All-optical wavelength conversion at 42.7 Gbit/s in a 4 mm long silicon-organic hybrid waveguide

All-optical wavelength conversion at 42.7 Gbit/s over 18 nm in a passive 4 mm long silicon-organic hybrid waveguide is demonstrated based on four-wave mixing. No patterning effects are observed.

1. Introduction

Wavelength conversion is one of the comer stones of all-optical signal processing. While devices like semiconductor optical amplifiers or highly nonlinear fibers have been successfully used for some time [1], the research effort for silicon compatible wavelength converters that offer on-chip integration has been considerably increased [2]–[4]. However, all pure silicon implementations to date suffer from two-photon absorption (TPA) and free-carrier absorption (FCA) effects. Additional technological measures like a p-i-n structure are needed to mitigate these effects and scale to bit rates of 40 Gbit/s [5]. Combining the wave guiding properties of silicon with third order nonlinearities from organic cladding materials offers a technologically feasibly alternative that avoids free-carrier effects completely [6].