Measuring the nonlinear refractive index of graphene using the optical Kerr effect method.

By means of the ultrafast optical Kerr effect method coupled to optical heterodyne detection (OHD-OKE), we characterize the third-order nonlinear response of graphene and compare it to experimental values obtained by the Z-scan method on the same samples. From these measurements, we estimate a negative nonlinear refractive index for monolayer graphene, n2=-1.1×10-13 m2/W. This is in contradiction to previously reported values, which leads us to compare our experimental measurements obtained by the OHD-OKE and the Z-scan method with theoretical and experimental values found in the literature and to discuss the discrepancies, taking into account parameters such as doping.

3D super-resolved in vitro multiphoton microscopy by saturation of excitation.

We demonstrate a significant resolution enhancement beyond the conventional limit in multiphoton microscopy (MPM) using saturated excitation of fluorescence. Our technique achieves super-resolved imaging by temporally modulating the excitation laser-intensity and demodulating the higher harmonics from the saturated fluorescence signal. The improvement of the lateral and axial resolutions is measured on a sample of fluorescent microspheres. While the third harmonic already provides an enhanced resolution, we show that a further improvement can be obtained with an appropriate linear combination of the demodulated harmonics. Finally, we present in vitro imaging of fluorescent microspheres incorporated in HeLa cells to show that this technique performs well in biological samples.

Supercontinuum generation in hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguides at telecommunication wavelengths.

We report supercontinuum (SC) generation centered on the telecommunication C-band (1550 nm) in CMOS compatible hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguides. A broadening of more than 550 nm is obtained in 1cm long waveguides of different widths using as pump picosecond pulses with on chip peak power as low as 4 W.

Dynamics of one-dimensional Kerr cavity solitons.

We present an experimental observation of an oscillating Kerr cavity soliton, i.e., a time-periodic oscillating one-dimensional temporally localized structure excited in a driven nonlinear fiber cavity with a Kerr-type nonlinearity. More generally, these oscillations result from a Hopf bifurcation of a (spatially or temporally) localized state in the generic class of driven dissipative systems close to the 1 : 1 resonance tongue. Furthermore, we theoretically analyze dynamical instabilities of the one-dimensional cavity soliton, revealing oscillations and different chaotic states in previously unexplored regions of parameter space. As cavity solitons are closely related to Kerr frequency combs, we expect these dynamical regimes to be highly relevant for the field of microresonator-based frequency combs.

Dual-polarization OFDM-OQAM for communications over optical fibers with coherent detection.

In order to improve the spectral efficiency of coherent optical communication systems, it has recently been proposed to make use of the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing offset quadrature amplitude modulation (OFDM-OQAM). Multiple optical channels spaced in the frequency domain by the symbol rate can be transmitted orthogonally, even if each channel overlaps significantly in frequency with its two adjacent channels. The solutions proposed until now in the literature unfortunately only address a single polarization communication, and therefore do not benefit from the capacity gain reached when two polarizations are used to transmit independent information signals. The aim of the present paper is to propose a receiver architecture that can decouple the two polarizations. We build an equalizer per channel at twice the symbol rate and optimize it based on the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion. We demonstrate the efficiency of the resulting system compared to the Nyquist wavelength-division multiplexing (N-WDM) system both in terms of performance and complexity. We also assess the system sensitivity to transmit synchronization errors and show that system can even work under significant synchronization errors.

Silicon-on-insulator integrated source of polarization-entangled photons.

We report the experimental generation of polarization-entangled photons at telecommunication wavelengths using spontaneous four-wave mixing in silicon-on-insulator wire waveguides. The key component is a 2D coupler that transforms path entanglement into polarization entanglement at the output of the device. Using quantum state tomography we find that the produced state has fidelity 88% with a pure nonmaximally entangled state. The produced state violates the CHSH Bell inequality by S=2.37 ± 0.19.

Nonlinear symmetry breaking induced by third-order dispersion in optical fiber cavities.

We study analytically, numerically, and experimentally the nonlinear symmetry breaking induced by broken reflection symmetry in an optical fiber system. In particular, we investigate the modulation instability regime and reveal the key role of the third-order dispersion on the asymmetry in the spectrum of the dissipative structures. Our theory explains early observations, and the predictions are in excellent agreement with our experimental findings.

Neck instability of bright solitons in normally dispersive Kerr media.

The neck instability of bright solitons of the hyperbolic nonlinear Shrödinger equation is investigated. It is shown that this instability originates from a four-wave mixing interaction that links on-axis to off-axis radiation at opposite frequency bands. Our experiment supports this interpretation.

On-chip parametric amplification with 26.5 dB gain at telecommunication wavelengths using CMOS-compatible hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguides.

We present what we believe to be the first study of parametric amplification in hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguides. Broadband on/off amplification up to 26.5 dB at telecom wavelength is reported. Measured nonlinear parameter is 770 W(-) m(-1), nonlinear absorption 28 W(-1) m(-1), bandgap 1.61 eV.

Photon pair source based on parametric fluorescence in periodically poled twin-hole silica fiber.

We present observations of quasi-phase matched parametric fluorescence in a periodically poled twin-hole silica fiber. The phase matching condition in the fiber enables the generation of a degenerate signal field in the fiber-optic communication band centered on 1556 nm. We performed coincidence measurements and a Hong-Ou-Mandel experiment to validate that the signal arises from photon pairs. A coincidence peak with a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 4 using 43 mW of pump power and a Hong-Ou-Mandel dip showing 40% net visibility were measured. Moreover, the experiments were performed with standard single mode fibers spliced at both ends of the poled section, which makes this source easy to integrate in fiber-optic quantum communication applications.

Complete experimental characterization of the influence of parametric four-wave mixing on stimulated Raman gain.

We present what is to our knowledge the first complete measurement of the dependence of Raman gain on chromatic dispersion, fully revealing the influence of parametric four-wave mixing on stimulated Raman scattering. In particular, a threefold increase of the Raman gain is observed under phase-matching conditions, in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. Our experiments, which were performed in a photonic crystal fiber, demonstrate that these unique fibers can be exploited to boost the performances of fiber Raman amplifiers.

Self-induced modulational instability laser revisited: normal dispersion and dark-pulse train generation.

We study theoretically and experimentally the so-called self-induced modulational instability laser and show that the passive mode-locking mechanism that is at play in this laser relies on a dissipative four-wave mixing process that leads to generation of a dark-pulse train in the normal-dispersion regime.

Cascaded Raman generation in optical fibers: influence of chromatic dispersion and Rayleigh backscattering.

We study experimentally the influence of chromatic dispersion and Rayleigh backscattering on cascaded Raman generation in silica optical fibers. Effects ranging from enhanced spectral broadening of the Stokes orders to generation of higher Stokes order at unexpected wavelengths are observed. Additionally, we show that four-wave-mixing processes can quench the noisy Rayleigh lasing lines generated in power Raman amplifiers. Our observations are confirmed by numerical simulations.

Numerical modeling of a four-wave-mixing-assisted Raman fiber laser.

We present a new numerical model of cascaded Raman fiber lasers that takes into account the chromatic dispersion of the fiber and includes the full spectrum of the intracavity field. This model explains and describes remarkably well a new operating regime found experimentally and reveals that chromatic dispersion is truly a new degree of freedom in the design of cascaded Raman lasers.