Waveguiding properties of a silicon nanowire embedded photonic crystal fiber

• Published in: Optical materials Vol. 36; no. 5; pp. 958 - 964
• Main Authors: Gunasundari, E., Senthilnathan, K., Sivabalan, S., Abobaker, Abdosllam M., Nakkeeran, K., Ramesh Babu, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier B.V 01.03.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Dispersions; Exact sciences and technology; Fiber optics; Finite element method; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Nanostructure; Nanowires; Nonlinearity; Optical elements, devices, and systems; Optical fibers; Optical materials; Optical properties; Optical waveguides and coupleurs; Optics; Photonic crystal fiber; Physics; Silicon; Silicon nanowire; Triangular-lattice; Waveguides; Wavelengths; Finite element method; Photonic crystal fiber; Triangular-lattice; Silicon nanowire; Optical fibers; Subwavelength; Theoretical study; Microstructured fiber; Optical waveguides; Photonics; Optical properties; Optical materials; Silicon; Nanowires
• ISSN: 0925-3467; 1873-1252
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optmat.2013.12.048

•Designed a triangular-lattice silicon nanowire embedded photonic crystal fiber.•Obtained a large normal (82,385ps2/km) and anomalous (−6817.3ps2/km) GVD.•Achieved high nonlinearity (5672.79W−1m−1) for small core diameter (300nm). We design a photonic silicon nanowire embedded microstructured optical fiber which is a special class of waveguide whose core diameter is of subwavelength or nanometer size with the air holes in the cladding. We study the optical waveguiding properties, namely, waveguide dispersions, fractional power and effective nonlinearity by varying the core diameter. The results reveal that the air-clad silicon subwavelength nanowire exhibits several interesting properties such as tight-confinement, a large normal dispersion (82,385ps2/km) for 300nm core diameter and a large anomalous dispersion (−6817.3ps2/km) for 500nm core diameter at 1.95μm wavelength. The structure offers two zero dispersions, one at 1.26μm wavelength for a core diameter of 300nm and another at 1.83μm wavelength for 400nm core diameter. Besides, it provides a large nonlinearity (5672.7W−1m−1) at 0.450μm wavelength for 300nm core diameter. These enhanced optical properties might be suitable for various nonlinear applications.