title: Inducing photonic transitions between discrete modes in a silicon optical microcavity.
abstract: We show the existence of direct photonic transitions between modes of a silicon optical microcavity spaced apart in wavelength by over 8 nm. This is achieved by using ultrafast tuning of the refractive index of the cavity over a time interval that is comparable to the inverse of the frequency separation of modes. The demonstrated frequency mixing effect, i.e., the transitions between the modes, would enable on-chip silicon comb sources which can find wide applications in optical sensing, precise spectroscopy, and wavelength-division multiplexing for optical communications and interconnects.
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Po
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Stefan F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Preble
authors.forename: Jacob T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: Sasikanth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manipatruni
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lipson