Integrated CARS source based on seeded four-wave mixing in silicon nitride

We present a theoretical investigation of an integrated nonlinear light source for coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) based on silicon nitride waveguides. Wavelength tunable and temporally synchronized signal and idler pulses are obtained by using seeded four-wave mixing. We find that the calculated input pump power needed for nonlinear wavelength generation is more than one order of magnitude lower than in previously reported approaches based on optical fibers. The tuning range of the wavelength conversion was calculated to be 1418 nm to 1518 nm (idler) and 788 nm to 857 nm (signal), which corresponds to a coverage of vibrational transitions from 2350 cm−1 to 2810 cm−1. A maximum conversion efficiency of 19.1% at a peak pump power of 300 W is predicted.