A semi-classical 7-wave model is developed to investigate the noise performances of a degenerate dual-pump phase sensitive amplifier. This approach takes into account the transfer to the signal, through multiple four-wave mixing processes, of the vacuum fluctuations injected in the high-order waves. This effect leads to a degradation of the noise figure of the amplifier with respect to the 0 dB value predicted by the usual 3-wave model. However, it is proved that a careful choice of the fiber dispersion allows to use the high-order waves to enhance the signal gain without degrading the noise figure above 1 dB.

We numerically simulate the distortion of an analog signal carried in a microwave photonics link containing a phase sensitive amplifier (PSA), focusing mainly on amplitude modulation format. The numerical model is validated by comparison with experimental measurements. By using the well known two-tone test, we compare the situations in which a standard intensity modulator is used with the one where a perfectly linear modulator would be employed. We also investigate the role of gain saturation on the nonlinearity of the PSA. Finally, we establish the conditions, in which the signal nonlinearity introduced by the PSA itself can be extremely small.

Phase sensitive amplifiers (PSA), contrary to usual phase insensitive amplifiers (PIA), are in principle capable to achieve noiseless amplification, i.e. exhibit a quantum-limited noise figure (NF) of 0 db. When implemented using four-wave mixing (FWM) in a non-linear fibre, extra waves can be generated by undesired FWM processes, which may introduce extra input ports for vacuum fluctuations, thus potentially degrading the NF. In this situation, we give here a general analytical quantum derivation of the PSA NF, valid for an arbitrary number of nonlinearly coupled modes. This expression is usable as soon as a linear input-output relation can be found for the annihilation and creation operators of the involved modes. It predicts that the noise level depends on the number of interacting waves. We illustrate the usefulness of this expression in the case of six waves, corresponding to four interacting quantum modes. In this example the signal NF is degraded by 0.4 db, compared to 10 db obtained for PIA operation of the same scheme.

We propose a new architecture of phase sensitive optical frequency converter based on dual-pump phase sensitive amplification in a highly nonlinear fiber. This frequency converter allows generation of extra tones through nonlinear four-wave mixing between two strong pumps and an input tone. The frequency channel to which the input tone is converted can be chosen by adjusting the phase of the input signal. The conversion efficiency and extinction ratio of this frequency converter are predicted and optimized and its noise figure is calculated using a numerical approach based on the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. A semi-classical noise figure calculation for this approach was used and validated using an analytical fully quantum calculation based on the multi-wave model.

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CW waves in a nonlinear fiber interact through four-wave-mixing processes. Using such interactions, we predict a phase-sensitive frequency conversion functionality in such a system, with two pumps and an idler launched at the fiber input.