Coherent ultra-violet to near-infrared generation in silica ridge waveguides

• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13922
• Publication Date: 2017-01-09T10:55:03Z
• Authors: Dong Yoon Oh; Ki Youl Yang; Connor Fredrick; Gabriel Ycas; Scott A. Diddams; Kerry J. Vahala
• Keywords: Science; Q; 0103 physical sciences; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; 621; 02 engineering and technology; 530; 7. Clean energy; 01 natural sciences; Article

AbstractShort duration, intense pulses of light can experience dramatic spectral broadening when propagating through lengths of optical fibre. This continuum generation process is caused by a combination of nonlinear optical effects including the formation of dispersive waves. Optical analogues of Cherenkov radiation, these waves allow a pulse to radiate power into a distant spectral region. In this work, efficient and coherent dispersive wave generation of visible to ultraviolet light is demonstrated in silica waveguides on a silicon chip. Unlike fibre broadeners, the arrays provide a wide range of emission wavelength choices on a single, compact chip. This new capability is used to simplify offset frequency measurements of a mode-locked frequency comb. The arrays can also enable mode-locked lasers to attain unprecedented tunable spectral reach for spectroscopy, bioimaging, tomography and metrology.