Title :
Widely tunable four-wave mixing in semiconductor optical amplifiers with constant conversion efficiency
Author :
Morgan, Trefor J. ; Lacey, Jonathan P R ; Tucker, Rodney S.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Electron. Eng., Melbourne Univ., Parkville, Vic., Australia
Abstract :
The conversion efficiency and output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of single-pump four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) is strongly dependent on frequency shift. We examine a scheme for FWM in SOAs that uses two orthogonally polarized pumps. We compare experimentally and theoretically the conversion efficiency and SNR of the orthogonal-pump scheme with single-pump FWM. The orthogonal-pump scheme has nearly constant conversion efficiency and SNR over the 4.5-THz range of frequency shifts measured. Experimental and theoretical results for the conversion efficiency and SNR of the orthogonal-pump scheme agree to within 3.5 dB.
Keywords :
laser noise; laser tuning; multiwave mixing; optical frequency conversion; optical pumping; optical transmitters; semiconductor lasers; wavelength division multiplexing; constant conversion efficiency; conversion efficiency; frequency shift; frequency shifts; orthogonal-pump scheme; orthogonally polarized pump; output signal-to-noise ratio; semiconductor optical amplifiers; single-pump FWM; single-pump four-wave mixing; widely tunable four-wave mixing; Four-wave mixing; Frequency conversion; Nonlinear optics; Optical crosstalk; Optical filters; Optical frequency conversion; Optical mixing; Optical modulation; Optical pumping; Semiconductor optical amplifiers;
Journal_Title :
Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE
