Nonlinear phase shifts of modulated light waves with slow and superluminal group delay in stimulated Brillouin scattering

Abstract

Brillouin amplification with counterpropagating modulated pump and Stokes light leads to nonlinear modulation-phase shifts of the interacting intensity waves. This is due to a partial transformation of the nonmodulated light component at the input into modulated light at the output as a result of a mixing process with the counterpropagating modulated component of the pump and results in an advance or delay of the input modulation. This occurs for interactions over less than half of a modulation wavelength. Milliwatts of power in a kilometer of standard single-mode fiber give significant tunability of the modulation phase.