Backscattering and Hong-Ou-Mandel manifolds in microring resonators

Abstract

We investigate the effect of backscattering on the Hong-Ou-Mandel manifold (HOMM) that manifests in doublebus mircoring resonators (MRRs). The HOMM represents higher-dimensional parameter solutions for the complete destructive interference of coincident detection in the HOM effect. To model the backscattering, we introduce a set of internal 'beam splitters' inside the ring that allow photons to 'reflect' into new counter-propagating modes inside the MRR. We find that the one-dimensional HOMM in MRRs investigated here is extremely robust against deterioration due to backscattering, even in a linear chain of identical MRRs. Further we find that a small amount of backscattering introduced into a chain of non-identical MRRs connected in parallel could be desirable, causing them to behave more like chain of identical MRRs.