Opportunities for Wideband Wavelength Conversion in Foundry-Compatible Silicon Waveguides Covered With Graphene

We numerically examine the opportunities for wideband wavelength conversion through four-wave mixing (FWM) in a foundry-compatible 220-nm-thick silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide covered with the highly nonlinear two-dimensional material of graphene. As a case study, we consider a foundry-compatib...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE journal of selected topics in quantum electronics 2016-03, Vol.22 (2), p.347-359
Main Authors: Vermeulen, Nathalie, Cheng, JinLuo, Sipe, John E., Thienpont, Hugo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorption
Conversion
Covering
Frequency conversion
Graphene
Graphite
Integrated optics
Logic gates
nonlinear wave propagation
Nonlinearity
Optical waveguides
phase matching
Photonics
Pumps
silicon on insulator technology
Spirals
thin film devices
waveguide components
Waveguides
Wavelengths
Wideband
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Summary:We numerically examine the opportunities for wideband wavelength conversion through four-wave mixing (FWM) in a foundry-compatible 220-nm-thick silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide covered with the highly nonlinear two-dimensional material of graphene. As a case study, we consider a foundry-compatible SOI waveguide shaped as a double spiral and covered with two separate graphene sheets, which are covered in turn by two solid polymer electrolyte gates. When combining subwatt-level pump powers with a short waveguide length of only a few hundreds of micrometers, "perfectly phase-matched" conversion with significant efficiencies close to -20 dB can be obtained over a more than 40-THz-wide signal band adjacent to the pump frequency. Because of the tunability of the graphene properties using the electrolyte top gates, it is also possible to obtain "quasi-phase matched" FWM conversion through a periodic sign reversal of the graphene third-order nonlinearity along the waveguide. Conversion efficiencies exceeding -30 dB can be achieved over a 3.4-THz-wide signal band that is situated as much as 58 THz away from the pump frequency. Finally, the tunability of the graphene also allows for switching the converter from the perfectly phase-matched to the quasi-phase-matched operation mode.
ISSN:1077-260X
1558-4542
DOI:10.1109/JSTQE.2015.2490550