On-chip high-efficiency wavelength multicasting of PAM3/PAM4 signals using low-loss AlGaAs-on-insulator nanowaveguides

Abstract

Nonlinear optics-based optical signal processing (OSP) could potentially increase network flexibility because of its transparency, tunability, and large bandwidth. A low-loss, high nonlinearity, and compact integrated material platform is always the pursuit of OSP. In this Letter, a high-efficiency, one-to-six wavelength multicasting of 10 Gbaud pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM3/PAM4) signals using a 6 cm long <i>A</i><i>l</i>_0.2<i>G</i><i>a</i>_0.8<i>A</i><i>s</i>-on-insulator nanowaveguide is experimentally demonstrated for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The low-loss, combined with the high nonlinear coefficient of the AlGaAsOI platform, enables us to achieve -11.2<i>d</i><i>B</i> average conversion efficiency clear eye diagrams and <2.1<i>d</i><i>B</i> power penalty at KP4-forward error correction threshold (2.4×10^-4) for all the output PAM3/PAM4 multicasting channels. This result points to a new generation of nonlinear OSP photonic integrated circuits.