Gap solitons on an integrated CMOS chip

Nonlinear propagation in periodic media has been studied for decades, yielding demonstrations of numerous phenomena including strong temporal compression and slow light generation. Gap solitons, that propagate at frequencies inside the stopband, have been observed in optical fibres but have been elusive in photonic chips. In this manuscript, we investigate nonlinear pulse propagation in a chip-based nonlinear Bragg grating at frequencies inside the stopband and observe clear, unequivocal signatures of gap soliton propagation, including slow light, intensity-dependent transmission, intensity-dependent temporal delay and gap soliton compression. Our experiments which are performed in an on-chip ultra-silicon-rich nitride (USRN) Bragg grating with picosecond time scales, reveal slow light group velocity reduction to 35%–40% of the speed of light in vacuum, change in the temporal delay of 7 ps at low peak powers between 15.7 W–36.6 W, which is accompanied by up to 2.7× temporal compression of input pulses. Theoretical calculations using the nonlinear coupled mode equations confirm the observations of intensity-dependent temporal delay. Of fundamental importance, this demonstration opens up on-chip platforms for novel experimental studies of gap solitons as the basis of all-optical buffers, delay lines and optical storage.