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Energy harvesting in silicon wavelength converters

Kevin K. Tsia, Sasan Fathpour, and Bahram Jalali

Open Access Open Access

Abstract

Nonlinear loss is the central problem in silicon devices that operate using nonlinear optical effects. Wavelength converters are one example of such devices, wherein high optical intensities required for nonlinear interactions cause two-photon absorption and severe free-carrier absorption. In this paper, we report the first demonstration of nonlinear photovoltaic effect in silicon wavelength converters. This useful phenomenon allows us to eliminate the nonlinear loss caused by free-carrier absorption, while harvesting the optical power that is normally consumed by two-photon absorption.

©2006 Optical Society of America

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Figures (6)
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Schematic of the experimental setup for wavelength conversion measurement in SOI waveguides (EDFA: Erbium-doped fiber amplifier; BPF: band pass filter; PC: polarization controller; OSA: optical spectrum analyzer). The right bottom inset shows the rib waveguide cross-section with width of W=1.5 µm, rib height of H=2 µm, etch-depth of h=0.9µm and d=1.9 µm.

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Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Output spectrum resulted from four-wave mixing in the waveguide under forward-bias of Vbias =+0.5V at coupled pump power of 0.71W. The converted signal is at 1544.25 nm with a conversion efficiency ~-23.8dB.

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Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Wavelength conversion efficiency as a function of coupled pump power under different biasing conditions. The wavelength detuning, Δλ=λ2 -λ1 , is 1 nm. The dashed lines represent the modeled conversion efficiency for different measured carrier lifetime values at different biasing conditions. (b) Wavelength conversion efficiency as a function of the wavelength detuning Δλ at different biasing conditions, measured at pump power of 0.71 W.

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Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Temporal response of a CW signal laser to a pulsed pump laser at different biasing condition in the p-i-n SOI waveguide. The fitted carrier lifetime values are shown in the legend.

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Fig. 5.
Fig. 5. (a) I-V characteristics of the p-i-n diode straddled the SOI rib waveguide at various coupled pump powers measured by a curve-tracer. (b) Generated electrical power from the diode as a function of forward bias at Δλ=1 nm and coupled pump power of 0.71W. The inset shows the generated electrical power in wider range of bias voltages, from -15V to +0.9 V.

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Fig. 6.
Fig. 6. (a) Conversion efficiency versus optical intensity for a large waveguide (W=1.5 µm, H=2 µm, h=0.9 µm, d=1.9 µm) and a sub-micron waveguide (W=0.45 µm, H=0.35 µm, h=0.3µm, d=0.3 µm). The dashed and solid curves represent -15 V and +0.5 V biases, respectively. The experimental data at -15 V (circles) and +0.5V (squares) are overlaid (same as in Fig. 3). Δλ=1 nm and 15 nm for large and sub-micron waveguide, respectively; (b) Calculated conversion spectra of the small waveguide at optical intensity of ~300 MW/cm2 at -15 V (dashed line) and +0.5 V (solid line).

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Equations (3)

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d A p d z = − 1 2 [ α + α p FCA ( z ) ] A p + i ( γ p + i β 2 ) ∣ A p ∣ 2 A p ,
d A s d z = − 1 2 [ α + α s FCA ( z ) ] A s + 2 i ( γ s + i β 2 ) ∣ A p ∣ 2 A s + i γ s A p 2 A i * exp ( − i Δ k · z ) ,
d A i * d z = − 1 2 [ α + α i FCA ( z ) ] A i * − 2 i ( γ i − i β 2 ) ∣ A p ∣ 2 A i * − i γ i A p * 2 A s exp ( i Δ k · z ) ,
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