Octave-spanning supercontinuum generation in a CMOS-compatible thin Si3N4 waveguide coated with highly nonlinear TeO2.

Supercontinuum generation (SCG) is an important nonlinear optical process enabling broadband light sources for many applications, for which silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) has emerged as a leading on-chip platform. To achieve suitable group velocity dispersion and high confinement for broadband SCG the Si₃N₄ waveguide layer used is typically thick (>∼700 nm), which can lead to high stress and cracks unless specialized processing steps are used. Here, …