ ð1 − k22 Þ > ;
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e016;63;545

Here, ki ði ¼ 1;2Þ is the coupling coefficient and a is the the control pulse, which is required for the modulation, is
field round-trip loss coefficient (assumed zero loss: a ¼ 1). taken as Pc ¼ 2.29 mW.18
The high value of ERdB is necessary to distinguish the logic For the feasibility study of the proposed circuit, the CR is
state of “1” from the logic state “0.” The add-drop microring calculated using the expression:3,4,49
resonator offers a high valuepofffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ER at a critical coupling con-
dition [i.e., ð1 − k21 Þ ¼ a ð1 − k22 Þ]. The highest value of P1mean
CRðdBÞ ¼ 10 log ; (17)
ER is determined as 39.5 dB at ki ¼ 0.35. Average power of P0mean
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e017;326;434

(a) (b)

(c)
Fig. 10 Variation of (a) CR, (b) ER, and (c) AM against the coupling coefficients.

Optical Engineering 037103-7 March 2017 • Vol. 56(3)

 Verma and Mandal: Design and performance analysis of optical microring resonator. . .
where P1mean and P0mean are the mean intensities of the logic
state “1” and the logic state “0,” respectively. The high value
of CR ensures that the maximum fraction of input comes out
as output. The maximum value of CRðdBÞ is calculated as
14.1 dB at coupling coefficient (ki ¼ 0.35), which is suffi-
ciently higher than their nominal value. Low value of ampli-
tude modulation (AM) ensures the low variation in the level
of “1” and can be expressed as3,4,49
P1max
AMðdBÞ ¼ 10 log ; (18)
P1min
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e018;63;664
where P1max and P1min are the maximum and minimum inten-
sities of the logic state “1,” respectively. The highest value of
AM obtained in the flip-flop is 0.57 dB and occurs at
(ki ¼ 0.35). Variations of the CRðdBÞ , ERðdBÞ , and AMðdBÞ
against the coupling coefficients of OMRR are shown in
Fig. 10. The maximum value of CRðdBÞ , ERðdBÞ , and AMðdBÞ
occurs at coupling coefficient (ki ¼ 0.35), therefore, they are
denoted as optimum coupling coefficients.
4 Conclusion
Performance and design of J–K flip-flop using two GaAs–
AlGaAs based OMRRs have been reported in the present
article. The J–K flip-flop circuit designed in this article is
very simple, compact, and easy to cascade with the inte-
grated optical circuits as it uses only OMRR in its design.
The circuit is theoretically developed by applying the
delay line signal processing approach. Mathematical models
of OMRR based J–K flip-flop are developed using Z-
domain modeling and their performances are analyzed in
MATLAB environment. Various performance parameters,
such as CR, ER, and AM, are calculated from the simulation
results. The maximum values of CR, ER, and AM are calcu-
lated as 14.1, 39.5, and 0.57 dB, respectively, at the coupling
coefficient (ki ¼ 0.35). These values are sufficiently higher
than their nominal values; thus, the feasibility and successful
operation of the circuit are ensured. This device might
be useful in order to reduce the complexity of the circuit in
various integrated logic devices.
Acknowledgments
The first author would like to thank the IIT (ISM), Dhanbad,
for providing her research fellowship and other research
facilities during this study. The authors would also like to
thank (Prof.) Dr. V. Priye for encouragement and support
during the present research work.
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Nidhi Verma has received her BTech degree in electrical and
electronics engineering from Uttar Pradesh Technical University,
Lucknow, India, in 2012. Presently, she is working as a research
scholar in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute
of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India. Her research
area is in the field of photonics.
Sanjoy Mandal has received his BE electrical degree from Calcutta
University, India and MEE electrical from Jadavpur. He received his
PhD in engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India in 2007.
Since then he has been working as faculty member in the Department
of Electrical Engineering of Indian Institute of Technology (Indian
School of Mines), Dhanbad, India, where he is currently holding posi-
tion of associate professor.
March 2017 • Vol. 56(3)