Broadband mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in dispersion-engineered silicon-on-insulator waveguide

Abstract

In this paper, we numerically investigate near- and mid-infrared supercontinuum (SC) generation in dispersion-engineered silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides employing a novel side-slotted core structure. The effect of waveguide parameters on the dispersion is studied to achieve optimum dispersion profiles for SC generation in the anomalous and normal dispersion regimes. Numerical results show that by applying an input pump pulse with 200 fs width and 400 W peak power at 2.1 μm wavelength in a 10-mm-long SOI waveguide, SC spectra as wide as 2.8 μm and 2.0 μm can be obtained in the anomalous and normal dispersion regimes, respectively. These waveguides are useful as compact on-chip silicon photonic sources for spectroscopic applications in mid-infrared wavelengths.