Si-rich SiN(x) based Kerr switch enables optical data conversion up to 12 Gbit/s

Silicon photonic interconnection on chip is the emerging issue for next-generation integrated circuits. With the Si-rich SiN(x) micro-ring based optical Kerr switch, we demonstrate for the first time the wavelength and format conversion of optical on-off-keying data with a bit-rate of 12 Gbit/s. The field-resonant nonlinear Kerr effect enhances the transient refractive index change when coupling the optical data-stream into the micro-ring through the bus waveguide. This effectively red-shifts the notched dip wavelength to cause the format preserved or inversed conversion of data carried by the on-resonant or off-resonant probe, respectively. The Si quantum dots doped Si-rich SiN(x) strengthens its nonlinear Kerr coefficient by two-orders of magnitude higher than that of bulk Si or Si(3)N(4). The wavelength-converted and cross-amplitude-modulated probe data-stream at up to 12-Gbit/s through the Si-rich SiN(x) micro-ring with penalty of −7 dB on transmission has shown very promising applicability to all-optical communication networks.