title: Nonlinear loss dynamics in a silicon slow-light photonic crystal waveguide.
abstract: We directly investigate both experimentally and numerically the influence of optical nonlinear loss dynamics on a silicon waveguide based all-optical device. The dynamics of these nonlinear losses are explored through the analysis of optical limiting of an amplitude distorted 10 Gbit/s signal in a slow-light silicon photonic crystal waveguide. As the frequency of the distortion approaches the free-carrier recombination rate, free-carrier absorption reaches a steady state, leaving two-photon absorption the dominant dynamic nonlinear loss. Our results highlight the importance of engineering the free-carrier lifetime in silicon waveguides for high speed all-optical processing applications.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ultrahigh-Bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS), Institute for Photonics and Optical Sciences (IPOS), School of Physics, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia. billc@physics.usyd.edu.au
authors.forename: Bill
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Corcoran
authors.forename: Christelle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Monat
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pudo
authors.forename: Benjamin J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Eggleton
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Krauss
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Moss
authors.forename: Liam
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: O'Faolain
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pelusi
authors.forename: Thomas P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: White