Pump-to-Stokes relative intensity noise transfer and analytical modeling of mid-infrared silicon Raman lasers

J Ma,S Fathpour

doi:10.1364/oe.20.017962

Abstract

An analytical model for mid-infrared (mid-IR) silicon Raman lasers (SRLs) is developed. The relative intensity noise (RIN) transfer from the pump to the Stokes in the lasers is also investigated. The analytical model can be used as a versatile and efficient tool for analysis, design and optimization of mid-IR SRLs. It is shown that conversion efficiency of 70% is attainable and the low-frequency RIN transfer may be suppressed to below 1 dB by pumping low-loss waveguides at high intensities.

Highlights

Silicon is an established optical material for passive and active integrated optics and optoelectronics in the near-infrared regime [1]
Optical Raman amplification at 3.4 μm [3,4], four-wave mixing and parametric amplification at ~2.2 μm [7,8], silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) waveguides at 4.5 μm [5], silicon-on-insulator waveguides at 3.39 μm [9] and SOS gratings couplers at 2.75 μm [10] are some of the recent developments in the emerging field of mid-IR silicon photonics
The intensity distributions of the pump and Stokes waves in the laser cavity for an input intensity of Iin = 200 MW/cm2 are plotted using both methods. Such pump intensities can be attained in practice by solid-state mid-IR lasers [3,4]

Summary

Introduction

Silicon is an established optical material for passive and active integrated optics and optoelectronics in the near-infrared (near-IR) regime [1]. Optical Raman amplification at 3.4 μm [3,4], four-wave mixing and parametric amplification at ~2.2 μm [7,8], silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) waveguides at 4.5 μm [5], silicon-on-insulator waveguides at 3.39 μm [9] and SOS gratings couplers at 2.75 μm [10] are some of the recent developments in the emerging field of mid-IR silicon photonics. No experimental work on mid-IR SRLs has yet been reported to the best of our knowledge. It is, mentioned that demonstration of 3.4 μm mid-IR SRLs has been attempted by the present authors in mirror-coated 1-inch thick silicon ingots and using a setup similar to that described in Ref [4]. It is our belief that optical waveguiding would alleviate some of these issues provided that low-loss mid-IR silicon waveguides [9] and efficient coupling schemes [10] are simultaneously employed

Methods

Results

Conclusion