| Summary: | Raman Effect has been widely utilized in the silicon photonics technology for their applications in optical interconnect and all-optical wavelength conversion, motivated by their unique advantages of simple fabrication, high energy efficiency and wide range of operating wavelengths. Functional components such as integrated waveguide Raman amplifiers, lasers and wavelength converters have been realized over the past decade. This research work aims to gain in-depth physical insights of these Raman-based waveguide devices for their future engineering applications.We propose a novel amplitude propagation method (APM) that takes into account all linear and nonlinear processes influencing electromagnetic waves along semiconductor waveguides. APM addresses both amplitude and phase evolutions of optical waves, and provides the unique capability to universally analyze different physical processes within these Raman-based waveguide devices.Three methodologies are proposed to tackle the detrimental free-carrier absorption loss in silicon waveguide Raman amplifiers and lasers; including bi-directional pumping scheme, chalcogenide waveguide Raman laser and silicon-chalcogenide slot waveguide Raman amplifier. Intensive theoretical investigation illustrates that the proposed approaches provide the much greener alternatives to the well-established silicon counterpart, highlighted by their outstanding energy efficiency improvement.
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