Negligible Nonlinear Losses Research Articles

Pure-quartic Bragg solitons in chip-scale nonlinear integrated circuits

Pure-quartic solitons have gained significant attention recently due to their ability to achieve higher energy than classical solitons for short pulse durations, leveraging the interaction between self-phase modulation and anomalous fourth-order dispersion. However, challenges in generating the required dispersion profile and the scarcity of sufficiently low-loss devices with high nonlinearity and negligible nonlinear loss have restricted experimental progress. In this paper, we report a class of pure-quartic Bragg solitons that balances self-phase modulation and the ultra-strong Bragg-grating-induced negative fourth-order dispersion in combination with negligible group velocity dispersion and negligible third-order dispersion. We demonstrate pure-quartic Bragg soliton-effect compression of 2.4× in a compact millimeter-scale integrated low-loss and highly nonlinear waveguide circuit. Our findings show the potential of exploiting the exceptional dispersion profile of nonlinear Bragg gratings for advanced soliton generation and pulse shaping, particularly the advantageous energy scaling and associated compression of pure-quartic solitons.

Fully Integrated Solid-State LiDAR Transmitter on a Multi-Layer Silicon-Nitride-on-Silicon Photonic Platform

We report a LiDAR transmitter incorporating both a hybrid-integrated tunable external cavity laser and a high-resolution 2-D optical phased array beam-steerer. Widely tunable single-mode lasing over a span of approximately 100 nm is achieved with >42 dB side-mode-suppression-ratio, 18 mW output power, and 2.8 kHz linewidth. Two-dimensional beam steering in a field-of-view of 140° × 16° exhibits a beam divergence of 0.051° × 0.016° measured in full width at half maximum. Leveraging the low propagation loss, negligible nonlinear loss, and low thermal sensitivity of silicon nitride, and combining the high mode confinement and efficient thermal tuning of silicon, the device affirms the feasibility of high-power on-chip lasing, power bottleneck elimination, and low on-chip insertion loss. It represents the first demonstration of a fully integrated LiDAR transmitter on the multi-layer silicon-nitride-on-silicon photonic platform, revealing the potential of complementary integration in the effort toward a LiDAR transmitter of sufficient optical power budget.

Telecommunication Gallium: The Future and Metal of Data Transmission

Abstract: All-optical signal process is taken into consideration as one of the promising answers to similarly enhance the data communication speed. Searching for a right material platform continues to be a crucial problem, which calls for numerous important residences which include excessive Kerr nonlinearity, negligible nonlinear loss, and capacity compatibility with the prevailing complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication manner. In Recent years, many on-chip structures had been investigated, inclusive of silicon-on-insulator (SOI), Si3N4, silicon wealthy nitride (SRN), and amorphous silicon; However, those substances can hardly ever gain each excessive Kerr nonlinearity and occasional loss simultaneously. For instance, the SOI platform has the maximum mature fabrication generation and relatively excessive third-order optical nonlinearity, however its overall performance in Nonlinear photonics is usually confined via way of means of two-photon absorption (TPA) at a telecom wavelength of 1550 nm-1

Raman Lasing in Multimode Silicon Racetrack Resonators

AbstractIntegrated Raman lasers have been well explored using silica and silicon platforms for decades. A well‐known equation with negligible nonlinear losses is employed for predictions of Raman lasing threshold powers in critically coupled cavities. However, nonlinear losses are known to be highly detrimental to silicon devices. Herein, for the first time, including the effects of linear loss, nonlinear losses, and cavity design, a new general equation that predicts the onset of Raman lasing in a cavity is derived and validated experimentally. Generally, a cavity with a small effective area, a short length, and high quality factors (Qs) at both pump and Stokes wavelengths can lase at relatively low pump power. This theory is verified by the experimental results with sub‐milliwatt threshold powers in 2.8 mm long multimode cavities with different Qs at different pump wavelengths. The derived Raman gain coefficients from the measurements follow the scaling rules of Raman gain. This work advances the understanding of Raman lasing in high‐Q multimode cavities. It also shows that Raman lasing at O/S‐band is possible in racetrack resonators without needing any reverse bias and the broad operation wavelength is promising for single‐chip silicon devices operating at all communication bands.

Bragg Soliton Compression and Fission on CMOS‐Compatible Ultra‐Silicon‐Rich Nitride

AbstractHigher‐order soliton dynamics, specifically soliton compression and fission, underpin crucial applications in ultrafast optics, communications, and signal processing. Bragg solitons exploit the strong dispersive properties of periodic media near the photonic band edge. This enables soliton dynamics to occur in very short propagation distances, opening avenues to harness soliton compression and fission in integrated photonic platforms. However, implementation in complementary metal‐oxide semiconductor (CMOS)‐compatible platforms has been hindered by the strong nonlinear loss that dominates the propagation in silicon and the low‐optical nonlinearity of traditional silicon nitride. Here, CMOS‐compatible, on‐chip Bragg solitons, are presented with a soliton‐effect pulse compression with a factor of × 5.7, along with time‐resolved measurements of soliton fission on a CMOS‐compatible photonic circuit platform. These observations are enabled by the combination of a unique cladding‐modulated Bragg grating design and the high nonlinearity and negligible nonlinear loss of compositionally engineered ultra‐silicon‐rich nitride (USRN: Si7N3).

Multichannel phase-sensitive amplification in a low-loss CMOS-compatible spiral waveguide.

We investigate single-channel and multichannel phase-sensitive amplification (PSA) in a highly nonlinear, CMOS-compatible spiral waveguide with ultralow linear and negligible nonlinear losses. We achieve a net gain of 10.4dB and an extinction ratio of 24.6dB for single-channel operation, as well as a 5dB gain and a 15dB extinction ratio spanning over a bandwidth of 24nm for multiple-channel operation. In addition, we derive a simple analytic solution that enables calculating the maximum phase-sensitive gain in any Kerr medium featuring linear and nonlinear losses. These results not only give a clear guideline for designing PSA-based amplifiers but also show that it is possible to implement both optical regeneration and amplification in a single on-chip device.

Wavelength conversion of QAM signals in a low loss CMOS compatible spiral waveguide

We demonstrate wavelength conversion of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals, including 32-GBd quadrature phase-shift keying and 10-GBd 16-QAM, in a 50-cm long high index doped glass spiral waveguide. The quality of the generated idlers for up to 20 nm of wavelength shift is sufficient to achieve a BER performance below the hard decision forward error correction threshold BER performance (<3.8 × 103), with an optical signal-to-noise ratio penalty of less than 0.3 dB compared to the original signal. Our results confirm that this is a promising platform for nonlinear optical signal processing, as a result of both very low linear propagation loss (<0.07 dB/cm) and a large material bandgap, which in turn ensures negligible nonlinear loss at telecom wavelengths.

Nonlinear characterization of GeSbS chalcogenide glass waveguides.

GeSbS ridge waveguides have recently been demonstrated as a promising mid – infrared platform for integrated waveguide – based chemical sensing and photodetection. To date, their nonlinear optical properties remain relatively unexplored. In this paper, we characterize the nonlinear optical properties of GeSbS glasses, and show negligible nonlinear losses at 1.55 μm. Using self – phase modulation experiments, we characterize a waveguide nonlinear parameter of 7 W−1/m and nonlinear refractive index of 3.71 × 10−18 m2/W. GeSbS waveguides are used to generate supercontinuum from 1280 nm to 2120 nm at the −30 dB level. The spectrum expands along the red shifted side of the spectrum faster than on the blue shifted side, facilitated by cascaded stimulated Raman scattering arising from the large Raman gain of chalcogenides. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic measurements show that these glasses are optically transparent up to 25 μm, making them useful for short – wave to long – wave infrared applications in both linear and nonlinear optics.

Supercontinuum generation in bandgap engineered, back‐end CMOS compatible silicon rich nitride waveguides

CMOS‐compatible nonlinear optics platforms with negligible nonlinear losses and high nonlinearity are of great merit. Silicon, silicon nitride and Hydex glass have made significant headway in nonlinear optical signal processing, though none of these platforms possesses the highly sought after combination of high nonlinearity and negligible nonlinear losses. In this manuscript, we present a nonlinear optics platform based on silicon‐rich nitride, deposited at a low temperature of 250°C compatible with back‐end CMOS processing. The silicon‐rich nitride is designed and engineered in composition to have a bandgap of 2.05 eV, such that the two‐photon absorption edge is well below 1.55 μm. The designed and developed waveguides have a nonlinear parameter of 550 W−1/m, 500 times larger than that in silicon nitride waveguides, while at the same time not possessing two‐photon and free‐carrier losses. Using 500‐fs pulses, we generate supercontinuum exceeding 0.6 of an octave.

Nonlinear transmission properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon core fibers towards the mid-infrared regime

The nonlinear transmission properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) core fibers are characterized from the near-infrared up to the edge of the mid-infrared regime. The results show that this material exhibits linear losses on the order of a few dB/cm, or less, over the entire wavelength range, decreasing down to a value of 0.29 dB/cm at 2.7μm, and negligible nonlinear losses beyond the two-photon absorption (TPA) edge ~ 1.7μm. By measuring the dispersion of the nonlinear Kerr and TPA parameters we have found that the nonlinear figure of merit (FOM(NL)) increases dramatically over this region, with FOM(NL) > 20 around 2μm and above. This characterization demonstrates the potential for a-Si:H fibers and waveguides to find use in nonlinear applications extending beyond telecoms and into the mid-infrared regime.