Wavelength exchange in a highly nonlinear dispersion-shifted fiber: theory and experiments

Abstract

We experimentally study Bragg-scattering four-wave mixing in a highly nonlinear fiber at telecom wavelengths using photon counters. We explore the polarization dependence of this process with a continuous wave signal in the macroscopic and attenuated regime, with a wavelength shift of 23 nm. Our measurements of mean photon numbers per second under various pump polarization configurations agree well with the theoretical and numerical predictions based on classical models. We discuss the impact of noise under these different polarization configurations. "Image transfer through two sequential four wave-mixing processes in hot atomic vapor," Phys. Rev. A 85, 053815 (2012).

Quantum frequency translation by four-wave mixing in a fiber: low-conversion regime

“…1 for the frequency locations of the four fields. This process has been used classically to allow FC (frequency conversion) over a wide frequency range [27][28][29]. The advantages of BS are that it is tunable [30], has low-noise transfer [31], and allows for very distant FC (more than 200 nm) [32,33].…”

Effects of nonlinear phase modulation on Bragg scattering in the low-conversion regime

“…1 the placement of the four fields is shown for two processes, near-and far-conversion. BS has been shown to allow frequency conversion in the classical regime for both sidebands placed far from each other [23] and sidebands placed close to each other [24,25]. Like TWM, BS converts while adding the minimum excess noise required by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle [26,27].…”

“…Like TWM, BS converts while adding the minimum excess noise required by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle [26,27]. However, among the many advantages of using FWM for classical FC are that the process is highly tunable [25,28], BS allows for very distant conversion (more than 200 nm was demonstrated in [29,30]) and in contrast to TWM, it also allows conversion of signals placed near each other. Another important property is that because BS is fiber-based, the modes emitted in the process are already mode-matched to the propagation medium.…”

Nonlinear Optics for Photonic Quantum Networks

“…Quantum frequency conversion using the third-order nonlinear susceptibility v ð3Þ is achieved by the process of four-wave-mixing Bragg scattering [156], sometimes referred to in the literature as wavelength exchange [157]. This is a non-degenerate four-wave-mixing process in which two pump fields create an effective modulation in the v ð3Þ nonlinearity, enabling the (in principle) noise-free translation of an input signal to an output that is shifted by an amount equal to the difference in the two pump frequencies (Fig.…”

“…The most common medium for four-wave-mixing Bragg scattering has been some form of an optical fibre, including photonic crystal fibre [158] and highly nonlinear dispersion shifted fibre [157,159,160]. Though the v ð3Þ nonlinearity is generally much weaker than the v ð2Þ nonlinearity (e.g., comparing the values for materials like photonic crystal or highly nonlinear fibre with lithium niobate), the combination of relatively localised field confinement, the low propagation losses, and ability to fabricate optical fibres uniformly over length scales of kilometres has enabled four-wave-mixing Bragg scattering frequency converters to achieve a conversion efficiency of about 30 % for experiments at visible wavelength [158] and nearing unity in the telecommunications band [156][157][158][159][160] (typical length scales are *30 m for photonic crystal fibre and *1 km for highly nonlinear fibre in comparison to a few cm for lithium niobate).…”