Wavelength-assignable 1310/1550Â nm wavelength conversion using completely phase-matched two-pump four-wave mixing in a silicon waveguide

A wavelength converter between 1310 and 1550 nm bands is presented based on two-pump four-wave mixing (FWM) in a silicon waveguide. The principle of the inter-band wavelength conversion is analyzed. For an arbitrary incident signal, the converted idler wavelength can be freely assigned by suitably setting the two pump wavelengths to completely satisfy the phase-matching condition. Simulation results show that the signal can be flexibly converted between 1310 and 1550 bands. The conversion efficiencies for the signals with different wavelengths are very stable because the FWM phase-matching condition is completely met. Using this two-pump FWM configuration, channel-selective function can also be realized for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) signals by engineering the dispersion profile of the silicon waveguide according to the WDM channel spacing.