Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in hybrid chalcogenide/silicon-germanium waveguides

We report mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in a silicon germanium-on-silicon waveguide. We show that, by adding a chalcogenide cladding, it is possible to trim a posteriori the waveguide’s dispersion profile which, in turn, governs the properties of the generated supercontinuum. In particular, we experimentally show that a shift from anomalous to normal dispersion takes place when a 1.26 μm thick cladding layer of Ge11.5As24Se64.5 is added. Finally, we show that the group velocity dispersion of the waveguide can be precisely controlled by changing the thickness of the cladding layer.