title: Nonlinearities in porous silicon optical waveguides at 1550 nm.
abstract: We report an experimental investigation of the nonlinear optical properties of nanoporous silicon optical waveguides measured at 1550 nm. The nonlinear properties including two-photon absorption, self-phase modulation, free-carrier absorption and free-carrier plasma dispersion are characterized and compared with similar measurements conducted on a conventional silicon-on-insulator ridge waveguide. Our study reveals that even waveguides that are 70% porous exhibit two-photon absorption and self-phase modulation coefficients that are comparable to those of crystalline silicon. The free-carrier absorption and dispersion in porous silicon waveguides are found to be significantly faster, and stronger than those reported for crystalline silicon.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. paveen@umd.edu
authors.forename: Paveen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Apiratikul
authors.forename: Andrea M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Murphy