Nonlinear performances of dual-pump amplifiers in silicon waveguides

The performances of a dual-pump parametric and Raman amplification process and the wavelength conversion in silicon waveguides are investigated. By setting the Raman contribution fraction f to be 0.043 in our analytical model, the amplification gain of the probe signal can be obtained to be over 10 dB. The pump transfer noise (PTN), the quantum noise (QN), and the total noise figure (TNF) are discussed, and the TNF has a constant value of about 4 dB in the gain bandwidth. An idler signal generated during the parametric amplification (PA) process can be used to realize the wavelength conversion in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems. In addition, the pump signal parameters, the generated free carrier lifetime and effective mode area (EMA) of the waveguide are analysed for the optimization of signal gain and noise characteristics.     

Influence of the structure parameters on the gain and noise figure in silicon parametric amplifiers based on SOI Rib waveguides

Gain and Noise figure (NF) characteristics in dual-pump parametric amplifier based on silicon on insulator (SOI) Rib waveguides are numerically investigated in the presence of nonlinear losses. The impact of structure parameters of the silicon optical parametric amplifiers (SOPAs) on the gain and the NF are also analyzed. The results show that both the height and the width of the silicon on insulator (SOI) can affect the gain and the NF of SOPAs. 354 nm bandwidth (3 dB) and 8.135 maximum gain can be achieved by tailoring the structure parameters of the SOI rib waveguides. Moreover, the dispersion and the effective mode area of SOI are also analyzed.     

基于硅波导的喇曼光放大器

在硅波导上添加反向偏压的PIN结构,当波导产生受激喇曼散射时,可以将波导中双光子吸收(TPA)产生的光生自由载流子扫出波导,降低了波导的非线性损失,极大地提高了硅波导中泵浦光对信号光的喇曼增益。为了应用已经非常成熟的硅工艺,并且应用硅波导使器件小型化,根据法布里-帕罗(F-P)腔和行波放大器理论,在硅波导两端的解理面蒸镀增透膜,应用这种波导的喇曼效应设计了一种光放大器,即基于硅波导的喇曼光放大器。建立了计算放大器增益的方程,给出了不同波导长度和输入功率情况下的放大器增益,得出适当增加波导长度和泵浦光功率可以得到较高喇曼增益的结论。基于硅的光放大器有较高的饱和功率且没有泵浦源的限制,通过调整泵浦激光的波长可以放大不同波长的信号光。     

Theoretical study of gain distortions in dual-pump fiber optical parametric amplifiers

We study analytically and numerically the small signal gain in dual-pump fiber optical parametric amplifiers by including the phase modulation of the pump waves needed for practically increasing the stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold. As for the single-pump case, we show that large signal gain distortions are generated under co-phase modulation, which depend on the rise/fall time of the phase modulation and on the fiber dispersion slope. However, it is clearly confirmed that the counter-phase modulation scheme allows to efficiently suppress these gain distortions over the whole flat gain region. In addition, we demonstrate through realistic numerical simulations that this useful technique overcomes the additional impact of pump-phase modulation to amplitude modulation conversion and zero-dispersion wavelength variations.     

Ultrafast femtosecond all-optical modulation through nondegenerate two-photon absorption in silicon-on-insulator waveguides

We present numerical investigations of ultrafast femtosecond (with time duration of 100 fs at 1/e intensity point) all-optical modulation of a pump-probe wave arrangement by using nondegenerate two-photon absorption (TPA), namely cross absorption, inside silicon-on-insulator (SOI) optical waveguides. Our results show that when a pump pulse with femtosecond duration and a continuous probe wave are co-propagating along the SOI, the probe wave can be modulated inversely by the ultrafast pump pulse, whose modulation depth depends strongly on the system parameters such as the waveguide length, the peak power and initial chirp of the pump wave, the group velocity dispersion (GVD), etc.; this means that the modulation depth can be improved by an appropriate increase of the waveguide length, the pump peak, and the initial chirp, in addition, which has a larger value for the probe wavelength in the normal dispersion regime compared with the case of abnormal dispersion when the center wavelength of the pump wave is located at the zero-dispersion wavelength.     

Compact surface plasmon amplifier in nonlinear hybrid waveguide

Surface plasmon polariton(SPP), a sub-wavelength surface wave promising for photonic integration, always suffers from the large metallic loss that seriously restricts its practical application. Here, we propose a compact SPP amplifier based on a nonlinear hybrid waveguide(a combination of silver, LiNbO_3, and SiO_2), where a couple of Bragg gratings are introduced in the waveguide to construct a cavity. This special waveguide is demonstrated to support a highly localized SPP-like hybrid mode and a low loss waveguide-like hybrid mode. To provide a large nonlinear gain, a pumping wave input from the LiNbO_3 waveguide is designed to resonate inside the cavity and satisfy the cavity phase matching to fulfill the optical parametric amplification(OPA) of the SPP signal. Proper periods of gratings and the cavity length are chosen to satisfy the impedance matching condition to ensure the high input efficiency of the pump wave from the outside into the cavity. In theoretical calculations, this device demonstrates a high performance in a very compact scheme(~3.32 μm) and a much lower pumping power for OPA compared with single-pass pumping. To obtain a comprehensive insight into this cavity OPA, the influences of the pumping power, cavity length, and the initial phase are discussed in detail.     

Low-noise-figure optical parametric amplifier with a continuous-wave frequency-modulated pump

We present what are to our knowledge the first gain and noise-figure measurements of a fiber optical parametric amplifier pumped by a simple frequency-modulated source. The maximum gain was 27.2 dB and the average noise figure was 4.2 dB. We achieved the low noise figure by filtering the pump to remove the broadband amplified spontaneous-emission pedestal on the pump spectrum.     

Optimized design of two-pump fiber optical parametric amplifier and its noise characteristics

In the paper, based on the pump depleted model of two-pump fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA), the simulations are done to indicate the effect of amplifier parameters on gain characteristics, such as the input signal power, the wavelength separation between the two pumps, the fiber length, the nonlinear coefficient and the fourth-order dispersion of fiber. By optimizing the amplifier parameters, when FOPA attains low gain-saturation, the FOPA has a higher gain, a broader flat gain bandwidth and a lower noise figure. However, with the enhancement of gain-saturation the parametric gain decreases, the flat gain bandwidth becomes narrow and the noise figure also increases.     

Demonstration of high Raman gain in a submicrometer-size silicon-on-insulator waveguide

We show high Raman gain in a silicon submicrometer-size planar waveguide. Using high-confinement structures and picosecond pump pulses, we show 3.1-dB net internal gain with 2.8-W peak pump power in a 7-mm-long waveguide. We also analyze experimentally and theoretically the effect of free-carrier absorption on the Raman gain.     

高质量高效率高稳定性参量放大光产生的研究

针对光参量放大实验中存在的参量转换效率低、输出光脉冲形状畸变和输出稳定性差等问题进行了详细研究，对注入信号光强、抽运光耗尽、增益饱和、和频过程等因素对参量过程的影响进行了详细分析讨论，并进行了光学参量放大的实验研究.理论和实验研究结果表明通过优化选择合适的注入信号光强、抽运光强和晶体长度等参数，使参量放大运行在深度增益饱和状态的稳定区，完全可以获得高质量高效率高稳定性的参量放大输出光. 关键词： 光参量放大 抽运光耗尽 增益饱和 稳定性     

Effects of an auxiliary pump on the performance of TDFA

An efficient fluoride-based thulium-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) is theoretically demonstrated using a dual pumping scheme. Differential equations are solved directly in the theoretical analysis. An auxiliary pump at 1560 nm is used for ground-state absorption to enhance the excited-state absorption provided by the main pump of 1050 nm and, thus, to improve the gain and noise figure of the TDFA. A gain improvement of more than 10 dB is obtained at the 1470-nm region with the use of a 1560-nm pump at 20 mW. A small signal gain as high as 30 dB is obtained at this region with 100 mW of a 1050-nm pump and 20 mW of a 1560-nm pump using a 20-m of thulium-doped fiber. The corresponding noise figure is obtained at lower than 5 dB.     

Numerical study on pulse contrast enhancement in a short-pulse-pumped optical parametric amplifier

We investigate pulse cleaning behaviors in short-pulse-pumped optical parametric amplifiers (OPA). We theoretically study the contrast enhancement of amplified signal pulse and generated idler pulse, and reveal their dependence on the parametric gain in both the regimes of small signal and saturated amplifications. The signal contrast enhancement is nearly equal to the parametric gain, while the idler contrast is approximately equal to the product of the contrasts of the pump and signal pulses in a low gain OPA and increases with the gain. The effects of group-velocity mismatch and group-velocity dispersion on the contrast enhancement are also investigated. The results presented in this paper are of value for pulse cleaning.     

利用自制的单频激光器获得近通讯波段正交振幅压缩态光场

利用自制的1.34 μm和0.67 μm双波长输出单频激光器作为泵浦源,泵浦基于PPKTP晶体的光学参量放大器,通过边带锁频技术将光学参量放大腔腔长锁定在激光频率上,将泵浦光和信号光相对相位锁定在π相位,经参量缩小过程获得低于散粒噪声极限约3 dB的正交振幅压缩光.压缩光位于光纤通信窗口——1.3 μm波段.     

50 dB parametric on-chip gain in silicon photonic wires

A pulsed mid-infrared pump at λ=2173 nm is used to demonstrate wideband optical parametric gain in a low-loss 2 cm long silicon photonic wire. Using dispersion engineering to obtain negative second-order (β2) and positive fourth-order (β4) dispersion, we generate broadband modulation instability and parametric fluorescence extending from 1911 nm-2486 nm. Using a cw probe signal to interrogate the modulation instability spectrum, we demonstrate parametric amplification >40 dB with an on-chip gain bandwidth wider than 580 nm, as well as narrowband Raman-assisted peak gain >50 dB.     

硅波导受激喇曼散射放大信号光的数值模拟

提出了用连续泵浦光在硅波导中的受激喇曼散射对信号光进行放大的方法.建立了信号光和泵浦光在硅波导中传输的耦合方程,得到了计算信号光增益的理论模型.利用数值模拟结果,对泵浦功率沿波导的分布,信号光在不同波导长度以及输入功率情况下的增益等进行了分析和讨论.结果表明,适当增加波导长度和泵浦光功率可以得到较高喇曼增益的结论.     

Responsive mechanism and molecular design of di-2-picolylamine-based two-photon fluorescent probes for zinc ions

The properties of one-photon absorption(OPA), emission and two-photon absorption(TPA) of a di-2-picolylaminebased zinc ion sensor are investigated by employing the density functional theory in combination with response functions.The responsive mechanism is explored. It is found that the calculated OPA and TPA properties are quite consistent with experimental data. Because the intra-molecular charge transfer(ICT) increases upon zinc ion binding, the TPA intensity is enhanced dramatically. According to the model sensor, we design a series of zinc ion probes which differ by conjugation center, acceptor and donor moieties. The properties of OPA, emission and TPA of the designed molecules are calculated at the same computational level. Our results demonstrate that the OPA and emission wavelengths of the designed probes have large red-shifts after zinc ions have been bound. Comparing with the model sensor, the TPA intensities of the designed probes are enhanced significantly and the absorption positions are red-shifted to longer wavelength range. Furthermore, the TPA intensity can be improved greatly upon zinc ion binding due to the increased ICT mechanism. These compounds are potential excellent candidates for two-photon fluorescent zinc ion probes.     

Gain characteristic of a dual-pump fiber-optical parametric amplifier with a highly nonlinear fiber

The gain characteristic of a dual-pump fiber-optical parametric amplifier with a highly nonlinear fiber is demonstrated. The influence of various parameters on the gain spectrum of the dual-pump fiber-optical parametric amplifier is numerically simulated. The results indicate that broadband and flat gain can be obtained under optimized parameters.     

基于光参量变频与放大的高灵敏红外成像技术

针对可用于微弱红外图像探测的光学参量变频与增强技术,进行了仿真与实验探索.针对高增益光参量放大器(OPA)过程中的参量荧光背景噪声,提出了基于外接圆模型的空间滤波技术,通过仿真优化设计,利用空域、频域滤波与像传递系统相结合的方法,将参量荧光背景的抑制比例超过70%,其增强后的成像质量较之前有明显改善,峰值信噪比提升22%.基于10 Hz,355 nm的大能量皮秒紫外抽运激光,实现了红外波段到可见光波段的参量频率上转换,得到了超过1.3×108(82 d B)的光学图像增益.实验结果表明,采用高增益OPA作为光学预放大级之后,常规非制冷电荷耦合器件可实现微弱红外成像的有效探测,灵敏度可达每像素7.4个光子.该方案有望用于单光子级高灵敏红外成像场合.     

稳定高质量光参量啁啾脉冲放大系统优化设计

要实现光参量啁啾脉冲放大(OPCPA)系统稳定、高质量输出,需要同时对光参量放大和泵浦光倍频这两个非线性过程进行优化设计。在光参量放大系统优化设计中,建立了描述光参量放大过程的多种简化物理模型;通过模拟泵浦光和信号光口径匹配关系,分析了放大信号光空间两维对称性并提出了优化方法;建立了非线性晶体最佳长度确定及调谐方法,以实现信号光输出高稳定性。在泵浦光倍频系统优化设计过程中,提出应用位相失配法实现稳定倍频输出,研究表明这种方法不仅能实现倍频光能量起伏抖动远远小于基频光能量的起伏抖动,而且能减小泵浦光近场调制度和时间波形调制,极大地改善输出倍频光光束质量,进而提高OPCPA系统输出信号光质量。     

双向掺铒光纤放大器的特性分析

讨论了双向掺铒光纤放大器的结构方案,利用考虑放大的自发辐和北员耗影响的双向掺铒光纤放大器稳态放大速率方程模型分析的增益与掺铒光纤长度、输入信号光功率、帛运光功率及抽运方式等参数之间的关系,研究了单向和双向等功率抽运下正反向噪声系数随正反向信号光输入功率的变化行为。