Journal of the Optical Society of America B
Dual-pump four-wave mixing in a double-mode distributed feedback laser
Jeffrey R. Minch, S. L. Chuang
Abstract
We present a comprehensive theoretical model with experimental results on four-wave mixing in a distributed feedback laser with two pump modes. Here the twin lasing modes serve as pump waves for the four-wave mixing, which takes place within the laser cavity. We show what we believe are new experimental measurements of the two-pump four-wave mixing conversion efficiency spectrum and show that, to first order, there is no fundamental dependence of the conversion efficiency on pump separation. This result indicates significant improvement in the probe and conjugate wavelength separation and in the conversion efficiency. Our theoretical model agrees quite well with the measured data and predicts the key experimentally observed phenomena, including the relative invariance of the conversion efficiency on pump separation, and the strong enhancement of certain conjugate waves when the probe detuning is close to the pump separation.