Modulational instability in a silicon-on-insulator directional coupler: Role of the coupling-induced group velocity dispersion

Wei Ding, Owain K Staines, Gareth D Hobbs, Andriy V Gorbach, Charles De Nobriga, William J Wadsworth, Jonathan C Knight, Dmitry V Skryabin, M J Strain, M Sorel, R M De La Rue

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (SciVal)
268 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

We report frequency conversion experiments in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) directional couplers. We demonstrate that the evanescent coupling between two subwavelength SOI waveguides is strongly dispersive and significantly modifies modulational instability (MI) spectra through the coupling induced group velocity dispersion (GVD). As the separation between two 380-nm-wide silicon photonic wires decreases, the increasing dispersion of the coupling makes the GVD in the symmetric supermode more normal and suppresses the bandwidth of the MI gain observed for larger separations.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)668-670
Number of pages3
JournalOptics Letters
Volume37
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Feb 2012

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Modulational instability in a silicon-on-insulator directional coupler: Role of the coupling-induced group velocity dispersion'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this