Four-Wave Mixing in Highly Nonlinear Fiber and Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Nanophotonic Devices for All-Optical Processing

Nonlinear optics;Optical waveguides;Electrical Engineering

Li, KangmeiFoster, Amy C ;

Johns Hopkins University

关键词: Nonlinear optics;    Optical waveguides;    Electrical Engineering;   

Others  :  https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/60058/LI-DISSERTATION-2018.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: JOHNS HOPKINS DSpace Repository

【 摘 要 】

All-optical processing is envisioned as the key for future communication networks to overcome electronic bottleneck, and facilitate the increase in communication rates to beyond 1 Tb/s. Parametric nonlinear processes hold great promise to realize all-optical processing due to their ultrafast operation. In this work, we focus on all-optical wavelength conversion and logic gates utilizing a third-order parametric nonlinear process named four-wave mixing in waveguiding devices. Optical wavelength conversion, with the ability of creating new wavelengths and transferring information between different wavelength channels, plays an important role in realizing all-optical processing. Four-wave mixing Bragg scattering (FWM-BS), a specific configuration of four-wave mixing, in which power is transferred directly from the signal to the idler with the help of two pumps, can enable really low-noise wavelength conversion, and hence shows great potential for a wide range of classical and quantum optical applications. In the first part of this work, we apply FWM-BS in highly nonlinear fiber to realize 10-Gb/s reconfigurable all-optical NAND/AND logic gates with open eye diagrams.Integrated photonics shows prominent promise in realizing nonlinear optical interactions, benefiting in terms of footprint, cost, performance and power consumption. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) has attracted great attention recently due to its high nonlinearity and CMOS compatibility. In the second part of this work, we utilize integrated a-Si:H waveguides to realize low-power wavelength conversion via FWM-BS, showing much higher efficiency compared to other integrated platforms. Successively, we demonstrate integrated all-optical NAND/AND logic gates.Subsequently, we investigate wavelength conversion in a-Si:H microring resonators to further reduce the device size and power consumption. The results show 22.8-dB conversion efficiency enhancement in an a-Si:H microring resonator with 10-$mu m$ radius compared to a 3.8-mm long waveguide at low pump power level.Finally, we will discuss some future opportunities of utilizing a-Si:H as a platform for 3D integration and quantum optical applications.