1 Low power continuous-wave nonlinear optics in silica glass integrated waveguide structures

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates low-power continuous-wave nonlinear optics in silica glass integrated waveguides, enabling efficient four-wave mixing at telecom wavelengths with potential for low-cost photonic circuits.

Contribution

First demonstration of nonlinear optics in silica glass waveguides using CW light, showcasing low pump power and integration potential for telecom applications.

Findings

Successful four-wave mixing at 7mW CW pump power

Silica glass waveguides enable nonlinear optics with high reliability

Potential for low-cost, integrated nonlinear photonic devices

Abstract

Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are a key component [1] for future telecommunication networks, where demands for greater bandwidth, network flexibility, low energy consumption and cost must all be met. The quest for all optical components has naturally targeted materials with extremely large nonlinearity, including chalcogenide glasses (ChG) [2] and semiconductors, such as silicon [3] and AlGaAs [4]. Yet issues such as immature fabrication technologies for ChG, and high linear and nonlinear losses for semiconductors, motivate the search for other materials. Here we present the first demonstration of nonlinear optics in integrated silica based glass waveguides using continuous wave (CW) light. We demonstrate four wave mixing (FWM), with low (7mW) CW pump power at a wavelength of 1550nm, in high index doped silica glass ring resonators capable of performing in photonic telecommunications networks as linear filters [5]. The high reliability, design flexibility, and manufacturability of our device raises the possibility of a new platform for future low cost nonlinear all optical PICs.