Effect of Raman slow light on pulse walk-off and frequency chirp

Abstract

Slow and fast light (SFL) in nonlinear media has attracted considerable interest for several years and has been observed in plenty of configurations [1]. It generally requires a sharp spectral resonance which in turn results in a strong change of the group velocity at the resonance, thus leading to optical delaying or advancement. SFL has also been observed in optical fibres by taking advantage of the parametric gain, stimulated Brillouin or Raman scattering, leading to the development of all-optical tunable fiber-based delay lines at telecommunication wavelengths [2,3]. But the implications of SFL go well beyond pulse delaying or advancement. As the group and phase velocities have to be distinguished one from another in a slow-light medium, this can have other important implications, in particular on the pulse walk-off or on the frequency chirp. We recently demonstrated in a Raman medium with normal dispersion that pulse walk-off between the pump and the signal can be cancelled out despite the large frequency detuning, leading to an increasing interaction length and enhancement Raman conversion efficiency [4].