Role of free carriers from two-photon absorption in Raman amplification in silicon-on-insulator waveguides

Abstract

We show experimentally that free carriers generated by two-photon-absorption in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides can introduce large losses which limit the usable pump power for Raman amplification at telecommunication wavelengths. The measured pump loss agreed with a theoretical model of the free-carrier absorption arising from two-photon-induced free carrier generation inside the waveguide.