Thermal Control of Transmission Spectral Characteristics in a Ring Resonator

We report on our observation of thermal control of transmission spectra of a micro-ring resonator coupled to a low finesse etalon. Thermal tuning of the device changes the coupling strength and losses between the etalon and ring resonator resulting in a wide variety of line shapes ranging from a symmetric to asymmetric Fano-like to electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)-like behavior. The capability to modify spectral line shapes by thermally tuning the coupling strength and losses between two resonators has obvious applications in optical communication networks and relevance to sensor applications where it may be exploited for developing novel cutoff switches and has significant, deleterious effect on measurement uncertainties of large dynamic range sensors.