title: High nonlinear figure-of-merit amorphous silicon waveguides.
abstract: The nonlinear response of amorphous silicon waveguides is reported and compared to silicon-on-insulator (SOI) samples. The real part of the nonlinear coefficient γ is measured by four-wave-mixing and the imaginary part of γ is characterized by measuring the nonlinear loss at different peak powers. The combination of both results yields a two-photon-absorption figure of merit of 4.9, which is more than 7 times higher than for the SOI samples. Time-resolved measurements and simulations confirm the measured nonlinear coefficient γ and show the absence of slow free-carrier effects versus ns free-carrier lifetimes in the SOI samples.
authors.affiliation: Nanophotonics Technology Center, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain. joamatab@ntc.upv.es
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Matres
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Ballesteros
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gautier
authors.forename: J-M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Fédéli
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martí
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Oton
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D012825:Silicon