Ultrafast wavelength conversion via cross-phase modulation in hydrogenated amorphous silicon optical fibers

We present a characterization of the spectral modulation and wavelength shifting induced via cross-phase modulation (XPM) in a hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) core optical fiber. Pump-probe experiments using picosecond and femtosecond signal pulses are shown to be in good agreement with numerical simulations of the coupled nonlinear propagation equations. The large 10nm red-shifts obtained with the femtosecond probe pulses are attributed to the high Kerr nonlinearity of the a-Si:H material. Extinction ratios as high as 12dB are measured for the conversion process at telecommunications wavelengths, indicating the potential for high-speed nonlinear optical control in a-Si:H fibers and waveguides.