Third-harmonic generation in slow-light chalcogenide glass photonic crystal waveguides

Abstract

We demonstrate third-harmonic generation (THG) in a dispersion-engineered slow-light photonic crystal waveguide fabricated in AMTIR-1 chalcogenide glass. Owing to the relatively low loss and low dispersion in the slow-light (c/30) regime, combined with the high nonlinear figure of merit of the material (similar to 2), we obtain a relatively large conversion efficiency (1.4 x 10(-8)/W-2), which is 30x higher than in comparable silicon waveguides, and observe a uniform visible light pattern along the waveguide. These results widen the number of applications underpinned by THG in slow-light platforms, such as the direct observation of the spatial evolution of the propagating mode. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America