Tunable optical resonator

1. An optical apparatus, comprising:

a substrate comprising a layer of thermally insulating material disposed thereon;

an optical resonator disposed on said layer of thermally insulating material; and

a trench in said thermally insulating material disposed around at least a portion of said optical resonator;

wherein said optical resonator is substantially thermally isolated from said substrate; and

a layer of insulating material disposed protectively over said optical resonator and over said thermally insulating material underlying said optical resonator.

2. The optical apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said layer of thermally insulating material under said optical resonator is undercut to form a thermally insulating post between said optical resonator and said substrate.

3. An optical apparatus, comprising:

a substrate comprising a layer of thermally insulating material disposed thereon;

an optical resonator disposed on said layer of thermally insulating material; and

a trench in said thermally insulating material disposed around at least a portion of said optical resonator;

wherein said optical resonator is substantially thermally isolated from said substrate; and

wherein at least a portion of said layer of thermally insulating material is porous.

4. The optical apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a heating element configured to selectively heat said optical resonator, said heating element being disposed over said insulating layer.

5. The optical apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a heating element configured to selectively heat said optical sensor, wherein said heating element is disposed within said insulating layer and beneath said optical resonator.

6. The optical apparatus of claim 3 , wherein said heating element comprises at least a portion of an optical modulator.

7. The optical apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said optical resonator comprises at least one of the group consisting of: ring resonators, optical microrings, optical microdisks, and photonic crystal microcavities.

8. An optical apparatus, comprising:

a substrate comprising a layer of thermally insulating material disposed thereon, wherein at least a portion of said layer of thermally insulating material is porous;

an optical resonator disposed on said layer of thermally insulating material; and

a trench in said thermally insulating material disposed around at least a portion of said optical resonator;

wherein said optical resonator is substantially thermally isolated from said substrate; and

further comprising:

a heating element configured to selectively heat said optical resonator, said heating element being arranged concentric to said optical resonator; and

a controller in electrical communication with said heating element; wherein said controller is configured to selectively tune a resonant frequency of said optical resonator by selectively controlling said heating element.

9. The optical apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said controller is selected from at least one or more of the group consisting of: processors, microcontrollers, and application specific integrated circuits.

10. The optical apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a sensor in communication with said controller.

11. The optical apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said sensor is selected from the group consisting of: temperature sensors, current sensors, optical sensors, and combinations thereof.

12. The optical apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said controller is configured to selectively tune said resonant frequency of said optical resonator in accordance with feedback from said sensor.

13. The optical apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said heating element comprises an electrical coil.

14. An optical apparatus, comprising:

a substrate comprising a layer of thermally insulating material disposed thereon;

an optical resonator disposed on said layer of thermally insulating material; and

a trench in said thermally insulating material disposed around at least a portion of said optical resonator;

wherein said optical resonator is substantially thermally isolated from said substrate; and

further comprising:

a heating element configured to selectively heat said optical resonator, said heating element being arranged concentric to said optical resonator; and

a controller in electrical communication with said heating element; wherein said controller is configured to selectively tune a resonant frequency of said optical resonator by selectively controlling said heating element;

wherein said heating element comprises at least a portion of an optical modulator.

15. The optical apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said layer of thermally insulating material under said optical resonator is undercut to form a thermally insulating post between said optical resonator and a substrate.

16. The optical apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said optical resonator comprises at least one of the group consisting of: ring resonators, optical microrings, optical microdisks, and photonic crystal microcavities.

17. The optical apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said optical resonator is annular and said heating element is disposed concentrically inside said annular optical resonator.

18. The optical apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said optical resonator is annular and said heating element is disposed concentrically outside said annular optical resonator.

19. The optical apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said optical resonator is annular and said heating element is disposed concentrically above said annular optical resonator.

20. The optical apparatus of claim 19 , further comprising a layer of electrically-insulating material disposed between the heating element and annular optical resonator.