title: Impact of two-photon absorption on self-phase modulation in silicon waveguides.
abstract: We study the effects of two-photon absorption on the self-phase modulation (SPM) process in silicon waveguides while including both free-carrier absorption and free-carrier dispersion. An analytical solution is provided in the case in which the density of generated carriers is relatively low; it is useful for estimating spectral bandwidth of pulses at low repetition rates. The free-carrier effects are studied numerically with emphasis on their role on the nonlinear phase shift and spectral broadening. We also consider how the repetition rate of a pulse train affects the SPM process.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.
authors.forename: Lianghong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Govind P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Agrawal