Dispersion of silicon nonlinearities in the near infrared region

The authors present the detailed characterization of the wavelength dependence of two-photon absorption and the Kerr nonlinearity in silicon over a spectral range extending from 1.2 to 2.4 mu m. They show that silicon exhibits a significant increase in its nonlinear figure of merit with increasing wavelengths beyond the two telecommunication bands. They expect their results to provide guidance for extending nonlinear silicon photonics into new spectral regimes. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.