All-optical multi-channel wavelength conversion of Nyquist 16 QAM signal using a silicon waveguide

We experimentally demonstrate on-chip all-optical multi-channel wavelength conversion of Nyquist 16 ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16 QAM) signal in a silicon waveguide. The measured optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) penalties of wavelength conversion are ∼2  dB. The observed constellations of converted idlers indicate favorable performance of silicon-waveguide-based multi-channel wavelength conversion. We also experimentally study and compare the phase-conjugated wavelength conversion by degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) and transparent wavelength conversion by non-degenerate FWM in the silicon waveguide.