Ultra-low power parametric frequency conversion in a silicon microring resonator

We demonstrate parametric wavelength conversion via four-wave mixing using ultra-low peak pump powers of a few milliwatts in a micrometer-scale silicon device. The response time of our device is 100 ps allowing for implementation in high-bandwidth optical communications. At these ultra-low power levels and microscale sizes, it should be possible to realize hundreds of these devices operating simultaneously on a single chip. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.