Efficient wavelength conversion with low operation power in a Ta2O5-based micro-ring resonator

Abstract

The Ta2O5-based micro-ring resonator with an unloaded quality factor of 182,000 has been demonstrated to realize efficient nonlinear wavelength generation. The propagation loss of the resonator is 0.5 cm(-1), and the buildup factor of the ring resonator is estimated to be similar to 50. With a high buildup factor of the ring structure, the four-wave-mixing (FWM) conversion efficiency of -30 dB is achieved in the resonator with a pump power of 6 mW. Based on power-dependent FWM results, the nonlinear refractive index of Ta2O5 is estimated to be 1.4x10-14 cm(2)/W at a wavelength of similar to 1550 nm. The demonstration of an enhanced FWM process in the Ta(2)O(5-)based micro-ring cavity implies the possibility of realizing FWM-based optical parametric oscillation in a Ta2O5-based micro-ring resonator. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America