Simultaneous measurement of refractive index and temperature using a dual polarization ring

We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of a dual polarization silicon-on-insulator (SOI) microring resonator (MRR) for simultaneous measurement of refractive index (RI) and temperature. Due to the different energy distribution of transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes for the SOI waveguide, the TE and TM polarizations can have quite different sensitivities toward the changes of ambient RI and temperature. By using a gapless asymmetric coupling section, TE0 mode and TM0 mode have been excited simultaneously in the MRR. We demonstrated the feasibility ofobtaining RI and temperature simultaneously with a single measurement, achieving a RI sensitivity of 104 nm/RIU (refractive index unit) and a temperature sensitivity of 78.7 pm/°C for TE0 mode and a RI sensitivity of 319 nm/RIU and a temperature sensitivity of 34.1 pm/°C for TM0 mode.