Forward four-wave interactions in bismuth silicon oxide-theory and experiment

The interaction between two strong pump beams and two signal beams is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. It is shown that the frequencies of the beams need to satisfy the relation that the sum of the pump beam frequencies should be equal to the sum of the signal beam frequencies. The gain is shown to depend on the detuning of the pump beams relative to the incident signal beam and on the direction of the signal beam. Maximum gain is obtained when the signal beams bisect the pump beams.