Abstract
Self-steepening (SS) is enhanced by slow-light effects in photonic crystal waveguides (PhCWs), with coefficients as large as hundreds of femtoseconds, and it plays an important role in temporally compressed solitons with narrow widths. Here, we investigate the soliton evolution in silicon PhCWs through experiments and numerical simulations; the simulated results agree well with the experimental measurements and help in revealing the physical mechanism of high-order soliton evolution. The dual opposite effects of giant anomalous SS on temporal soliton compression are demonstrated for the first time, i.e., the SS weakens or improves the compression competing with the effects of third-order dispersion (TOD) through two different physical mechanisms. It is also found that SS flattens or steepens the pulse leading edge depending on the strength of the positive TOD perturbation. These results promote the understanding of high-order solitons and can help with the design of suitable dispersion engineered silicon waveguides for superior on-chip temporal pulse compression for optical interconnects, data processing, and microwave photonics.
Highlights
Silicon photonic crystal waveguides (PhCWs) have been extensively investigated because of their ability to tightly confine optical modes, their potentiality in dispersion engineering, and their extremely large nonlinear effects enhanced by slow-light effects
The results provide insight into the physical mechanism of the temporal dynamics of the high-order solitons induced by SS and SS−third-order dispersion (TOD) interaction; they provide a guide to realize superior on-chip temporal pulse compression, which can be of application for chip-scale optical interconnects, signal processing, and microwave photonics
Further investigation of the physical mechanism of temporal soliton compression inside the PhCW indicates that the dual opposite effects of SS on temporal soliton compression result in weakening or strengthening through two different physical mechanisms, which is reported for the first time
Summary
Silicon photonic crystal waveguides (PhCWs) have been extensively investigated because of their ability to tightly confine optical modes, their potentiality in dispersion engineering, and their extremely large nonlinear effects enhanced by slow-light effects. The tight optical-field confinement in silicon photonic nanowire waveguides (Si-PNWs) leads to a strong frequency dependence of the optical nonlinearity, and a tens-of-femtoseconds shock time has been demonstrated for sub-picosecond pulse propagation in Si-PNWs.. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that the giant anomalous SS of PhCWs can either assist or weaken the high-order soliton compression through two different physical mechanisms: steepening of the pulse leading edge and decrease in the soliton number. The results provide insight into the physical mechanism of the temporal dynamics of the high-order solitons induced by SS and SS−TOD interaction; they provide a guide to realize superior on-chip temporal pulse compression, which can be of application for chip-scale optical interconnects, signal processing, and microwave photonics
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