Intermodal Four-wave Mixing Process Research Articles

Mid-infrared generation beyond 3.5 µm in a graded-index silica fiber

We present theoretical as well as experimental evidence of far-detuned nonlinear wavelength conversion towards the mid-infrared, namely beyond 3.5 µm, in a few-mode graded-index silica fiber pumped at 1.064 µm. We take into account the full frequency-dependence of the propagation constants, which allows us to obtain excellent agreement of theoretical predictions with experimental observations and provides new and accurate interpretation of intramodal and intermodal four-wave mixing processes in few-mode fibers.

Intermodal Four-Wave Mixing Process in Strain-Induced Birefringent Multimode Optical Fibers.

Our study investigated the partially degenerate intermodal four-wave mixing (IM-FWM) process in nonlinear multimode optical fibers with strain-induced birefringence. The difference in the refractive index along the two orthogonal directions was due to the photoelastic effect that occurred when the fiber under test (FUT) was subjected to uniformly applied diameter stress caused by winding on a cylinder of a given diameter. Our work analyzed how the nonlinear frequency conversion and the output modal field profiles depended on the degree of birefringence in FUT. The experimental results significantly affected the order of the excited moduli in fiber sections characterized by different amounts of birefringence. We also checked the efficiency of the FWM process for different polarizations of the pump beam to determine those for which the FWM process was most effective for the 532 nm sub-nanosecond pulses. More than 30% conversion efficiency was obtained for the FUTs with a length of tens of centimeters.

An Efficient Method for the Intermodal Four-Wave Mixing Process.

We demonstrate a partially degenerated intermodal four-wave mixing (FWM) process realized in a few-mode nonlinear optical fiber, leading to the effective generation of visible red and blue light from 532 nm sub-nanosecond pulses. We present a self-seeded FWM configuration with a signal beam obtained in the additional section of the same type of fiber that ensures perfect matching between the seed and the Stokes beams. Over 40% of the wavelength conversion efficiency in the FWM process was obtained using a fiber length shorter than 1 m.

Multiple spatial and wavelength conversion operations based on a frequency-degenerated intermodal four-wave mixing process in a graded-index 6-LP few-mode fiber

We report on the experimental observation of a simultaneous threefold wavelength and spatial conversion process at telecommunication wavelengths taking place in a 6-LP-mode graded-index few-mode fiber. The physical mechanism is based on parallel and phase-matched frequency-degenerated intermodal four-wave mixing (FD-IFWM) phenomena occurring between the fundamental mode and higher-order spatial modes. More precisely, a single high-power frequency-degenerated pump wave is simultaneously injected in the four spatial modes L P 01 , L P 11 , L P 02 , and L P 31 of a 1.8-km long graded-index few-mode fiber together with three independent signals in the fundamental mode. By means of three parallel phase-matched FD-IFWM interactions, these initial signals are then simultaneously spatially and frequency-converted from the fundamental mode to specific high-order modes. The influence of the differential modal group delay is also investigated and shows that the walk-off between the spatially multiplexed signals significantly limits the bandwidth of the conversion process for telecom applications.

Design, fabrication, and characterization of a highly nonlinear few-mode fiber

We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of a highly nonlinear few-mode fiber (HNL-FMF) with an intermodal nonlinear coefficient of 2.8 (W·km)−1, which to the best of our knowledge is the highest reported to date. The graded-index circular core fiber supports two mode groups (MGs) with six eigenmodes and is highly doped with germanium. This breaks the mode degeneracy within the higher-order MG, leading to different group velocities among corresponding eigenmodes. Thus, the HNL-FMF can support multiple intermodal four-wave mixing processes between the two MGs at the same time. In a proof-of-concept experiment, we demonstrate simultaneous intermodal wavelength conversions among three eigenmodes of the HNL-FMF over the C band.

Degenerate intermodal four-wave mixing with Q-switched nanosecond pulses in SMF-28 for the generation of discrete ultraviolet-visible wavelengths

Intermodal four-wave mixing (IMFWM) is demonstrated in a standard SMF-28e + fiber through pumping in the normal dispersion regime by a Q-switched nanosecond pulsed laser. A new IMFWM process where two pump photons in LP01 mode are completely annihilated to give rise to Stokes and anti-Stokes photons, both in LP02 mode, has been observed. Discrete ultraviolet peaks at 390.7 nm and 396.7 nm are also observed in this communication fiber through a complex cascaded process.

Cascaded Raman and Intermodal Four-Wave Mixing in Conventional Non-Zero Dispersion-Shifted Fiber for Versatile Ultra-Broadband Continuum Generation

We demonstrate an efficient ultra-broadband supercontinuum generation in telecom-grade optical fiber by pumping Q-switched subnanosecond laser pulses (0.77 ns) at 1064 nm in the normal dispersion region of the fiber. The fiber supports several spatial modes at this pump wavelength. Multiple sidebands with six Raman stokes spanning over more than 1100 nm (starting well below 600 nm and extending beyond 1700 nm) are generated using very low input pump power (average 57 mW). Theoretical analysis shows that cascaded Raman and cascaded intermodal four-wave mixing processes can account for the generation of multiple sidebands. We also demonstrate that the modal composition of the input pump profile can provide an extra degree of freedom in tailoring the multiple Raman peaks in the output spectrum.

Theory of intermodal four-wave mixing with random linear mode coupling in few-mode fibers.

We study intermodal four-wave mixing (FWM) in few-mode fibers in the presence of birefringence fluctuations and random linear mode coupling. Two different intermodal FWM processes are investigated by including all nonlinear contributions to the phase-matching condition and FWM bandwidth. We find that one of the FWM processes has a much larger bandwidth than the other. We include random linear mode coupling among fiber modes using three different models based on an analysis of the impact of random coupling on differences of propagation constants between modes. We find that random coupling always reduces the FWM efficiency relative to its vale in the absence of linear coupling. The reduction factor is relatively small (about 3 dB) when only a few modes are linearly coupled but can become very large (> 40 dB) when all modes couple strongly. In the limit of a coupling length much shorter than the nonlinear length, intermodal FWM efficiency becomes vanishingly small. These results should prove useful in the context of space-division multiplexing with few-mode and multimode fibers.

Experimental Investigation of Inter-Modal Four-Wave Mixing in Few-Mode Fibers

We experimentally demonstrate nondegenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) between waves belonging to different spatial modes of a 5-km-long few-mode fiber (FMF). Of the three inter-modal FWM (IM-FWM) processes possible, two have been experimentally observed. These IM-FWM processes are found to be phase-matched over very large frequency separations of several Terahertz between the waves. In contrast to FWM in single-mode fibers that require operating near the zero-dispersion wavelength to achieve phase matching, IM-FWM in a FMF can be fully phase matched in the presence of large chromatic dispersion in each spatial mode.