Mode-selective wavelength conversion of OFDM-QPSK signals in a multimode silicon waveguide

We experimentally demonstrate on-chip mode-selective wavelength conversions based on the degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) nonlinear effect in a few-mode silicon waveguide. A multimode waveguide with tapered directional coupler based mode (de)multiplexers is designed and fabricated. Using signals with advanced modulation formats all-optical wavelength conversions of 102.6-Gb/s OFDM-QPSK signals are verified. Experimental results show that only small optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) penalties are observed after wavelength conversion of both modes, which are less than 2 dB for OFDM-QPSK at 7% forward error correction (FEC) threshold.