Abstract
Terahertz (THz) wave generation via four-wave mixing (FWM) in silicon membrane waveguides is investigated with mid-infrared pump. The silicon membrane waveguides with width of 12 μm and heights varied from 14 μm to 17 μm, which can confine the THz-wave ranging from 7.5 THz to 10 THz due to the large refractive index contrast of the waveguide core and cladding, are designed to realize the collinear phase matching for THz-wave generation via FWM. Compared with the conventional parametric amplification or wavelength conversion based on FWM in silicon waveguides, which needs a pump wavelength located in the anomalous group-velocity dispersion (GVD) regime to realize broad phase matching, the pump wavelength located in the normal GVD regime is required to realize phase matching because of the large signal-pump frequency detuning. Phase matching for a tunable THz-wave ranging from 8.57 THz to 10 THz can be realized by tuning the pump wavelength from 4.2 μm to 4.4 μm in the silicon waveguide with rib height of 15 μm. Whilst, the phase matching bandwidth of THz-wave ranging from 7.7 THz to 10 THz can be achieved by tailoring the waveguide height from 14 μm to 17 μm when the pump wavelength is 4.3μm. Moreover, the conversion efficiency of the THz-wave generation is studied with different pump wavelengths and waveguide heights, the maximum conversion efficiency of 1.25 % at 9.2 THz can be obtained in a 6-mm long silicon waveguide when the pump wavelength is 4.3 μm and the waveguide height is 15 μm.
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