title: Effects produced by metal-coated near-field probes on the performance of silicon waveguides and resonators.
abstract: We study the effects of metal-coated fiber near-field probes on the performance of nanophotonic devices. Employing a heterodyne near-field scanning optical microscope and analyzing transmission characteristics, we find that a metal-coated probe can typically introduce a 3 dB intensity loss and a 0.2 rad phase shift during characterization of a straight waveguide made in a silicon-on-insulator system. In resonant nanophotonic structures such as a 5 mum radius microring resonator, we demonstrate that the probe induces a 1 nm shift in resonant wavelength and decreases the resonator quality factor, Q, from 1100 to 480.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0407, USA. mabashin@emerald.ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Maxim
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abashin
authors.forename: Uriel
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Yeshaiahu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fainman