We evaluate the nonlinear coefficient of graphene-on-silicon waveguides through the coincidence measurement of photon-pairs generated via spontaneous four-wave mixing. We observed the temporal correlation of the photon-pairs from the waveguides over various transfer layouts of graphene sheets. A simple analysis of the experimental results using coupled-wave equations revealed that the atomically-thin graphene sheets enhanced the nonlinearity of silicon waveguides up to ten-fold. The results indicate that the purely $χ^{(3)}$-based effective nonlinear refractive index of graphene is on the order of $10^{-13}$ m$^2$/W, and provide important insights for applications of graphene-based nonlinear optics in on-chip nanophotonics.
We report the first (to our knowledge) observation of correlated photon emission in hydrogenated amorphous- silicon waveguides. We compare this to photon generation in crystalline silicon waveguides with the same geome- try. In particular, we show that amorphous silicon has a higher nonlinearity and competes with crystalline silicon in spite of higher loss.
We study controllable single photon scattering in a one-dimensional waveguide coupling with an additional cavity by second order nonlinear materials in a non-cascading configuration, where the additional cavity is embedded with two-level atom and filled with Kerr-nonlinear materials. Considering the second order nonlinear coupling, we analyze the transmission properties of the three different coupling forms as follows: (i) The two-level atom is excited without the Kerr-nonlinearity. (ii)The Kerr-nonlinearity is excited without the two-level atom. (iii) Both of the two-level atom and Kerr-nonli…
We discuss the feasibility of a quantum nondemolition measurement (QND) of photon number based on cross phase modulation due to the Kerr effect in Photonic Crystal Waveguides (PCWs). In particular, we derive the equations for two modes propagating in PCWs and their coupling by a third order nonlinearity. The reduced group velocity and small cross-sectional area of the PCW lead to an enhancement of the interaction relative to bulk materials. We show that in principle, such experiments may be feasible with current photonic technologies, although they are limited by material properties. Our analy…
Integrated optical devices may replace bulk crystal or fiber based assemblies with a more compact and controllable photon pair and heralded single photon source and generate quantum light at telecommunications wavelengths. Here, we propose that a periodic waveguide consisting of a sequence of optical resonators may outperform conventional waveguides or single resonators and generate more than 1 Giga-pairs per second from a sub-millimeter-long room-temperature silicon device, pumped with only about 10 milliwatts of optical power. Furthermore, the spectral properties of such devices provide nove…
We demonstrate the generation and demultiplexing of quantum correlated photons on a monolithic photonic chip composed of silicon and silica-based waveguides. Photon pairs generated in a nonlinear silicon waveguide are successfully separated into two optical channels of an arrayed-waveguide grating fabricated on a silica-based waveguide platform.
Efficient generation of single photons is one of the key challenges of building photonic quantum technology, such as quantum computers and long-distance quantum networks. Photon source multiplexing -- where successful pair generation is heralded by the detection of one of the photons, and its partner is routed to a single mode output -- has long been known to offer a concrete solution, with output probability tending toward unity as loss is reduced. Here, we present a temporally multiplexed integrated single photon source based on a silicon waveguide and a low-loss fibre switch and loop archit…
When a pump beam is propagating through a silicon nanophotonic waveguide, a very small fraction of the light is scattered to other frequencies. At very low intensity, the amount of scattered light is proportional to the power of the pump beam. We show that the scattering intensity increases linearly within the temperature range 300-575 K and that the photon flux decreases as the inverse of the frequency detuning ν over the investigated bandwidth 0.4 THz < |ν| < 2.5 THz. The simplest interpretation of these observations is that the pump beam is scattered on a 1 dimensional thermal bath of excit…
In materials that do not allow birefringent phase-matching or periodic poling we propose to use waveguides to exploit the tensor structure of the second order nonlinearity for quasi-phase matching of nonlinear interactions. In particular, we concentrate on curved waveguides in which the interplay between the propagation direction, electric field polarizations and the nonlinearity can change the strength and sign of the nonlinear interaction periodically to achieve quasi-phase matching.
The development of large-scale optical quantum information processing circuits ground on the stability and reconfigurability enabled by integrated photonics. We demonstrate a reconfigurable 8x8 integrated linear optical network based on silicon nitride waveguides for quantum information processing. Our processor implements a novel optical architecture enabling any arbitrary linear transformation and constitutes the largest programmable circuit reported so far on this platform. We validate a variety of photonic quantum information processing primitives, in the form of Hong-Ou-Mandel interferenc…
We propose a scheme to realize controlled phase gate between two single photons through a single quantum dot in slow-light silicon photonic crystal waveguide. Enhanced Purcell factor and beta factor lead to high gate fidelity over broadband frequencies compared to cavity-assisted system. The excellent physical integration of this silicon photonic crystal waveguide system provides tremendous potential for large-scale quantum information processing.
The third-order optical nonlinearity in optical waveguides has found applications in optical switching, optical wavelength conversion, optical frequency comb generation, and ultrafast optical signal processing. The development of an integrated waveguide platform with a high nonlinearity is therefore important for nonlinear integrated photonics. Here, we report the observation of an enhancement in the nonlinearity of an air-cladding silicon pedestal waveguide. We observe enhanced nonlinear spectral broadening compared to a conventional silicon-on-insulator waveguide. At the center wavelength of…
We fabricate silicon waveguides in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers clad with either silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, or aluminum oxide, and by measuring the electro-optic behavior of ring resonators, we characterize the cladding-dependent and capacitively-induced free-carrier effects in each of these waveguides. By comparing our measured data with simulation results, we confirm that the observed voltage dependencies of the transmission spectra are due to changes in the concentrations of holes and electrons within the semiconductor waveguide, and we show for the first time how strongly these…
We propose the use of silicon graphene waveguides to implement a tunable broadband microwave photonics phase shifte based on integrated ring cavities. Numerical computation results show the feasibility for broadband operation over 40 GHz bandwidth and full 360 degree radiofrequency phase-shift with a modest voltage excursion of 0.12 volt.
We report the observations of spontaneous Raman scattering in silicon photonic crystal waveguides. Continuous-wave measurements of Stokes emission for both wavelength and power dependence is reported in single line-defect waveguides in hexagonal lattice photonic crystal silicon membranes. By utilizing the Bragg gap edge dispersion of the TM-like mode for pump enhancement and the TE-like fundamental mode-onset for Stokes enhancement, the Stokes emission was observed to increase by up to five times in the region of slow group velocity. The results show explicit nonlinear enhancement in a silicon…
We construct families of optical semi-discrete composite solitons (SDCSs), with one or two independent propagation constants, supported by a planar slab waveguide, XPM-coupled to a periodic array of stripes. Both structures feature the cubic nonlinearity and support intrinsic modes with mutually orthogonal polarizations. We report three species of SDCSs, odd, even, and twisted ones, the first type being stable. Transverse motion of phase-tilted solitons, with potential applications to beam steering, is considered too.
We theoretically characterize the free-carrier plasma dispersion effect in fully-etched silicon waveguides, with various dielectric material claddings, due to fixed and interface charges at the silicon-dielectric interfaces. The values used for these charges are obtained from the measured capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics of SiO2, SiNx, and Al2O3 thin films deposited on silicon substrates. The effect of the charges on the properties of silicon waveguides is then calculated using the semiconductor physics tool Silvaco in combination with the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method s…
We demonstrate low loss ridge waveguides and the first ring resonators for the mid-infrared, for wavelengths ranging from 5.4 to 5.6 μm. Structures were fabricated using electron-beam lithography on the silicon-on-sapphire material system. Waveguide losses of 4.0 +/- 0.7 dB/cm are achieved, as well as Q-values of 3.0 k.
We present a new approach to long range coupling based on a combination of adiabatic passage and lateral leakage in thin shallow ridge waveguides on a silicon photonic platform. The approach enables transport of light between two isolated waveguides through a mode of the silicon slab that acts as an optical bus. Due to the nature of the adiabatic protocol, the bus mode has minimal population and the transport is highly robust. We prove the concept and examine the robustness of this approach using rigorous modelling. We further demonstrate the utility of the approach by coupling power between t…
Graphene has recently been shown to possess giant nonlinearity; however, the utility of this nonlinearity is limited due to high losses and small interaction volume. We show that by performing waveguide engineering to graphene's nonlinearity, we are able to dramatically increase the nonlinear parameter and decrease the switching optical power to sub-watt levels. Our design makes use of the hybrid plasmonic waveguide and careful manipulation of graphene's refractive index by tuning its Fermi level. The ability to tailor the nonlinear parameter in graphene based waveguides via the Fermi level pr…
Recent advances in design and fabrication of photonic-phononic waveguides have enabled stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in silicon-based platforms, such as under-etched silicon waveguides and hybrid waveguides. Due to the sophisticated design and more importantly high sensitivity of the Brillouin resonances to geometrical variations in micro- and nano-scale structures, it is necessary to have access to the localized opto-acoustic response along those waveguides to monitor their uniformity and maximize their interaction strength. In this work, we design and fabricate photonic-phononic wave…
The spectra of silicon integrated waveguides are tailored to process analog computing (i.e.,differential and integral) in optical domain with huge bandwidth.With the theory of signal and system, we design some silicon integrated devices to implement photonic differentiator and optical differential equation solver. The basic principle is to tailor the spectra of silicon integrated waveguides to meet the requirements of analog computing circuits. These analog photonic integrated circuits are very promising in future computing systems with high speed, low cost, and compact size. We also plan to e…
We investigate a short (~1.5μm) partially-corrugated tapered waveguide structure for mode coupling from a silicon micro-slab to a plasmonic nano-gap waveguide at the optical communication frequency. More than 80% transmission efficiency is reported numerically for the first time. The result indicates that the corrugated waveguide structure should not only be helpful for realizing full on-chip silicon plasmonic devices but also a good choice for mode coupling enhancement from dielectric waveguides to plasmonic waveguides. Meanwhile, we point out that the coupling mechanism reported here is diff…
We experimentally show octave-spanning supercontinuum generation in a non-stoichiometric silicon-rich nitride waveguide when pumped by femtosecond pulses from an erbium fiber laser. The pulse energy and bandwidth are comparable to results achieved in stoichiometric silicon nitride waveguides, but our material platform is simpler to manufacture. We also observe wave-breaking supercontinuum generation by using orthogonal pumping in the same waveguide. Additional analysis reveals that the waveguide height is a powerful tuning parameter for generating mid-infrared dispersive waves while keeping th…
Silicon is an ideal material for on-chip applications, however its poor acoustic properties limit its performance for important optoacoustic applications, particularly for Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS). We theoretically show that silicon inverse opals exhibit a strongly improved acoustic performance that enhances the bulk SBS gain coefficient by more than two orders of magnitude. We also design a waveguide that incorporates silicon inverse opals and which has SBS gain values that are comparable with chalcogenide glass waveguides. This research opens new directions for opto-acoustic app…
We demonstrate correlated photon pair generation via spontaneous four-wave mixing in a low-loss double-stripe silicon nitride waveguide with a coincidence-to-accidental ratio over 10. The coincidence-to-accidental ratio is limited by spontaneous Raman scattering, which can be mitigated by cooling in the future. This demonstration suggests that this waveguide structure is a potential platform to develop integrated quantum photonic chips for quantum information processing.
It has recently been shown that silicon nanophotonic waveguides can be used to construct all of the components of a photonic data transmission system on a single chip. These components can be integrated together with CMOS electronics to create complex electronic-photonic integrated circuits. It has also emerged that the high field confinement of silicon nanoscale guides enables exciting new applications, from chipscale nonlinear optics to biosensors and light-force activated devices. To date, most of the experiments in silicon waveguides have been at wavelengths in the near-infrared, ranging f…
We report near infrared optical amplification in gold diffused silicon-on-insulator waveguides by visible optical pumping. More then 30dB/cm gain was measured for a light carrier at a wavelength of 1.55 microns
Stimulated emission of sensitized Erbium atoms is reported in silicon-rich silicon nitride waveguides. Visible pump and infrared probe measurements are carried out in waveguides fabricated from erbium-doped silicon rich silicon nitride. A decrease in the photoinduced absorption of the probe in the wavelength range of the erbium emission is observed and is attributed to stimulated emission from erbium atoms excited indirectly via the silicon excess in an SiNx matrix. A near 50% decrease in absorption is measured, corresponding to an 8% fraction of inverted erbium atoms. This fraction is an orde…
A photodiode with 0.55$\pm$0.1 A/W responsivity at a wavelength of 1176.9 nm has been fabricated in a 45 nm microelectronics silicon-on-insulator foundry process. The resonant waveguide photodetector exploits carrier generation in silicon-germanium (SiGe) within a microring which is compatible with high-performance electronics. A 3 dB bandwidth of 5 GHz at -4 V bias is obtained with a dark current of less than 20 pA.
While nanoscale modal confinement radically enhances a variety of nonlinear light-matter interactions within silicon waveguides, traveling-wave stimulated Brillouin scattering nonlinearities have never been observed in silicon nanophotonics. Through a new class of hybrid photonic-phononic waveguides, we demonstrate tailorable traveling-wave forward stimulated Brillouin scattering in nanophotonic silicon waveguides for the first time, yielding 3000 times stronger forward SBS responses than any previous waveguide system. Simulations reveal that a coherent combination of electrostrictive forces a…
We investigate the feasibility of CMOS-compatible optical structures to develop novel integrated spectroscopy systems. We show that local field enhancement is achievable utilizing dimers of plasmonic nanospheres that can be assembled from colloidal solutions on top of a CMOS-compatible optical waveguide. The resonant dimer nanoantennas are excited by modes guided in the integrated silicon nitride waveguide. Simulations show that 100 fold electric field enhancement builds up in the dimer gap as compared to the waveguide evanescent field amplitude at the same location. We investigate how the fie…
An effort was conducted to numerically determine, using the Nonlinear Schrodinger Split-Step Fourier method, if using cross phase modulation could cause temporal soliton pulse propagation in a silicon slow-light photonic crystal waveguide shorter than a millimeter. The simulations demonstrated that due to the higher powers and shorter scales of photonic crystals, two-photon absorption would cause an optical soliton pulse to be extremely dissipative. The model demonstrated, however, that by utilizing cross-phase modulation, it is possible to sustain a compressed soliton pulse within a silicon p…
The demand for nonlinear effects within a silicon platform to support photonic circuits requiring phase-only modulation, frequency doubling, and/or difference frequency generation, is becoming increasingly clear. However, the symmetry of the silicon crystal inhibits second order optical nonlinear susceptibility, $χ^{(2)}$. Here, we show that the crystalline symmetry is broken when a DC field is present, inducing a $χ^{(2)}$ in a silicon waveguide that is proportional to the large $χ^{(3)}$ of silicon. First, Mach-Zehnder interferometers using the DC Kerr effect optical phase shifters in silico…
We for the first time provide an analytic solution for pulse propagation and phase sensitive amplification in the regime of high nonlinearity in silicon waveguides including two-photon absorption (TPA) and free carriers. Our analytic results clearly explain why and how the TPA and free carriers affect the signal gain. These observation are confirmed with numerical modelling and experimental results.
We experimentally demonstrate phase sensitive amplification (PSA) in a silicon photonic crystal waveguide based on pump-degenerate four-wave mixing. An 11 dB phase extinction ratio is obtained in a record compact 196 μm nanophotonic device due to broadband slow-light, in spite of the presence of two-photon absorption and free-carriers. Numerical calculations show good agreement with the experimental results.
Strong acousto-optic interaction in silicon-based waveguides generally requires releasing of the silicon core to avoid mechanical leakage into the underlying silica substrate. This complicates fabrication, limits thermalization, reduces the mechanical robustness and hinders large area optomechanical devices on a single chip. Here, we overcome this limitation by employing vertical photonic-phononic engineering. Specifically, the insertion of a thick silicon nitride layer between the silicon guiding core and the silica substrate contributes to reduce GHz-frequencies phonon leakage enabling large…
We present experimental results on the observation of a bulk second-order nonlinear susceptibility derived from both free-space and integrated measurements in silicon nitride. Phase-matching is achieved through dispersion engineering of the waveguide cross-section, independently revealing multiple components of the nonlinear susceptibility, namely X(2)yyy and X(2)xxy. Additionally, we show how the generated second-harmonic signal may be actively tuned through the application of bias voltages across silicon nitride. The nonlinear material properties measured here are anticipated to allow for th…
In this paper we report suspended silicon waveguides operating at a wavelength of 7.67 mm with a propagation loss of 3.1 ? 0.3 dB/cm. To our knowledge this is the first demonstration of low loss silicon waveguides at such a long wavelength, with loss comparable to other platforms that use more exotic materials. The suspended Si waveguide core is supported by a subwavelength grating that provides lateral optical confinement, while also allowing access to the buried oxide layer so that it can be wet etched using hydrofluoric acid. We also demonstrate low loss waveguide bends and s-bends.
In this paper the experimental demonstration of a Silicon-on-Insulator Reflective Arrayed Waveguide Grating (R-AWG) is reported. The device employs one Sagnac loop mirror per arm in the array, built with a 1x2 input/outputs, 50:50 splitting ratio, Multimode Interference coupler, for total reflection. The spectral responses obtained are compared to those of regular AWGs fabricated in the same die.
We theoretically investigate the free-carrier induced spatio-temporal dynamics of continuous waves in silicon waveguides embedded in an amplifying medium. Optical propagation is governed by a cubic Ginzburg-Landau equation coupled with an ordinary differential equation accounting for the free-carrier dynamics. We find that, owing to free-carrier dispersion, countinuous waves are modulationally unstable in both anomalous and normal dispersion regimes and chaotically generate unstable accelerating pulses.
Nonlinear periodically poled ridge LiNbO3 waveguides have been fabricated on silicon substrates. Components are carved with only use of a precision dicing machine without need for grinding or polishing steps. They show efficient second harmonic generation at telecommunication wavelengths with normalized conversion reaching 204%/W in a 15 mm long device. Influence of geometrical non uniformities of waveguides due to fabrication process is asserted. Components characteristics are studied notably their robustness and tunability versus temperature.
We address the propagation of laser beams in Si02-VO2 nanocomposite waveguides with thermo-optical nonlinearity. We show that the large modifications of the absorption coefficient as well as notable changes of refractive index of VO2 nanoparticles embedded into the SiO2 host media that accompany the semiconductor-to-metal phase transition may lead to optical limiting in the near-infrared wave range.
We report a quantum-dot single-photon source (QD SPS) hybrid integrated on a silicon waveguide embedding a photonic crystal mirror, which reflects photons and enables efficient unidirectional output from the waveguide. The silicon waveguide is constituted of a subwavelength grating so as to maintain the high efficiency even under the presence of stacking misalignment accompanied by hybrid integration processes. Experimentally, we assembled the hybrid photonic structure by transfer printing, and demonstrated single-photon generation from a QD and its unidirectional output from the waveguide. Th…
We present the first study of parametric amplification in hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguides. Broadband on/off amplification up to 26.5~dB at telecom wavelength is reported. Measured nonlinear parameter is 770~$\textrm{W}^{-1} \textrm{m}^{-1}$, nonlinear absorption 28~$\textrm{W}^{-1} \textrm{m}^{-1}$, bandgap $1.61$~eV.
Plasmonic antennas integrated on silicon devices have large and yet unexplored potential for controlling and routing light signals. Here, we present theoretical calculations of a hybrid silicon-metallic system in which a single gold nanoantenna embedded in a single-mode silicon waveguide acts as a resonance-driven filter. As a consequence of scattering and interference, when the resonance condition of the antenna is met, the transmission drops by 85% in the resonant frequency band. Firstly, we study analytically the interaction between the propagating mode and the antenna by including radiativ…
We show that undoped silicon waveguides may suffer of up to 1.8 dB/cm free-carrier absorption caused by improper surface passivation. To verify the effects of free-carriers we apply a gate field to the waveguides. Smallest losses correspond to higher electrical sheet resistances and are generally obtained with non-zero gate fields. The presence of free carriers for zero gate field is attributed to surface transfer doping. These results open new perspectives for minimizing propagation losses in silicon waveguides and for obtaining low-loss and highly conductive silicon films without applying a …
We report fabrication of optical waveguides embedded in oxidised porous silicon in a mask-less process. Patterned pore-filling was attained by means of inkjet printing, enabling lateral modification of the waveguide's index of refraction and other optical properties thus providing full two-dimensional refractive index control of the optical waveguide. The waveguides were created by applying a KDP salt solution over a porous silicon film by means of a material printer. Light guiding was demonstrated at wavelengths 1.064 and 1.550 microns. Measured values of the intensity attenuation at these wa…
We demonstrate a silicon nitride trench waveguide deposited with bowtie antennas for plasmonic enhanced optical trapping. The sub-micron silicon nitride trench waveguides were fabricated with conventional optical lithography in a low cost manner. The waveguides embrace not only low propagation loss and high nonlinearity, but also the inborn merits of combining micro-fluidic channel and waveguide together. Analyte contained in the trapezoidal trench channel can interact with the evanescent field from the waveguide beneath. The evanescent field can be further enhanced by plasmonic nanostructures…
We study incoherently coupled two-frequency pulse compounds in waveguides with single zero-dispersion and zero-nonlinearity points. In such waveguides, supported by a negative nonlinearity, soliton dynamics can be obtained even in domains of normal dispersion. We demonstrate trapping of weak pulses by solitary-wave wells, forming nonlinear-photonics meta-atoms, and molecule-like bound-states of pulses. We study the impact of Raman effect on these pulse compounds, finding that, depending on the precise subpulse configuration, they decelerate, accelerate, or are completely unaffected. Our result…
Four-wave mixing is observed in a silicon W1 photonic crystal waveguide. The dispersion dependence of the idler conversion efficiency is measured and shown to be enhanced at wavelengths exhibiting slow group velocities. A 12-dB increase in the conversion efficiency is observed. Concurrently, a decrease in the conversion bandwidth is observed due to the increase in group velocity dispersion in the slow-light regime. The experimentally observed conversion efficiencies agree with the numerically modeled results.
We demonstrate optically stable amorphous silicon nanowires with both high nonlinear figure of merit (FOM) of ~5 and high nonlinearity Re(γ) = 1200W-1m-1.
We experimentally demonstrate an optically-pumped III-V/Si vertical-cavity laser with lateral emission into a silicon waveguide. This on-chip hybrid laser comprises a distributed Bragg reflector, a III-V active layer, and a high-contrast grating reflector, which simultaneously funnels light into the waveguide integrated with the laser. This laser has the advantages of long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, such as low threshold and high side-mode suppression ratio, while allowing integration with silicon photonic circuits, and is fabricated using CMOS-compatible processes. It…
Anomalous optical coupling properties between two silicon wires in a silicon slot waveguide embedded in epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterials are proposed and demonstrated. The dependences of optical field enhancement in the slot region and transverse optical force on the slot size and the permittivity of surrounding material are studied in details. It is demonstrated that the optical field in the slot region is significantly enhanced due to the giant index contrast at the slot interface between silicon wires and ENZ metamaterials, but the optical mode coupling between silicon wires is greatly…
We propose a polarization-insensitive and high-efficiency plasmonic silicon Schottky diode for detection of sub-bandgap photons in the optical communication wavelength range through internal photoemission. Our photodiode is based on a hybrid plasmonic silicon waveguide. It has a gold film covering both the top and the sidewalls of a dielectric silicon waveguide with the Schottky contact formed at the gold-silicon interface. An extensive physical model is presented in detail and applied to calculate and analyze the performance of our detector. By comparison with a diode with only top contact of…
Experimental Measurement of Enhanced Group Delay Silicon Photonic Waveguides Indicative of the Frozen Mode Regime Around the Stationary Inflection Point
