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Signal regeneration using low-power four-wave mixing on silicon chip

Nature Photonics volume 2, pages 35–38 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

To meet the increasing demand for higher capacity in optical communications, signal transmission at higher modulation rates and over a broader wavelength range will be required. Signal degradation in the optical channel caused by dispersion, nonlinearity and noise becomes a critical issue as data rates increase. Thus, it is highly desirable to develop broadband, high-speed regeneration devices1. Recent advances in silicon-on-insulator photonic devices offer the potential for highly integrated, robust opto–electronic architectures, and optical processes such as amplification2,3,4, wavelength conversion5,6,7 and amplitude modulation8,9 have already been demonstrated in such structures. In this work, we demonstrate two regeneration schemes using low-power four-wave mixing in a silicon nanowaveguide and compensate for the effects of poor extinction ratio, dispersive broadening and timing jitter. This capability further expands the range of optical functions that can be incorporated into silicon-compatible photonic devices offering a broadband and integrated solution for regeneration.

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Figure 1: Different configurations for signal regeneration using FWM.
Figure 2: FWM wavelength conversion in a silicon nanowire.
Figure 3: Signal regeneration using configuration B.
Figure 4: Signal regeneration using configuration D.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) Slow-Light Program and the Center for Nanoscale Systems, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the New York State Office of Science, Technology & Academic Research. M.A.F. acknowledges support from the IBM Graduate Fellowship Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, New York, 14853, Ithaca, USA

    Reza Salem, Mark A. Foster, David F. Geraghty & Alexander L. Gaeta

  2. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, New York, 14853, Ithaca, USA

    Amy C. Turner & Michal Lipson

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  1. Reza Salem
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Correspondence to Alexander L. Gaeta.

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Salem, R., Foster, M., Turner, A. et al. Signal regeneration using low-power four-wave mixing on silicon chip. Nature Photon 2, 35–38 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2007.249

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