Reduced nonlinearities in 100-nm high SOI waveguides

Abstract

Here we show the results of an experimental analysis dedicated to investigate the impact of optical nonlinear effects, such as two-photon absorption (TPA), free-carrier absorption (FCA) and free-carrier dispersion (FCD), on the performance of integrated micro-resonator based filters for application in WDM telecommunication systems. The filters were fabricated using SOI (Silicon-on-Insulator) technology by CEA-Leti, in the frame of the FP7 Fabulous Project, which aims to develop low-cost and high-performance integrated optical devices to be used in new generation passiveoptical-networks (NG-PON2). Different designs were tested, including both ring-based structures and racetrack-based structures, with single-, double- or triple- resonator configuration, and using different waveguide cross-sections (from 500 x 200 nm to 825 x 100 nm). Measurements were carried out using an external cavity tunable laser source operating in the extended telecom bandwidth, using both continuous wave signals and 10 Gbit/s modulated signals. Results show that the use 100-nm high waveguide allows reducing the impact of non-linear losses, with respect to the standard waveguides, thus increasing by more than 3 dB the maximum amount of optical power that can be injected into the devices before causing significant non-linear effects. Measurements with OOK-modulated signals at 10 Gbit/s showed that TPA and FCA don’t affect the back-to-back BER of the signal, even when long pseudo-random-bit-sequences (PRBS) are used, as the FCD-induced filter-detuning increases filter losses but "prevents" excessive signal degradation.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Cosimo Lacava: orcid.org/0000-0002-9950-8642

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