Harnessing mode-selective nonlinear optics for on-chip multi-channel all-optical signal processing

Ming Ma,Lawrence R Chen

doi:10.1063/1.4967205

Abstract

All-optical signal processing based on nonlinear optical effects allows for the realization of important functions in telecommunications including wavelength conversion, optical multiplexing/demultiplexing, Fourier transformation, and regeneration, amongst others, on ultrafast time scales to support high data rate transmission. In integrated photonic subsystems, the majority of all-optical signal processing systems demonstrated to date typically process only a single channel at a time or perform a single processing function, which imposes a serious limitation on the functionality of integrated solutions. Here, we demonstrate how nonlinear optical effects can be harnessed in a mode-selective manner to perform simultaneous multi-channel (two) and multi-functional optical signal processing (i.e., regenerative wavelength conversion) in an integrated silicon photonic device. This approach, which can be scaled to a higher number of channels, opens up a new degree of freedom for performing a broad range of multi...

Highlights

All-optical signal processing, which can take advantage of ultrafast nonlinear effects such as self-phase modulation (SPM), cross-phase modulation (XPM), and four-wave mixing (FWM), has potential applications in optical communications as it enables functions such as pulse shaping/waveform generation, wavelength conversion, opticalmultiplexing, Fourier transformation, true-time delay, regeneration, and equalization, to be realized at very high data rates.[1]
Electronical approaches are mature and accelerated by large-scale IC integration, all-optical signal processing offers a number of advantages, most notably avoiding the need for optical-to-electricalto-optical (OEO) conversion
The regeneration of signals, which compensates for transmission impairments including dispersion, nonlinear effects, and accumulation of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise, will extend reach and wavelength conversion is of interest for solving the problem of wavelength blocking at network nodes

Summary

Introduction

All-optical signal processing, which can take advantage of ultrafast nonlinear effects such as self-phase modulation (SPM), cross-phase modulation (XPM), and four-wave mixing (FWM), has potential applications in optical communications as it enables functions such as pulse shaping/waveform generation, wavelength conversion, optical (de-)multiplexing, Fourier transformation, true-time delay, regeneration, and equalization, to be realized at very high data rates.[1]. Single-channel all-optical signal regeneration and wavelength conversion have been successfully demonstrated in passive chalcogenide waveguides[15,16,17,18,19] and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides.[20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27] In order to realize multi-channel processing in an integrated waveguide, signals

Results

Conclusion