Wavelength Multicasting at 22-GBaud 16-QAM in a Silicon Nanowire Using Four-Wave Mixing

Abstract

We demonstrate 1-to-6 wavelength multicasting of a 22-GBaud 16-QAM single polarization (6 × 88 Gb/s) signal based on four-wave mixing in a dispersion engineered silicon nanowire. All six multicast signals perform below the bit error rate forward error correction threshold of 3.8 × 10 −3 , with a worst case power penalty of 8 dB. We compare our wavelength multicasting performance against the theoretical power transfer during a three-wave mixing process and show that the average power of degenerate idlers agrees with the predicted 6 dB difference with respect to that of nondegenerate idlers. When distinguishing the nonlinear conversion efficiency from the absolute idlers power at the output of the silicon nanowire, we also show the importance of the output grating coupler's loss and how it impacts the multicasting performance, in conjunction with the four-wave mixing efficiency.

Nonlinear Silicon Photonic Signal Processing Devices for Future Optical Networks

“…Thanks to the absence of TPA in the C-band wavelength region, these devices can be considered as building blocks for applications in future all-optical networks. It is also worth noting that similar results, in terms of conversion efficiency and Optical Signal to Noise Ratio (OSNR) penalty, have been achieved in other platforms, such as crystalline silicon [18,46], AlGaAs on SOI [47] or in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA)-based devices [48]. Please refer to Table 5 for a more detailed comparison between other nonlinear platforms and the a-Si pretended in here.…”

“…In Table 5, we compare both a-Si and SiGe wavelength converters and their key performance against other similar devices already presented in the literature, showing conversion of complex, phase encoded telecom signals: Crystalline silicon has been widely used to realize all optical wavelength converters as shown for example in [7,46]. In Table 5, we only report the most advanced result (in terms of signal complexity), showing the wavelength conversion of a 112 Gb/s 16 QAM signal.…”

“…Impressive results have been recently shown by using AlGaAs waveguides [47], however this platform is not CMOS compatible and may require high temperature fabrication steps [20,21] to reduce the propagation losses. Hydex offers both relatively high nonlinearity and extremely low loss at the telecom wavelength region [24], however very long In Table 5, we compare both a-Si and SiGe wavelength converters and their key performance against other similar devices already presented in the literature, showing conversion of complex, phase encoded telecom signals: Crystalline silicon has been widely used to realize all optical wavelength converters as shown for example in [7,46]. In Table 5, we only report the most advanced result (in terms of signal complexity), showing the wavelength conversion of a 112 Gb/s 16 QAM signal.…”

Polarization Control in Integrated Silicon Waveguides Using Semiconductor Nanowires

“…In recent years, the rapid development of integrated photonic circuits has enabled the realization of complex devices serving a variety of technological fields [ 1 , 2 ]. Photonic integrated circuit (PIC) architectures have reached a high level of complexity and can perform several functions, such as the manipulation of optical signals [ 3 , 4 ], modulation at high speed rates [ 5 , 6 ] and quantum and computing operations [ 7 , 8 ]. One of the key functionalities that needs to be further developed is related to the precise and dynamic control of the state of polarization of optical beams traveling within integrated waveguides.…”