Self-phase-modulation in submicron silicon-on-insulator photonic wires

Eric Dulkeith, Yurii A. Vlasov, Xiaogang Chen, Nicolae C. Panoiu, Richard M. Osgood

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We measure the transmission of ps-pulses through silicon-on-insulator submicron waveguides for excitation wavelengths between 1400 and 1650 nm and peak powers covering four orders of magnitude. Self-phase-modulation induced spectral broadening is found to be significant at coupled peak powers of even a few tens of mW. The nonlinear-index coefficient, extracted from the experimental data, is estimated as n2 ∼ 5-10-18 m2/W at 1500 nm. The experimental results show good agreement with model calculations that take into account nonlinear phase shift, first- and second order dispersion, mode confinement, frequency dispersion of n2, and dynamics of two-photon-absorption-generated free carriers. Comparison with theory indicates that an observed twofold increase of spectral broadening between 1400 and 1650 nm can be assigned to the dispersion of n2 as well as first order- rather than second-order dispersion effects. The analysis of pulse broadening, spectral shift and transmission saturation allows estimating a power threshold for nonlinearity-induced signal impairment in nanophotonic devices.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)5524-5534
Number of pages11
JournalOptics Express
Volume14
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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