Nonlinearity of optimized silicon photonic slot waveguides

Abstract

In this numerical study, we show that by exploiting the advantages of the horizontal silicon slot wave-guide structure the nonlinear interaction can be significantly increased compared to vertical slot waveguides. The deposition of a 20 nm thin optically nonlinear layer with low refractive index sandwiched between two silicon wires of 220 nm width and 205 nm height could enable a nonlinearity coefficient gamma of more than 2 x 10(7) W(-1)km(-1).