Generation of white-light optical vortices through four-wave mixing

Based on double optical pumping channels, we experimentally study the competition between two coexistent six-wave mixing (SWM) processes falling into two electromagnetically induced transparency windows by scanning the frequency of the probe field in two similar five-level atomic systems of 85Rb. By blocking one optical pumping channel unrelated to the four-wave mixing (FWM) process, one SWM process, together with the FWM process, generated by a conjugated small-angle static grating could be observed in the spectrum. Moreover, the other SWM process obtained by blocking the first SWM channel is also observed together with the FWM process in a lower N-type four-level subsystem. These experimental results agree well with theoretical predictions.

We report on the simultaneous generation of phase-conjugate signals by degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) and holographic processes using a nanosecond pulse and a CW lasers in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) films doped with four kinds of saturable absorbing dyes. For the pulse laser, of the four kinds of dye-doped PVA films, the erythrosine B-doped PVA and uranine doped-PVA films generate PC signals only by the DFWM process, while the other dye-doped PVA films generate PC signals simultaneously by not only the DFWM process but also the holographic process. Especially, the safranin T-doped PVA film generates strong PC signals by the holographic process. In contrast, all of the dye-doped PVA films generate the two types of PC signals for the CW laser. The fading of dye molecules is found to result in the generation of the holographic component of PC signals which governs the temporal behavior of the total PC signals.

We demonstrate a partially degenerated intermodal four-wave mixing (FWM) process realized in a few-mode nonlinear optical fiber, leading to the effective generation of visible red and blue light from 532 nm sub-nanosecond pulses. We present a self-seeded FWM configuration with a signal beam obtained in the additional section of the same type of fiber that ensures perfect matching between the seed and the Stokes beams. Over 40% of the wavelength conversion efficiency in the FWM process was obtained using a fiber length shorter than 1 m.

Robust high-order optical vortices are much in demand for applications in optical manipulation, optical communications, quantum entanglement and quantum computing. However, in numerous experimental settings, a controlled generation of optical vortices with arbitrary orbital angular momentum remains a challenge. Here, we present a concept of “optical vortex ladder” for the stepwise generation of optical vortices through Sisyphus pumping of pseudospin modes in photonic graphene. The ladder is applicable in various lattices with Dirac-like structures. Instead of conical diffraction and incomplete pseudospin conversion under conventional Gaussian beam excitations, the vortices produced in the ladder arise from non-trivial topology and feature diffraction-free Bessel profiles, thanks to the refined excitation of the ring spectrum around the Dirac cones. By employing a periodic “kick” to the photonic graphene, effectively inducing the Sisyphus pumping, the ladder enables tunable generation of optical vortices of any order even when the initial excitation does not involve any orbital angular momentum. The optical vortex ladder stands out as an intriguing non-Hermitian dynamical system, and, among other possibilities, opens a pathway for applications of topological singularities in beam shaping and wavefront engineering.

In the present presentation, we report the experimentally and theoretically investigated spatial wavefront conversion properties of an optical vortex (OV) generation system including azo-dye doped liquid crystal (ADDLC) polymer composite and vector beam illuminator, focusing on the abilities of flexibility and achromaticity. Threedimensional anisotropic structure was induced by recording vector beam in ADDLC and it can convert a polarized Gaussian beam into polarized OVs whose topological charge is depending on the structure of anisotropy. The photo-induced anisotropic structure can be re-initialized by turning it off and changing the illuminating polarization pattern of vector beam. Numerical simulations and experimental results showed that our anisotropic structure can generate OV with broadband spectrum.

Semianalytic models are developed to deterministically calculate the variances of degenerate and nondegenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) noises for dispersion-managed dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems with 8-Ary modulations [i.e., 8-level amplitude- and differential phase-shift keying (8APSK) and constant-amplitude optical differential 8-level phase-shift keying (D8PSK)]. The semianalytic models include various important propagation effects for exact numerical results. A 5.28-Tb/s (40-Gs/s/ch) 100-GHz-spaced 33-channel DWDM system with a dispersion map is then numerically analyzed by using the newly derived semianalytic models. It is numerically validated that FWM impacts coming from 8APSK pump channels are more severe than those coming from D8PSK ones, where pump channels denote the channels whose energies are transferred to a probe channel through the FWM process. The numerical results show that although FWM tolerance of a central channel with 8APSK is worse than that with D8PSK, a central channel with 8APSK is still superior to that with D8PSK when some linear noises and FWM noise are simultaneously taken into account for our given system conditions, which is mainly attributed to a relatively larger minimum Euclidean distance for the 8APSK constellation than the D8PSK one.

The possibility to perform broad wavelength generation and conversion is of great interest in classical and quantum optics. With the introduction of integrated nonlinear silicon photonics, these tasks have been made even more viable thanks to the combination of the high nonlinear refractive index of silicon with the high confinement provided by the photonic waveguides. Exploiting this platform, several solutions for wavelength conversion have been investigated, for both optical processing [1] and applications in the Mid Infrared (MIR) [2]. The possibility to perform broad and controllable wavelength generation can be exploited also for creating integrated sources of quantum states of light based on single photons [3] or correlated photon pairs [4]. Both the generation and conversion can be accomplished by means of Four Wave Mixing (FWM). FWM is a nonlinear optical process in which two pump photons at frequency are converted into signal and idler photons at frequencies and ω/ respectively (with ω I /ω S ). In the particular case of wavelength conversion, FWM is stimulated by a seed wave at the same wavelength of the signal (idler) that will be converted to the wavelength of the idler (signal). FWM has to satisfy the energy conservation, according to which the relation ω P + ω P = ω S + ω I holds, and its efficiency is ruled by the phase matching condition. This latter condition is related to the phase mismatch among the waves involved in the FWM process, that is evaluated as Δk = k p + k p −k S −k I , where k P , k S , k I are the wavevectors for the pump, the signal and the idler, respectively. When Δk = 0, the phase matching condition is fulfilled and the efficiency of FWM is maximized. What is important for wavelength generation and conversion is the spectral position of the phase matching condition, which determines the wavelength at which the maximum efficiency of the conversion or generation process is achieved. Because of this, techniques for the control of the phase matching condition have been developed, focusing on the possibility to tailor the Group Velocity Dispersion (GVD) through a proper engineering of the waveguide geometry [5]. While these techniques consider only the first order waveguide mode, here we propose to exploit the higher order modes propagating inside a multimode waveguide. The dispersion of the higher order modes can be used to tune the spectral position of the phase matching condition for the FWM process, achieving controllable and large spectral translation in both Stimulated Four Wave Mixing (sFWM) and Spontaneous Four Wave Mixing (SFWM).

Generation of optical vortices using a new design of adaptive helical mirror (AHM) is reported. The new AHM is a reflective device that can generate an optical vortex of any desired topological charge, both positive and negative, within its breakdown limits. The most fascinating feature of the AHM is that the topological charge of the optical vortex generated with it can be changed in real time by varying the excitation voltage. Generation of optical vortices up to topological charge 4 has been demonstrated. The presence of a vortex in the optical field generated with the AHM is confirmed by producing both fork and spiral fringes in an interferometric setup. Various design improvements to further enhance the performance of the reported AHM are discussed. Some of the important applications of AHM are also listed.

Phase-sensitive amplification (PSA) based on cascaded four-wave mixing (FWM), i.e. the input signal-idler pairs of FWM-based PSA are also generated by FWM process, is analytically investigated in this paper. Expressions for the amplitude and phase of output signal/idler are derived, taking into account the pump depletion and the self- and cross-phase modulation (SPM and XPM) from pumps and signals. The performance of cascaded FWM-based PSA in optical fiber communications are discussed.

We present a theory of the effects of various sources of nonlinear phase shifts on the performance of a phase-conjugate interferometer that uses degenerate four-wave mixing in the retroreflected pump-beam configuration in determining the complex (magnitude and phase) third-order nonlinear susceptibility of novel nonlinear optical materials. Our analysis reveals that the performance of the interferometer is insensitive to the net nonlinear phase shift acquired by the pump wave in a double pass through the nonlinear material. However, the interferometer is susceptible to nonlinear phase shifts through the four-wave mixing process. As a consequence, under certain conditions a finite phase is measured by the interferometer for the real third-order susceptibility of a lossless nonlinear material. This measured phase depends on the intensity imbalance between the forward and the backward pump beams as well as the intensity of the probe beam. The effects of the intensity imbalance between the pump beams on the measured phase can be compensated for by a judicious choice of the intensity of the probe beam.

We propose a high-pressure sensing mechanism in solid-core silica photonic crystal fibers (PCF) that is based on the nonlinear optical process of degenerate four-wave mixing. A quite simple configuration for the pressure sensor is given and is theoretically investigated by obtaining signal gain spectra. We focus on the Stokes and anti-Stokes sidebands that are generated during propagation of the field along the PCF due to the interplay of dispersion and nonlinear optical effects. We have considered wave propagation in the normal dispersion regime with the inclusion of negative fourth-order dispersion. We have also considered a pumping field with wavelength of 1076 nm and peak power of 3000 W that propagates along a PCF with 40 cm of length. We have optimized sensitivity, varying lattice pitch and air-hole diameter, and we have obtained high sensitivities of the Stokes and anti-Stokes lines of 3.672 and -0.146nm/MPa, respectively. The proposed sensors have potential applicability in high-pressure environments.

We derive the set of coupled equations that describes the process of degenerate four-wave mixing in the presence of spatially nonuniform pump-beam wave fronts. We investigate the influence of phase mismatch between plane-wave pump beams on the efficiency and on the fidelity of the phase-conjugation process, and we furnish, in the near-collinear geometry, the expression of the spatial degree of coherence of the phase-conjugate wave in terms of those of the input signal and of the pump beams.

Magnet-free optical nonreciprocity has significant applications in quantum communication, quantum networks, and optical information processing. In this research, considering a degenerate two-level thermal atomic system with the Doppler effect of thermal atoms, the nonreciprocal amplification (NRA) of dual-path degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) signals is achieved under the action of a co-propagating pumping field. On this basis, spatially multiplexed multiple FWM processes are formed by introducing another counter-propagating pumping field, thereby achieving the reciprocal amplification (RA) of the dual-channel FWM signals. Furthermore, by using multiple sets of spiral phase plates to load spiral phases on the signal light and the pumping light respectively, higher-order Laguerre-Gaussian vortex beams carrying different optical orbital angular momentum (OAM) are generated and participate in the FWM process, achieving the transfer of the OAM of the pumping light to the amplified FWM fields. Simultaneously, using the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, the conservation characteristics of the OAM of each FWM signal in the NRA-RA conversion are further analyzed. Furthermore, experimental results demonstrate that in the multiple FWM process induced by a pair of counter-propagating pump fields, the OAM of the amplified FWM signal in each channel varies with that of the pump field. However, the overall process maintains the OAM conservation. This study provides a feasible solution for expanding the channel capacity using OAM based on NRA-RA system, showing that the OAM has potential application prospects in achieving high-capacity optical communication and multi-channel signal processing.

In this work the different schemes of propagation and interaction of the light beams in nonlinear Fabry-Perot interferometer have been studied theoretically and experimentally. Degenerate and non-degenerate four-wave mixing have been realized in the cavity of Fabry-Perot type using Rhodamine-6G dye and polymethine dye 3274U solution as saturable absorber. The diffraction efficiency of intracavity dynamic grating has been studied in dependence on intensity of interacting beams and parameters of resonator. The theoretical model of the processes of intracavity degenerate and non-degenerate four-wave mixing has been developed and applied to the analysis of the efficiency of light beams conversion by mean of Bragg diffraction from intracavity dynamic gratings. For theoretical description of typical experimental situations we used the round-trip model of nonlinear interferometer adapted for the geometry of degenerate four-wave mixing, which can be realized in the scheme of symmetrical oblique incidence of pump, signal and probe beams to the front and back mirrors of cavity.

In this work, by using a comprehensive numerical model which rigorously describes the interaction between stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and four-wave mixing (FWM), we verify that FWM processes, including depletion and parametric gain, generate a redistribution of pump power in distributed fiber Raman amplifiers (DFRAs). As a consequence of pump–pump FWM, several FWM components can be generated, which act as new sources of SRS for Raman pumping. Due to new SRS–FWM interactions, a redistribution and exchange of pump power along the fiber also occurs, producing degradation in the performance of the amplifier. Numerical results show impairments in distributed amplified systems due to these interactions, such as loss of flatness on the spectral gain, reduction on the net Raman gain, and the presence of strong FWM products within the transmission band. We note that the localization of the zero dispersion wavelength (λZD) of the fiber is a critical factor in the occurrence of these impairments. A reduction of net Raman gain up to 3 dB and tilt up to 7 dB in the spectral gain profile have been found in different amplified systems as consequence of pump–pump FWM and parametric gain of Raman pumps.