Self-Phasematched Nonlinear Optics in Integrated Semiconductor Microcavities

Abstract

A novel concept of self-phasematched optical frequency conversion in dispersive dielectric microcavities is studied theoretically and experimentally. We develop a time-dependent model, incorporating the dispersion into the structure of the spatial cavity modes and translating the phasematching requirement into the optimization of a nonlinear cavity mode overlap. We design and fabricate integrated double-resonance semiconductor microcavities for self-phasematched second harmonic generation. The measured efficiency exhibits a significant maximum near the cavity resonance due to the intra-cavity enhancement of the input power and the dispersion-induced wavelength detuning effect on the mode overlap, in good agreement with our theoretical predictions.