Chirped optical pulse compression using a silicon photonic crystal waveguide

We present an integrated pulse compression method for chirped optical pulses based on silicon photonic crystal (PhC) line-defect waveguides. The PhC waveguide structure and dimensions, including the radius of the hole and the thickness of the slab, are carefully designed for effective pulse compression in a short waveguide. In the optimized PhC waveguide, the pulse is effectively compressed and a compression factor, which is defined as the ratio of the output pulse width with respect to the input pulse width, as small as 0.096 is achieved. Analysis shows that the compression effect depends on the initial chirp, the peak power, and the width of the input pulse. In order to realize the best compression, the PhC waveguide length should be carefully chosen to balance the initial chirp, dispersion and nonlinearity of the waveguide.