Performance analysis for an all-optical wavelength converter using four-wave mixing (FWM) in a single mode fiber

An analytical approach is presented to determine the performance of a tunable wavelength converter based on four wave mixing (FWM) in a single mode fiber (SMF) with two pump lasers. The analysis is carried out for an intensity modulated (IM) signal taking into considerations the effects of spectral broadening due to FWM and laser phase noise. The results evaluated at a bit rate of 10 Gb/s show that the signal power is substantially higher at lower values of wavelength separation. For example, for input powers of 10 mW each, wavelength separation of 4 nm between the pump-2 and the input signal, the output converted power is found to be –10 dBm corresponding to wavelength separation of 2 nm between pump-1 and converter signal. The corresponding crosstalk power is found to be –25 dBm at a channel separation of 3 times bit rate.