Silicon photonic parametric optical processing for ultra-high bandwidth on-chip signal grooming

We show wavelength conversion and wavelength multicasting using four-wave mixing in silicon waveguides, achieving record performance in both bandwidth and bit rates in this CMOS-compatible platform. Non-return-to-zero data at 10and 40-Gb/s bit rates is wavelength converted across nearly 50 nm, with error-free transmission. Bit-rate transparency of the all-optical process is demonstrated by converting up to 160-Gb/s return-to-zero data. In addition, an eight-way wavelength multicast of 40-Gb/s data is shown using the same silicon waveguide platform, with error-free transmission. The communication performance is evaluated using measured eye diagrams, bit-error rates, and power penalty performance metrics.