Nonlinear optics in Silicon Photonics

Silicon is a mature material not only for micro-electronics but also for photonic applications, which is expressed in the term “Silicon Photonics”. Within “Silicon Photonics” it is not only possible to realize passive components like optical waveguides, couplers, filters etc. but also high speed modulators and photo-receivers ready to use for optical fibre communication at either 1.3 or 1.55 µm. Silicon also exhibits high 3rd order optical nonlinearities which, in combination with the extremely tiny cross section of Si-nanowires, enables very efficient optical signal processing also in the 1.55 µm telecommunication window. Taking into account also “two photon absorption” and avoiding losses due to the generation of free carriers, methods will be presented for applications of optical nonlinear signal processing like wavelength conversion for high speed data signals and parametric optical amplification including phase-sensitive parametric amplification for the regeneration of phase-encoded signals. It will be shown, that Silicon Photonics thus enables the realization of integrated circuits for both electronic and photonic signal processing.