Abstract
The generation of broadband light within the telecommunication band has been instrumental to the design and characterization of advanced optical devices and systems. In this paper, stimulated degenerate four-wave mixing of an ultra-silicon rich nitride waveguide is investigated using a pulsed pump at 1.555 mu m and incoherent broadband sources emitting in the 1.65 mu m wavelength region as a signal. The waveguide possesses a large nonlinear parameter of 330 W-1/m as well as anomalous dispersion, required for phase matched parametric processes. The broadband idler ranging from 1.43 mu m to 1.52 mu m is generated using a coupled peak power of 4.6 W, spanning similar to 100 nm at the -20 dB level, which is sufficient to cover parts of the E- and S-bands. The spectral span of the generated idler also agrees well with the calculation based on the phase-matching condition governing degenerate four-wave mixing. Cascaded incoherent four-wave mixing is also observed. Using a supercontinuum pump spanning from 1.1 to 1.7 mu m with a coupled peak power of 26 W, an idler spanning from 1.2 to 1.4 mu m is generated, equivalent to an idler on/off conversion efficiency of 27 dB. Published by AIP Publishing.