Nonlinear silicon-on-insulator waveguides for all-optical signal processing

Abstract

Values up to gamma=7 x 10(6)/(W km) for the nonlinear parameter are feasible if silicon-on-insulator based strip and slot waveguides are properly designed. This is more than three orders of magnitude larger than for state-of-the-art highly nonlinear fibers, and it enables ultrafast all-optical signal processing with nonresonant compact devices. At lambda=1.55 microm we provide universal design curves for strip and slot waveguides which are covered with different linear and nonlinear materials, and we calculate the resulting maximum gamma.