Nonlinear silicon nanophotonics for mid-infrared applications

Abstract

-The silicon nanophotonic wire platform can be applied toward development of integrated optical devices for the generation and processing of mid-infrared light signals. The demonstration of a mid-infrared optical parametric amplifier will be reviewed, and recent work aimed at expanded gain bandwidth and reduced pump power requirements will be presented.

Nonlinear Optical Functions in Crystalline and Amorphous Silicon-on-Insulator Nanowires

“…Not only is a silicon nanowire a unique waveguide for strong nonlinear optical effects, but the high index contrast also allows to engineer the dispersion -by choosing the dimensions of the waveguide cross-section appropriatelyso as to achieve unique phase matching properties for four-wave mixing processes in the short-wave infrared [3]. This approach has allowed to demonstrate strong modulation instability as well as very high parametric gain (> 40 dB gain in a 2 cm long waveguide) [4], supercontinuum generation [5,6], and wavelength conversion from 2.45 µm down to telecom wavelengths and vice versa [7].…”