Wavelength Converting Based On Four-wave Mixing In Photonic Crystal Fiber

All-optical wavelength conversion (AWOC) is a key technology in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical network and can be achieved by several non-linear effects. One all-optical wavelength conversion technology based on the four-wave mixing (FWM) can be strictly transparent to the extent, frequency and the phase of the signal, so that it can make wavelength conversion has nothing to do with the form of the signal, is a very attractive all-optical wavelength conversion programme. Due to design flexibility of photonic crystal fiber (PCF), it has endlessly single-mode characteristic, peculiar dispersion characteristic and high nonlinearity characteristic. Through the rational design of PCF, its nonlinear is typically 1 or 2 orders of magnitude larger than that of a conventional single-mode fiber. FWM based in dispersion flat PCF can reduce the length of optical fiber, increase the regulation of the pump and improve the bandwidth and the efficiency of wavelength conversion. So it has very broad application prospect in optical fiber communication.This paper is mainly about the experiment research on the wavelength conversion technology based on the FWM in PCF. The main content includes:It is introduced that the theory of FWM in fiber and equations that describe the FWM. It is analyzed that the phase should be matched in FWM. The factors affecting the efficiency of FWM and how they affect are discussed in the former part of the paper.Two-pump four-wave mixing and wavelength conversion in the flat dispersion photonic crystal fiber is studied. 25 meters of photonic crystal fiber is adopted due to it's high nonlinearity and flat dispersion characteristics. Suitable pump sources are selected to suppress Stimulated Brillouin Scattering and 65nm wavelength conversion range is obtained.Degenerate four-wave mixing and wavelength conversion in the flat dispersion photonic crystal fiber is studied. When the pump power is 19.9 dBm, 100 nm of the tunable wavelength conversion bandwidth and -20 dB of the conversion efficiency are attained. The experimental results show that the four-wave mixing with two signals input simultaneously not affect each other when the signal power below the threshold of four-wave mixing. Thus it's suitable for multi-wavelength broadband wavelength converters.Finally, a summary of the paper is given as well as the prospective of the research.