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Green light emission in silicon through slow-light enhanced third-harmonic generation in photonic-crystal waveguides

Nature Photonics volume 3, pages 206–210 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Slow light has attracted significant interest recently as a potential solution for optical delay lines and time-domain optical signal processing1,2. Perhaps even more significant is the possibility of dramatically enhancing nonlinear optical effects3,4 due to the spatial compression of optical energy5,6,7. Two-dimensional silicon photonic-crystal waveguides have proven to be a powerful platform for realizing slow light, being compatible with on-chip integration and offering wide-bandwidth and dispersion-free propagation2. Here, we report the slow-light enhancement of a nonlinear optical process in a two-dimensional silicon photonic-crystal waveguide. We observe visible third-harmonic-generation at a wavelength of 520 nm with only a few watts of peak power, and demonstrate strong third-harmonic-generation enhancement due to the reduced group velocity of the near-infrared pump signal. This demonstrates yet another unexpected nonlinear function realized in a CMOS-compatible silicon waveguide.

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Figure 1: Green light emission through third-harmonic generation (THG) in a slow-light photonic-crystal waveguide.
Figure 2: Photonic-crystal waveguide dispersion.
Figure 3: Observation of green light.
Figure 4: Power dependence of the green light emission.
Figure 5: Slow-light enhancement of green light emission.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the EU-FP6 Marie Curie Fellowship project SLIPPRY, the EU-FP6 Network of Excellence ePIXnet and the EU-FP6 SPLASH project. Fabrication was carried out in the framework of the ePIXnet Nanostructuring Platform for Photonic Integration. We would also like to acknowledge the Australian Research Council (ARC) through its Federation Fellow, Centre of Excellence and Discovery Grant programs as well as the International Science Linkages program of the Australian Department of Education, Science and Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CUDOS, Institute for Photonic Optical Sciences (IPOS), School of Physics, University of Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia

    B. Corcoran, C. Monat, C. Grillet, D. J. Moss & B. J. Eggleton

  2. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS, UK

    T. P. White, L. O'Faolain & T. F. Krauss

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  1. B. Corcoran
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Correspondence to C. Monat.

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Corcoran, B., Monat, C., Grillet, C. et al. Green light emission in silicon through slow-light enhanced third-harmonic generation in photonic-crystal waveguides. Nature Photon 3, 206–210 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2009.28

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