Tunable modulational instability sidebands via parametric resonance in periodically tapered optical fibers

Abstract

We analyze the modulation instability induced by periodic variations of group velocity dispersion and nonlinearity in optical fibers, which may be interpreted as an analogue of the well-known parametric resonance in mechanics. We derive accurate analytical estimates of resonant detuning, maximum gain and instability margins, significantly improving on previous literature on the subject. We also design a periodically tapered photonic crystal fiber, in order to achieve narrow instability sidebands at a detuning of 35 THz, above the Raman maximum gain peak of fused silica. The wide tunability of the resonant peaks by variations of the tapering period and depth will allow to implement sources of correlated photon pairs which are far-detuned from the input pump wavelength, with important applications in quantum optics.

Gain sideband splitting in dispersion oscillating fibers

“…Indeed, as it is shown in panel 6(a), when comparing the structure of the gain around X 1 , we may point out that the analytical expression (8) reproduces well the inner slope of the two sidebands. The validity of the analytical approximation (8) is also confirmed by carrying out a similar analysis for a different value of the amplitude of D amp = 6.7 ps/km/nm, such that sideband splitting is also observed, see Fig.…”

“…More recently, a renewed experimental and theoretical interest in MI studies has been stimulated by the availability of fibers presenting a longitudinal and periodic modulation of their dispersion properties [5]. Indeed, thanks to the periodic dispersion landscape, which leads to quasi-phase-matching (QPM) of the nonlinear four-wave mixing (FWM) process, MI sidebands can be observed even in the regime of normal average GVD of a dispersion-oscillating optical fiber (DOF) [6][7][8]. Recent experimental works have confirmed the QPM-induced MI process in the normal GVD regime of microstructured DOF around 1 lm [5], as well as of non-microstructured highly nonlinear DOF at telecom wavelengths [9,10].…”

Nonlinear polarization effects in optical fibers: polarization attraction and modulation instability [Invited]

“…Thus, scalar MI can only exist in the anomalous dispersion regime. However, scalar MI can also be observed for normal dispersion with different processes: first through the fourth-order dispersion with a negative coefficient [84][85][86], second through the boundary conditions of a cavity [87][88][89], and finally through periodic dispersion management [90][91][92][93]. Another mechanism that also leads to MI in the normal dispersion regime was first pointed out by Berkhoer and Zakharov, considering the nonlinear coupling between two different modes via cross-phase modulation [94].…”

Influence of the pump shape on the modulation instability process induced in a dispersion-oscillating fiber

“…Additional insight into the shape of the MI gain sideband may be obtained by taking advantage of a Floquet-based LSA, which has been shown to be a very powerful tool for the analysis of the evolution of the MI gain spectrum in DOFs [8,11,12,17]. In Fig.…”

“…More recently, a renewed experimental and theoretical interest in MI studies has been stimulated by the availability of fibers presenting a longitudinal and periodic modulation of their dispersion properties [5]. Indeed, thanks to the periodic dispersion landscape, which leads to quasi-phase-matching (QPM) of the nonlinear four-wave mixing (FWM) process, MI sidebands can be observed even in the regime of normal average GVD of a dispersion-oscillating optical fiber (DOF) [6][7][8]. Recent experiments have confirmed the QPM-induced MI process in the normal GVD regime of microstructure DOF around 1 μm [5], as well as of nonmicrostructure highly nonlinear DOF at telecom wavelengths [9,10].…”