Mid-infrared octave spanning supercontinuum generation to 8.5 μm in silicon-germanium waveguides

Milan Sinobad (1, 2) , Christelle Monat (1) , Barry Luther-Davies (3) , Pan Ma (3) , Stephen Madden (3) , David Moss (4) , Arnan Mitchell (2) , David Allioux (1) , Régis Orobtchouk (1) , Salim Boutami (5) , Jean-Michel Hartmann (5) , Jean-Marc Fedeli (5) , Christian Grillet (1)

1 INL - Photonique - INL - Nanophotonique
2 RMIT University - Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University
3 ANU - Australian National University
4 Swinburne University of Technology [Melbourne]
5 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information

Efficient on-chip molecule and bio-agent detection can be achieved by accessing strong molecular absorption lines in the mid-infrared, but it requires high output power broadband mid-IR sources. Here, we report supercontinuum generation in an air-clad $Si_{0.6}$$Ge_{0.4}$/Si waveguide that emits a broad spectrum spanning from 3.0 μm to 8.5 μm. These waveguides have anomalous dispersion and low propagation loss (<0.4  dB/cm) in the mid-IR, which leads to a supercontinuum output with a high average power of more than 10 mW on-chip. The realization of broadband mid-IR sources with high spectral brightness makes the SiGe-on-Si platform promising for a wide range of applications.

Domaines: Optique / photonique

Milan Sinobad, Christelle Monat, Barry Luther-Davies, Pan Ma, Stephen Madden, et al.. Mid-infrared octave spanning supercontinuum generation to 8.5 μm in silicon-germanium waveguides. Optica, 2018, 5 (4), pp.360. ⟨10.1364/OPTICA.5.000360⟩. ⟨hal-01958206⟩