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Mid-infrared wavelength conversion in silicon waveguides using ultracompact telecom-band-derived pump source

Nature Photonics volume 4, pages 561–564 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Mid-infrared light sources are essential for applications that include free-space communication, chemical and biomolecular sensing and infrared spectroscopy1,2,3, but no devices comparable to those in the near-infrared regime have emerged to date. Indeed, sources operating above 1.8 µm, including optical parametric oscillators and thulium-doped fibre lasers, do not combine a large tunable range and narrow linewidth, and generally cannot be modulated to support advanced applications4,5. Widely tunable mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers are available; however, room-temperature operation in the 3–4 µm range still presents a challenge because of material limitations6,7. Wavelength conversion in silicon offers promise for the development of an ultracompact mid-infrared source that combines wide wavelength tuning, narrow linewidth and arbitrarily complex modulation rivalling those in the telecom window. Here, we report four-wave mixing in silicon waveguides in the spectral region beyond 2 µm, using probe and pump waves derived from ultracompact telecom fibre-optic sources, achieving generation of 2,388 nm light.

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Figure 1: Measurement set-up.
Figure 2: Four-wave mixing.
Figure 3: Four-wave mixing spectra.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation for funding support. J.S.P. acknowledges sponsorship support from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. The authors thank B.P.P. Kuo, C.S. Brés, E. Myslivets, A. Wiberg and M.L. Cooper for useful discussions and J.E. Ford and E.J. Tremblay for the loan of equipment.

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Author notes

  1. Sanja Zlatanovic and Jung S. Park: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, 92093, California, USA

    Sanja Zlatanovic, Jung S. Park, Slaven Moro, Jose M. Chavez Boggio, Nikola Alic, Shayan Mookherjea & Stojan Radic

  2. CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, PO Box 162700, Orlando, 32816-2700, Florida, USA

    Ivan B. Divliansky

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  1. Sanja Zlatanovic
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  4. Jose M. Chavez Boggio
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Contributions

S.Z. assembled the MidIR source, performed the FWM experiments, and carried out data analysis and theoretical computations. J.S.P. designed and fabricated the silicon waveguides, assisted in assembling the MidIR source, performed the FWM experiments and data analysis, and wrote the manuscript. S. Moro and J.M.C.B. assisted with the MidIR source. I.B.D. assisted with the electron-beam lithography process for waveguide fabrication. N.A., S. Mookherjea and S.R. helped plan the project and guided and supervised the experiments. All authors assisted with preparation of the manuscript and discussion of results.

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Correspondence to Sanja Zlatanovic.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Zlatanovic, S., Park, J., Moro, S. et al. Mid-infrared wavelength conversion in silicon waveguides using ultracompact telecom-band-derived pump source. Nature Photon 4, 561–564 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2010.117

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