Parametric amplification of light waves at low-frequency pumping in aperiodic nonlinear photonic crystals

A theory of monochromatic light propagation in a fiber amplifier is developed. It is shown that competition between coherent gain-guided modes is qualitatively different from interaction between incoherent beams. Spatial beating between modes limits the gain of the mode with lower input power even if the corresponding modal gain coefficient is higher. Depending on the input beam parameters, the amplifier output can be dominated by either a single guided mode or their combination. The theory is illustrated by analyzing the gain behavior of a single planar waveguide and arrays of two and three narrow planar waveguides.