Polarization-independent drop filters based on photonic crystal self-collimation ring resonators.

We report here a polarization-independent drop filter (PIDF) based on a photonic crystal self-collimation ring resonator (SCRR). Despite of the large birefringence associated with the polarization-dependent dispersion properties, we demonstrate a PIDF based on multiple-beam interference theory and polarization peak matching (PPM) technique. The PIDF performance was also investigated based on finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique, with excellent agreement between the theory and the simulation. For the designed drop wavelength of 1550 nm, the polarization-independent free spectral range is about 36.1 nm, which covers the whole optical communication C-band window. The proposed PIDFs are highly desirable for applications in photonic integrated circuits (PICs).