Giant nonlinear response at a plasmonic nanofocus drives efficient four-wave mixing
Author(s)
Nielsen, Michael P
Shi, Xingyuan
Dichtl, Paul
Maier, Stefan A
Oulton, Rupert F
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Efficient optical frequency mixing typically must accumulate over large interaction lengths because nonlinear responses in natural materials are inherently weak. This limits the efficiency of mixing processes owing to the requirement of phase matching. Here, we report efficient four-wave mixing (FWM) over micrometer-scale interaction lengths at telecommunications wavelengths on silicon. We used an integrated plasmonic gap waveguide that strongly confines light within a nonlinear organic polymer. The gap waveguide intensifies light by nanofocusing it to a mode cross-section of a few tens of nanometers, thus generating a nonlinear response so strong that efficient FWM accumulates over wavelength-scale distances. This technique opens up nonlinear optics to a regime of relaxed phase matching, with the possibility of compact, broadband, and efficient frequency mixing integrated with silicon photonics.
Date Issued
2017-12-01
Date Acceptance
2017-10-26
Citation
Science, 2017, 358 (6367), pp.1179-1181
ISSN
0036-8075
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Start Page
1179
End Page
1181
Journal / Book Title
Science
Volume
358
Issue
6367
Copyright Statement
© 2017 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works http://www.sciencemag.org/about/science-licenses-journal-article-reuseThis is an article distributed under the terms of the Science Journals Default License.
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
The Leverhulme Trust
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000416584000040&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
EP/M013812/1
EP/K503381/1
EP/I004343/1
RPG-2016-064
Subjects
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
WAVE-GUIDES
SILICON-CHIP
PHASE
ENHANCEMENT
PROPAGATION
GENERATION
CONVERSION
Publication Status
Published