Scattering of a cross-polarized linear wave by a soliton at an optical event horizon in a birefringent nanophotonic waveguide.

Abstract

The scattering of a linear wave on an optical event horizon, induced by a cross-polarized soliton, is experimentally and numerically investigated in integrated structures. The experiments are performed in a dispersion-engineered birefringent silicon nanophotonic waveguide. In stark contrast with copolarized waves, the large difference between the group velocity of the two cross-polarized waves enables a frequency conversion almost independent of the soliton wavelength. It is shown that the generated idler is only shifted by 10 nm around 1550 nm over a pump tuning range of 350 nm. Simulations using two coupled full vectorial nonlinear Schrödinger equations fully support the experimental results.