Photonics Research, 2018, 6 (5): 05000B23, Published Online: Apr. 11, 2019
Dual-polarization wavelength conversion of 16-QAM signals in a single silicon waveguide with lateral p-i-n diode [Invited]
Nonlinear optics, four-wave mixing Nonlinear optics, integrated optics Nonlinear optics, materials Nonlinear optical signal processing Coherent communications
Abstract
A polarization-diversity loop with a silicon waveguide with a lateral p-i-n diode as a nonlinear medium is used to realize polarization insensitive four-wave mixing. Wavelength conversion of seven dual-polarization 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals at 16 GBd is demonstrated with an optical signal-to-noise ratio penalty below 0.7 dB. High-quality converted signals are generated thanks to the low polarization dependence (≤0.5 dB) and the high conversion efficiency (CE) achievable. The strong Kerr nonlinearity in silicon and the decrease of detrimental free-carrier absorption due to the reverse-biased p-i-n diode are key in ensuring the high CE levels.
Francesco Da Ros, Andrzej Gajda, Erik Liebig, Edson P. da Silva, Anna Pęczek, Peter D. Girouard, Andreas Mai, Klaus Petermann, Lars Zimmermann, Michael Galili, Leif K. Oxenløwe. Dual-polarization wavelength conversion of 16-QAM signals in a single silicon waveguide with lateral p-i-n diode [Invited][J]. Photonics Research, 2018, 6(5): 05000B23.