Optical dispersion, two-photon absorption and self-phase modulation in silicon waveguides at 1.5 μm wavelength

We measure linear optical dispersion, nonlinear refraction and two-photon absorption in a silicon waveguide at 1.54 μm wavelength. The total dispersion in the silicon waveguide was found to be −9.1 fs/(nm cm). At 1.54 μm wavelength, the two-photon absorption coefficient was found to be 0.45 cm/GW and a π phase shift from self-phase modulation was observed in optical pulses of 60 W peak-coupled power, generated from an amplified gain-switched laser diode.