Bandwidth-efficient phase modulation techniques for Stimulated Brillouin Scattering suppression in fiber optic parametric amplifiers

Abstract

Two novel bandwidth efficient pump-dithering Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) suppression techniques are introduced. The techniques employ a frequency-hopped chirp and an RF noise source to impart phase modulation on the pumps of a two pump Fiber Optical Parametric Amplifier (FOPA). The effectiveness of the introduced techniques is confirmed by measurements of the SBS threshold increase and the associated improvements relative to the current state of the art. Additionally, the effect on the idler signal integrity is presented as measured following amplification from a two pump FOPA employing both techniques. The measured 0.8 dB penalty with pumps dithered by an RF noise source, after accruing 160 ps/nm of dispersion with 38 dB conversion gain in a two-pump FOPA is the lowest reported to date.