On-chip all-optical quantizer based on the cross polarization modulation effect in a double-ridge a-Si:H-Si3N4 waveguide.

Abstract

The on-chip all-optical quantizer is a key functional module to realize all-optical analog-to-digital conversion. It has important applications in future optical communication and ultrafast all-optical signal processing systems. To the best of our knowledge, a novel all-optical quantization scheme based on the cross-polarization modulation effect in a double-ridge a-Si:H-Si3N4 waveguide is proposed. For the optimized waveguide, the maximum nonlinear coefficient and transmission loss at the probe wavelength are 2680.5m-1W-1 and 2.246 dB/cm, respectively. The simulation results of the proposed all-optical quantizer show that a nonlinear phase shift of 8 can be generated in the 8.79 mm long waveguide when the peak pump light power is 0.8 W. A 16-level quantization and a 4-bit quantization resolution are obtained. The effective number of bits is 3.79-bit, which is only 0.21-bit away from the ideal resolution.