Micrometer-scale all-optical wavelength converter on silicon

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Integrated Optics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Wavelength converters are crucial components in optical communication networks.
• Existing converters often face challenges with power consumption and integration scale.
• Silicon photonics offers a promising platform for miniaturized optical devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a highly integrated, low-power micrometer-scale wavelength converter.
• To investigate the use of the free-carrier dispersion effect in silicon for wavelength conversion.
• To achieve all-optical modulation of a silicon ring resonator.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the free-carrier dispersion effect in silicon.
• Employed all-optical modulation of a silicon ring resonator with continuous wave (cw) control light.
• Fabricated a silicon ring resonator with a 5-micrometer radius and a Q factor of approximately 10,000.

Main Results:

• Achieved both inverted and noninverted modulation.
• Demonstrated operation at a bit rate of 0.9 Gbits/s.
• Required a low control power of 4.5 mW.
• Established the scaling of control power with respect to ring resonator characteristics.

Conclusions:

• The demonstrated silicon wavelength converter is highly integrated and operates at low power.
• The device shows potential for efficient optical signal processing in compact communication systems.
• Further understanding of control power scaling can optimize future device designs.