Continuous wave photon pair generation in silicon-on-insulator waveguides and ring resonators

Silicon waveguides are promising chi(3)-based photon pair sources. Demonstrations so far have been based on picosecond pulsed lasers. Here, we present the first investigation of photon pair generation in silicon waveguides in a continuous regime. The source is characterized by coincidence measurements. We uncover the presence of unexpected noise which had not been noticed in earlier experiments. Subsequently, we present advances towards integration of the photon pair source with other components on the chip. This is demonstrated by photon pair generation in a Sagnac loop interferometer and inside a micro-ring cavity. Comparison with the straight waveguide shows that these are promising avenues for improving the source. In particular photon pair generation in the micro-ring cavity yields a source with a spectral width of approximately 150 pm resulting in a spectral brightness increased by more than 2 orders of magnitude. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America