Self-organized nonlinear gratings for ultrafast nanophotonics

Abstract

Modern nonlinear optical materials allow light of one wavelength be efficiently converted into light at another wavelength. However, designing nonlinear optical materials to operate with ultrashort pulses is difficult, because it is necessary to match both the phase velocities and group velocities of the light. Here we show that self-organized nonlinear gratings can be formed with femtosecond pulses propagating through nanophotonic waveguides, providing simultaneous group-velocity matching and quasi-phase-matching for second harmonic generation. We record the first direct microscopy images of photo-induced nonlinear gratings, and demonstrate how these waveguides enable simultaneous ${\chi }^{(2)}$ and ${\chi }^{(3)}$ nonlinear processes, which we utilize to stabilize a laser frequency comb. Finally, we derive the equations that govern self-organized grating formation for femtosecond pulses and explain the crucial role of group-velocity matching. In the future, such nanophotonic waveguides could enable scalable, reconfigurable nonlinear optical systems.

arXiv comment19 pages, including Supplemental Information

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• Visible blue-to-red 10 GHz frequency comb via on-chip triple-sum frequency generation
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• Coherent Photogalvanic Effect for Second-Order Nonlinear Photonics
• Supercontinua from integrated gallium nitride waveguides
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• Ladder of Eckhaus instabilities and parametric conversion in chi(2) microresonators
• Integrated tunable green light source on silicon nitride
• Optical Switching of ${\chi }^{(2)}$ in Diamond Photonics
• Spectral dynamics in broadband frequency combs with overlapping harmonics