Self-Adaptive Waveguide Boundary for Inter-Mode Four-Wave Mixing

We propose a universal approach to provide wideband multimode four-wave mixing independently of the intrinsic dispersion of the involved waveguide modes. Concepts from quantum mechanics and subwavelength engineering are adopted to design an effective lateral confinement photonic well, i.e., with a g...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE journal of selected topics in quantum electronics 2020-03, Vol.26 (2), p.1-8
Main Authors: Zhang, Jianhao, Alonso-Ramos, Carlos, Vivien, Laurent, He, Sailing, Cassan, Eric
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive control
Bandwidths
Broadband
Confinement
Dispersion
Energy conservation
Engineering Sciences
Four-wave mixing
Indexes
nonlinear optics
Optical communication
Optical frequency conversion
Optical waveguide
Optical waveguides
Phase matching
Photonics
physical optics
Quantum mechanics
Signal processing
Wave propagation
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Summary:We propose a universal approach to provide wideband multimode four-wave mixing independently of the intrinsic dispersion of the involved waveguide modes. Concepts from quantum mechanics and subwavelength engineering are adopted to design an effective lateral confinement photonic well, i.e., with a graded potential along the waveguide cross section providing flexible control over the modes' confinement. The self-adaptive nature of the waveguide boundary allows different spatial modes with equi-spaced frequencies and shared propagation wavevector, thus automatically fulfilling both energy conservation and wavevector phase matching conditions. Capitalizing on this concept, we show phase-matching among modes separated by 400 nm (bridging from telecom wavelengths to almost {2}\;{\rm{\mu m}}), with less than 5% deviation in a remarkably large bandwidth exceeding 300 nm. Furthermore, we also show the flexibility of the proposed approach that can be seamlessly adapted to different technology platforms. This strategy opens a new design space for versatile on-chip nonlinear applications in which the manipulation of energy spacing and phase matching is pivotal, e.g., all-optical signal processing with four-wave mixing, mid-infrared supercontinuum or frequency comb light generation, or Brillouin scattering with selectable phonon energy.
ISSN:1077-260X
1558-4542
DOI:10.1109/JSTQE.2019.2929700