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Optics Letters

Optical-frequency balanced mixer

Jonathan R. Kurz, Krishnan R. Parameswaran, Rostislav V. Roussev, M. M. Fejer

Published Aug 15, 2001• 12 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Optical signal processing devices based on quasi-phase-matched three-wave mixing and cascaded three-wave mixing in guided-wave geometries have been demonstrated to operate efficiently at practical pump-power levels. We describe operation of such devices in a balanced mode that allows mixing without wavelength offset and separation of mixed output from pump and signal input without wavelength-selective filters. We present a design for an optical-frequency balanced mixer using quasi-phase-matched, cascaded second-order nonlinear processes. Using this design, we fabricated a balanced mixer in periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides that has the expected linear and nonlinear optical performance.

DOI
10.1364/ol.26.001283

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Optical signal processing devices based on quasi-phase-matched three-wave mixing and cascaded three-wave mixing in guided-wave geometries have been demonstrated to operate efficiently at practical pump-power levels. We describe operation of such devices in a balanced mode that allows mixing without wavelength offset and separation of mixed output from pump and signal input without wavelength-selective filters. We present a design for an optical-frequency balanced mixer using quasi-phase-matched, cascaded second-order nonlinear processes. Using this design, we fabricated a balanced mixer in periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides that has the expected linear and nonlinear optical performance.
This thesis describes the implementation of the all-optical wavelength converters based on quasi-phase-matched (QPM) lithium niobate (LiNbO3) crystals and some related optical nonlinear materials for optical fiber communication systems and other applications. Such devices would be the enabling technology to realize high-capacity and transparent communication networks required in wavelength-division-multiplexing systems and highly efficient laser sources at desired wavelengths. The wavelength converters discussed in this thesis are based on the three-wave mixing processes attributed to the second-order nonlinear interactions (x2,). The main challenge with a LiNbO3 QPM wavelength converter is to implement a highly efficient device, which is capable of operating at a power of hundreds of mW. For this purpose, several wavelength conversion schemes have been demonstrated and theoretically investigated, including the fiber ring resonators and a novel cascaded χ(2).∖ The former based on the conventional cascaded x(2) contains erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and other passive components exclusively as pump sources (no additional pump source is required) with excellent characteristics such as high black-box efficiency. While the encouraging properties of the latter are those pump wavelengths can be set outside the communication window, and same efficiency can be achieved by employing two pump sources with lower output power as compared with the conventional cascaded one. By taking into account the higher-order dispersion effects, pulse propagation in QPM second harmonic generation waveguides is also analyzed. In addition, the photorefractive effect (PRE) in QPM waveguides is systematically studied by using a pump-probe method, since the LiNbO3 crystals are extremely vulnerable to high-power shorter-wavelength light illumination. Both temperature and wavelength dependent results are helpful in further understanding the physical insight of the PRE, and providing a guideline for practical application of the QPM LiNbO3 waveguides.
We report on wavelength-shifting based on cascaded second-order nonlinearities1 in periodically-poled lithium niobate. Wavelength shifting from a signal s at λs=λp+Δ to a frequency-shifted signal f at λf=λp−Δ is obtained under the action of a pump p at λp: the effect is realized through the generation of the second harmonic (sh) of p and subsequent parametric amplification of s driven by sh. In the latter process f is also generated. Exploiting the advantages of quasi-phase-matching, efficient shifting is achieved at pump intensities about two orders of magnitude lower than in traditional second-order materials such as BBO.2
We report on the demonstration of optical frequency division by 3 via two successive stages of difference frequency generation. Two input sources at 532 nm and 798 nm generated an output at 1596 nm and the mixing between the 798-nm input and the 1596-nm output generated a second 1596-nm output. Both difference frequency mixing stages were implemented in a single piece of quasi-phase matched periodically poled lithium niobate. By measuring the beat frequency between the two 1596-nm an exact frequency ratio of 3:2 was obtained between two input sources. A signal-to-noise ratio of 27 dB was obtained for a resolution bandwidth of 100 kHz.