Mid-infrared to telecom-band supercontinuum generation in highly nonlinear silicon-on-insulator wire waveguides.

We demonstrate the generation of a supercontinuum in a 2 cm long silicon wire by pumping the wire with mid-infrared picosecond pulses in the anomalous dispersion regime. The supercontinuum extends from 1535 nm up to 2525 nm for a coupled peak power of 12.7 W. It is shown that the supercontinuum originates primarily from the amplification of background noise. A detailed analysis of the spectral components which are generated through phase-matched processes is applied to extract the group velocity dispersion and fourth-order dispersion coefficient of the silicon wire waveguide.

[1]  Karlsson,et al.  Cherenkov radiation emitted by solitons in optical fibers. , 1995, Physical review. A, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics.

[2]  J. Fujimoto,et al.  Ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography using continuum generation in an air-silica microstructure optical fiber. , 2001, Optics letters.

[3]  A. Husakou,et al.  Supercontinuum generation of higher-order solitons by fission in photonic crystal fibers. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[4]  J. Dudley,et al.  Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber , 2006 .

[5]  I. Day,et al.  Optical dispersion, two-photon absorption and self-phase modulation in silicon waveguides at 1.5 μm wavelength , 2002 .

[6]  Timothy A. Birks,et al.  Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers and optical fiber tapers: a novel light source , 2002 .

[7]  A. Mussot,et al.  Spectral broadening of a partially coherent CW laser beam in single-mode optical fibers. , 2004, Optics express.

[8]  A. Vass,et al.  Infrared Methods for Gas Detection , 2006 .

[9]  D. Van Thourhout,et al.  Compact Wavelength-Selective Functions in Silicon-on-Insulator Photonic Wires , 2006, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[10]  Xiaogang Chen,et al.  Modulation instability in silicon photonic nanowires. , 2006, Optics letters.

[11]  F. Xia,et al.  Group index and group velocity dispersion in silicon-on-insulator photonic wires. , 2006, Optics express.

[12]  M. Lipson,et al.  Tailored anomalous group-velocity dispersion in silicon channel waveguides. , 2006, Optics express.

[13]  Sergei K. Turitsyn,et al.  Optical spectral broadening and supercontinuum generation in telecom applications , 2006 .

[14]  Yurii A. Vlasov,et al.  Supercontinuum generation in silicon photonic wires , 2007 .

[15]  Ronald Dekker,et al.  Ultrafast nonlinear all-optical processes in silicon-on-insulator waveguides , 2007 .

[16]  B. Jalali,et al.  Demonstration of a Mid-infrared silicon Raman amplifier. , 2007, Optics express.

[17]  H. Driel,et al.  Two-photon absorption and Kerr coefficients of silicon for 850–2200nm , 2007 .

[18]  Steve Madden,et al.  Supercontinuum generation in dispersion engineered highly nonlinear (gamma = 10 /W/m) As2S3) chalcogenide planar waveguide. , 2008, Optics express.

[19]  Fengnian Xia,et al.  Supercontinuum generation in silicon photonic wires , 2007, 2008 IEEE/LEOS Winter Topical Meeting Series.

[20]  Xiaogang Chen,et al.  Conformal dielectric overlayers for engineering dispersion and effective nonlinearity of silicon nanophotonic wires. , 2008, Optics letters.

[21]  Clemens F. Kaminski,et al.  Supercontinuum radiation for applications in chemical sensing and microscopy , 2008 .

[22]  Yurii A. Vlasov,et al.  Engineering nonlinearities in nanoscale optical systems: physics and applications in dispersion-engineered silicon nanophotonic wires , 2009 .

[23]  F. Dias,et al.  Modulation instability, Akhmediev Breathers and continuous wave supercontinuum generation. , 2009, Optics express.

[24]  M. Watts,et al.  Silicon photonics manufacturing. , 2010, Optics express.

[25]  P. Dumon,et al.  Subnanometer Linewidth Uniformity in Silicon Nanophotonic Waveguide Devices Using CMOS Fabrication Technology , 2010, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[26]  Roberto Morandotti,et al.  Supercontinuum generation in a high index doped silica glass spiral waveguide. , 2010, Optics express.

[27]  Yurii A. Vlasov,et al.  Mid-infrared optical parametric amplifier using silicon nanophotonic waveguides , 2010, 1001.1533.

[28]  Sanja Zlatanovic,et al.  Mid-infrared wavelength conversion in silicon waveguides using ultracompact telecom-band-derived pump source , 2010 .

[29]  M. Lipson,et al.  Octave-spanning supercontinuum generation in CMOS-compatible silicon nitride waveguides , 2011, CLEO: 2011 - Laser Science to Photonic Applications.

[30]  Y. Vlasov,et al.  Self-phase modulation and nonlinear loss in silicon nanophotonic wires near the mid-infrared two-photon absorption edge. , 2011, Optics express.

[31]  Y. Vlasov,et al.  Mid-infrared broadband modulation instability and 50 dB Raman assisted parametric gain in silicon photonic wires , 2011, CLEO: 2011 - Laser Science to Photonic Applications.

[32]  G. Roelkens,et al.  Frequency conversion of mid-infrared optical signals into the telecom band using nonlinear silicon nanophotonic wires , 2011, 2011 Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition and the National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference.

[33]  M. Lipson,et al.  Continuous-wave mid-infrared frequency conversion in silicon nanowaveguides , 2011, CLEO: 2011 - Laser Science to Photonic Applications.