Phase-matched four-wave mixing of guided and leaky modes in an optical fiber

Dispersion analysis of guided and leaky modes in an optical fiber shows that these two classes of modes can be coupled to each other through phase-matched four-wave mixing. This process can contribute to the generation of broad and flat supercontinua in highly nonlinear fibers, opening, at the same time, an additional channel of loss through radiation energy transfer from guided to leaky modes.     

Enhanced four-wave mixing in a high-finesse highly nonlinear fiber Fabry-Perot resonator

We have achieved a four-wave mixing process in a high-finesse highly nonlinear fiber Fabry-Perot resonator, where the amplified signal and idler were enhanced in transmission by 6 dB and 10 dB respectively comparing with those in a single fiber. We used a 6 m long low-loss Fabry-Perot resonator with two high-reflectivity fiber Bragg gratings written directly into a highly nonlinear fiber provided by Sumitomo Electric Inc., where the minimised intracavity loss resulted in the finesse in excess of 100. The resonator length was locked for 30 min by means of a modified Pound-Drever-Hall technique. The maximum intracavity power was increased by 14.3 dB by increasing the stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold with periodic phase modulation by a pseudo-random bit sequence, with length matching that of the cavity.     

Emission pattern of an atomic dipole in a high-finesse optical cavity

An atom placed in a small high-finesse optical cavity will dominantly emit into modes sustained by the cavity. If the cavity supports many frequency-degenerate modes, the radiation pattern depends strongly on the position of the atom. These patterns can be used to detect the position of the atom with high sensitivity.     

Deterministic loading of individual atoms to a high-finesse optical cavity

Individual laser-cooled atoms are delivered on demand from a single atom magneto-optic trap to a high-finesse optical cavity using an atom conveyor. Strong coupling of the atom with the cavity field allows simultaneous cooling and detection of individual atoms for time scales exceeding 15 s. The single atom scatter rate is studied as a function of probe-cavity detuning and probe Rabi frequency, and the experimental results are in qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions. We demonstrate the ability to manipulate the position of a single atom relative to the cavity mode with excellent control and reproducibility.     

Phase-matched four-wave mixing of isolated waveguide modes of high-intensity femtosecond pulses in a hollow photonic-crystal fiber

Hollow-core photonic-crystal fibers with a special dispersion profile are shown to allow phase-matched nonlinear optical interactions of isolated air-guided modes of high-intensity femtosecond laser pulses confined in the hollow fiber core. We present theoretical and experimental studies of the four-wave mixing of fundamental and second-harmonic pulses of a Cr:forsterite laser with an initial pulse duration of about 50 fs and an intensity on the order of 10¹⁴ W/cm² in waveguide modes of a hollow photonic-crystal fiber with a core diameter of about 13μm.     

Multi-component optical azimuthons of four-wave mixing

We report the multi-component optical azimuthons of four-wave mixing(FWM) composed of several modulated vortex beams, the so-called azimuthons, in V-type three-level and two-level atomic systems. We analyze the formation mechanisms of the FWM azimuthons theoretically and experimentally. In addition, we illustrate the interactions between the co-propagating azimuthon components. Finally, we also compare the stabilities of azimuthons in V-type three-level and two-level atomic systems.     

Raman lasing with a cold atom gain medium in a high-finesse optical cavity

We demonstrate a Raman laser using cold (87)Rb atoms as the gain medium in a high-finesse optical cavity. We observe robust continuous wave lasing in the atypical regime where single atoms can considerably affect the cavity field. Consequently, we discover unusual lasing threshold behavior in the system causing jumps in lasing power, and propose a model to explain the effect. We also measure the intermode laser linewidth, and observe values as low as 80 Hz. The tunable gain properties of this laser suggest multiple directions for future research.     

Vacuum-stimulated raman scattering based on adiabatic passage in a high-finesse optical cavity

We report on the first observation of stimulated Raman scattering from a Lambda-type three-level atom, where the stimulation is realized by the vacuum field of a high-finesse optical cavity. The scheme produces one intracavity photon by means of an adiabatic passage technique based on a counterintuitive interaction sequence between pump laser and cavity field. This photon leaves the cavity through the less-reflecting mirror. The emission rate shows a characteristic dependence on the cavity and pump detuning, and the observed spectra have a subnatural linewidth. The results are in excellent agreement with numerical simulations.     

Broadband source generated by stimulated Raman scattering and four-wave mixing in a highly nonlinear optical fiber ring cavity

A novel high-power broadband source based on the combined action of stimulated Raman scattering and parametric four-wave mixing in a highly nonlinear dispersion-shifted fiber ring cavity is investigated experimentally. An output spectrum of 1510-1580 nm with a stable power of 91 mW is demonstrated with a dual-wavelength pumping scheme.     

Photon-pair generation by four-wave mixing in optical fibers

We present a theory to quantify a fundamental limit on correlated photon pairs generated through four-wave mixing inside optical fibers in the presence of spontaneous Raman scattering (SpRS). Our theory is able to explain current experimental data. We show that if correlated photon pairs are generated with polarization orthogonal to the pump the effect of SpRS is significantly reduced over a broad spectral region extending from 5 to 15 THz.     

Dynamics of four-wave mixing on excitons in a quantum optical microcavity

A theory of degenerate four-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical cavity with quantum wells is constructed. The nonlinear response of a microcavity can be four to five orders of magnitude stronger than that of an isolated quantum well. For P ² E-and P ³-type nonlinearities the damped diffracted signal oscillates with a period determined by the Rabi splitting. For a biexcitonic mechanism of nonlinearity, the signal contains damped overtones of the Rabi splitting and the biexciton binding energy. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 11, 749–754 (10 December 1996)     

Aberration-free ultra-fast optical oscilloscope using a four-wave mixing based time-lens

We demonstrate an aberration-free, all-optical, ultra-fast oscilloscope based on the concept of Fourier-transformation with an optical time-lens. By combining the four-wave mixing time-lens with a Fourier-domain optical processor as the dispersive element we avoid aberrations associated with the traditional method of using lengths of fibre for the dispersive elements. We investigate the impact of aberrations due to third-order dispersion and inaccuracies in matching the Fourier-transform condition and demonstrate how these are overcome using the optical processor. The resolution of the oscilloscope is 750 fs.     

Near-degenerate cascaded four-wave mixing in an optical parametric amplifier

Efficient generation of new spectral components owing to second-order cascading in a seeded broadband beta -barium borate typeI phase-matching parametric amplifier is demonstrated. One can vary the number and magnitude of these components by changing amplification bandwidth (wavelength) and phase-matching conditions. The phenomenon is treated theoretically by use of a formalism developed previously for the case of cascaded self-diffraction.     

Terahertz-wave generation by surface-emitted four-wave mixing in optical fiber

We propose a novel terahertz-wave source through the four-wave mixing effect in a conventional single-mode optical fiber pumped by a dual-wavelength laser whose difference frequency lies in the terahertz range. Surface-emitted geometry is employed to decrease absorption loss. A detailed derivation of the terahertz-wave power expression is presented using the coupled-wave theory. This is a promising way for realizing a reasonable narrow-band terahertz-wave source.     

Effect of four-wave mixing in WDM optical fibre systems

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) can both significantly enhance transmission capacity and provide more flexibility in optical network design. Through the use of erbium-doped fibre amplifiers (EDFAs), it is possible to build long-distance transparent optical transmission links without electrical regenerators. In such systems, fibre nonlinearities are likely to impose a transmission limit due to increased total interaction length. There are a number of optical nonlinear effects in optical fibres, such as stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), carrier-induced phase modulation and four-wave mixing (FWM). Out of these SRS and FWM are the dominant effects. In this paper, an algorithm has been suggested to study the effect of FWM in the total system noise considering the combined effect of SRS and FWM in the presence of amplified spontaneous noise (ASE). It has been found from the study that to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio of the transmitted signal in a WDM system FWM noise needs to be reduced as this is the dominant noise factor.     

Low-power continuous-wave four-wave mixing in silicon coupled-resonator optical waveguides

We demonstrate four-wave mixing in silicon-on-insulator coupled-resonator optical waveguides consisting of 35 and 65 microring resonators, using a cw pump with coupled power below 20 mW and observed parametric conversion across more than 10 THz. The conversion efficiency is enhanced by +16 dB relative to a silicon straight waveguide of equivalent length, due to the slowing factor of the coupled-resonator structure.     

Real-time optical image differentiation by degenerate four-wave mixing

Simple methods for performing real-time first-order image differentiation and quasi-differentiation, using degenerate four-wave mixing with photorefractive crystals, are described. A comparison is made between the methods for realizing image differentiation and image edge enhancement.     

Reduced threshold of a stimulated four-wave mixing process in an optical fiber

The possibility for all-optical control of the effective parametric Stokes gain was demonstrated in an optical fiber. For the first time the threshold reduction induced by the interference of two different four-wave mixing processes which share a common Stokes wave was used as a control mechanism.