Noise-figure limit of fiber-optical parametric amplifiers and wavelength converters: experimental investigation

Recent theoretical work predicts that the quantum-limited noise figure of a x(3)-based fiber-optical parametric amplifier operating as a phase-insensitive in-line amplifier or as a wavelength converter exceeds the standard 3-dB limit at high gain. The degradation of the noise figure is caused by the excess noise added by the unavoidable Raman gain and loss occurring at the signal and the converted wavelengths. We present detailed experimental evidence in support of this theory through measurements of the gain and noise-figure spectra for phase-insensitive parametric amplification and wavelength conversion in a continuous-wave amplifier made from 4.4 km of dispersion-shifted fiber. The theory is also extended to include the effect of distributed linear loss on the noise figure of such a long-length parametric amplifier and wavelength converter.     

How to measure chi(3) of a nanoparticle

Most of the known methods to measure the nonlinear optical properties of materials deal with the bulk properties, but there are many demanding applications that require those measurements to be done on a single particle or a single molecule. We report a novel application of nonlinear optics to measure the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility of nanoparticles in solutions. By measuring the power of the third harmonic generated in a diluted solution of nanoparticles, both the size and chi(3) can be extracted from a simple set of measurements.     

Thermal noise for SBS suppression in fiber optical parametric amplifiers

We demonstrate a new and simple solution to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering in fiber optical parametric amplifiers. Cumbersome PRBS or sinusoidal generators used to broaden the pump spectrum are replaced by a filtered microwave noise source. Stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold can be increased up to large values still keeping an excellent quality of amplification of nonreturn to zero signals. The simplicity and the performances of this setup open the way for a wide variety of applications for FOPAs.     

Coherent synthesis of ultra-broadband optical parametric amplifiers

We report on coherent synthesis of two ultra-broadband optical parametric amplifiers, each compressed by chirped mirror pairs, resulting in almost-octave-spanning (520-1000 nm) spectra supporting nearly single-cycle sub-4 fs pulse duration. Synthesized pulse timing is locked to less than 30 as by a balanced optical cross-correlator. The synthesized pulse is characterized by two-dimensional spectral interferometry and has a 3.8 fs duration.     

Progress in chirped pulse optical parametric amplifiers

We discuss the main issues of optical parametric chirped pulse amplification and overview recent progress in the field. Although we distinguish between the two operating modes of modern chirped pulse parametric amplifiers, OPCPA and NOPA, we reveal that both represent the same technique and share a common concept. PACS 42.65.Yj; 42.65.Re     

Bandwidth enhancement for parametric amplifiers operated in chirped multi-beam mode

In this paper we discuss the bandwidth enhancement that can be achieved in multi-Joule optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) systems exploiting the tunability of parametric amplification. In particular, we consider a pair of single pass amplifiers based on potassium-dideuterium-phosphate (DKDP), pumped by the second harmonic of Nd:glass and tuned to amplify adjacent regions of the signal spectrum. We demonstrate that a bandwidth enhancement upto 50% is possible in two configurations; in the first case, one of the two amplifiers is operated near its non-collinear broadband limit; to allow for effective recombination and recompression of the outgoing signals this configuration requires filtering and phase manipulation of the spectral tail of the amplified pulses. In the second case, effective recombination can be achieved simply by spectral filtering: in this configuration, the optimization of the parameters of the amplifiers (pulse, crystal orientation, and crystal length) does not follow the recipes of non-collinear OPCPA.     

Fiber optical parametric amplifiers in optical communication systems

The prospects for using fiber optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) in optical communication systems are reviewed. Phase‐insensitive amplifiers (PIAs) and phase‐sensitive amplifiers (PSAs) are considered. Low‐penalty amplification at/or near 1 Tb/s has been achieved, for both wavelength‐ and time‐division multiplexed formats. High‐quality mid‐span spectral inversion has been demonstrated at 0.64 Tb/s, avoiding electronic dispersion compensation. All‐optical amplitude regeneration of amplitude‐modulated signals has been performed, while PSAs have been used to demonstrate phase regeneration of phase‐modulated signals. A PSA with 1.1‐dB noise figure has been demonstrated, and preliminary wavelength‐division multiplexing experiments have been performed with PSAs. 512 Gb/s have been transmitted over 6,000 km by periodic phase conjugation. Simulations indicate that PIAs could reach data rate x reach products in excess of 14,000 Tb/s × km in realistic wavelength‐division multiplexed long‐haul networks. Technical challenges remaining to be addressed in order for fiber OPAs to become useful for long‐haul communication networks are discussed.

     

Strong signal suppression in single-pump optical parametric amplifiers

We show that the combined action of parametric gain and Raman scattering can lead to the complete suppression of an input optical signal in a single-pump parametric amplifier. This suppression is due to an interference between the two parametric gain modes. The interference occurs only at a set of discrete combinations of pump power, phase mismatch, and frequency detuning. Experimentally we are able to demonstrate over 95% (13 dB) suppression of an input signal in an amplifier with a peak parametric gain of only 6 dB.     

All-optical SBS reduction in fiber optic parametric amplifiers

We experimentally demonstrate an original way based on cross-phase modulation process to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering in a fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA). The setup is potentially less expensive than conventional electrical modulation schemes, and good performances are reported in terms of amplification quality and high gain value.     

Fabrication and characterization of all-Nb lumped-element Josephson parametric amplifiers

Josephson parametric amplifiers (JPAs) with nearly quantum-limited noise performance have become indispensable devices for the measurements of superconducting quantum information. We have developed an all-Nb lumped-element flux-driven JPA operating in the three-wave mixing mode. Our Nb-based JPA comprises Nb/Al-AlO_x/Nb Josephson junctions, a parallel-plate capacitor with SiO₂ dielectric sandwiched between two Nb layers, a bottom coplanar waveguides layer, and a top Nb wiring layer. We experimentally demonstrate a 20 dB gain over a 190 MHz bandwidth, a mean 1 dB compression of -123 dBm, and near quantum-limited noise performance. This fabrication process can be further used to design impedance transformed parametric amplifiers for multiple-qubit readout.     

Widely tunable dual-pump parametric amplifiers with photonic crystal fibres

This paper theoretically studies the double-pumped fibre-optical parametric amplifiers （FOPAs） in photonic crystal fibres. Two distinct working regimes of FOPAs are researched, which depend on the dispersion at the central wavelength of the two pumps. Extremely broad tuning range can be obtained when the central pump wavelength is in the normal dispersion regime and is insensitive to the wavelength separation between the two pumps, while the tuning range is narrow in the anomalous dispersion regime and can be significantly enhanced by increasing the wavelength separation. Impacts of higher-order dispersions and temporal walk-off on the gain spectra are also discussed.     

Crosstalk in double-pumped fiber optic parametric amplifiers for wavelength division multiplexing systems

We study experimentally inter-channel crosstalk in double-pumped fiber optic parametric amplifiers constructed with conventional dispersion shifted fibers (DSFs) having different lengths (L_A = 13.8, L_B = 6.8, L_C = 4.3, and L_D = 0.8 km). For long fibers (L_A and L_B), eye diagram measurements in a 5-channel (100 GHz spacing) system show that in order to have negligible crosstalk, the output signal power per channel, P_s, should be limited to P_s < 0 dBm. By decreasing the fiber length (to L_C) it is possible to increase the output signal power and/or the number of signals while keeping the crosstalk on negligible levels. This trend was further confirmed by using a very short DSF (L_D = 0.8 km).Finally, we experimentally demonstrate that a general trend in 2P-FOPAs is that spurious FWM increases with the number of signal channels up to a given number of channels when a saturation regime is reached. This saturation of the generation of spurious tones occurs when the bandwidth occupied by the signals exceeds ∼4-5 nm.     

Two-pump fiber optical parametric amplifiers with three-section fibers allocation

Based on the theory model of two-pump fiber optical parametric amplifier with single-section fiber allocation (FOPA-SF), a new two-pump fiber optical parametric amplifier with three-section fibers arrangement (FOPA-TFs) is put forward, which can provide gain bandwidth of more than 405 nm with optimum fiber parameters calculated by genetic algorithm. The numerical simulation is performed to investigate the influence of pump wavelength allocation on the gain spectrum of FOPA, and it is found that the smaller wavelength separation between the two pumps (Δλ) can provide more uniform gain over a relatively wide bandwidth. Moreover, the gain ripple owing to random fluctuations of zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDW) can be improved to a large extent by reducing pump separation Δλ.     

Widely tunable dual-pump parametric amplifiers with photonic crystal fibres

This paper theoretically studies the double-pumped fibre-optical parametric amplifiers (FOPAs) in photonic crystal fibres. Two distinct working regimes of FOPAs are researched, which depend on the dispersion at the central wavelength of the two pumps. Extremely broad tuning range can be obtained when the central pump wavelength is in the normal dispersion regime and is insensitive to the wavelength separation between the two pumps, while the tuning range is narrow in the anomalous dispersion regime and can be significantly enhanced by increasing the wavelength separation. Impacts of higher-order dispersions and temporal walk-off on the gain spectra are also discussed.     

Experimental investigation of the two-photon widths of the chi(c0) and the chi(c2) mesons

Using 12.7 fb(-1) of data collected with the CLEO detector at CESR, we observed two-photon production of the cc states chi(c0) and chi(c2) in their decay to pi(+)pi(-)pi(+)pi(-). We measured gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c))xB(chi(c)-->pi(+)pi(-)pi(+)pi(-)) to be 75+/-13(stat)+/-8(syst) eV for the chi(c0) and 6.4+/-1.8(stat)+/-0.8(syst) eV for the chi(c2), implying gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c0)) = 3.76+/-0.65(stat)+/-0.41(syst)+/-1.69(br) keV and gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c2)) = 0.53+/-0.15(stat)+/-0.06(syst)+/-0.22(br) keV. Also, cancellation of dominant experimental and theoretical uncertainties permits a precise comparison of gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c0))/gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c2)), evaluated to be 7.4+/-2.4(stat)+/-0.5(syst)+/-0.9(br), with QCD-based predictions.     

Performance analysis of dual-pump optical parametric amplifiers in silicon waveguide

Nondegenerate Four Wave Mixing (FWM) process in a silicon waveguide is influenced by two photon absorption (TPA), TPA induced free carrier absorption (FCA) besides self-phase modulation (SPM), cross-phase modulation (XPM), SRS, GVD and linear scattering losses. Influences of pump parameters of the dual-pump parametric amplifier (OPA) in the silicon waveguide on gain spectrum and noise figure are numerically investigated. Compared with single-pump configuration, dual-pump silicon OPA indicates a flat gain and noise figure. Then impact of waveguide dispersion on bandwidth and ripples for dual-pump silicon optical parametric amplifiers is discussed. Optimal pump configurations are evaluated. The results show that polarization independent net gain of silicon OPA can be achieved by using circular and orthogonally polarized pump.