Abstract

Nondegenerate four-wave mixing (NDFWM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA’s) was studied both as a spectroscopic tool [1] and as a wavelength conversion technique [2]. The pump-probe detuning has been extended up to 4.3 THz based on ultrafast nonlinear gain dynamics including carrier heating and spectral-hole burning [3], Unlike wave mixing in passive nonlinear media, the NDFWM efficiency in SOA’s is limited by gain saturation [4], This limit can be overcome by mixing short optical pulses. Wave mixing takes place in the case of short pulses with large peak intensities and in the presence of an unsaturated gain, resulting in large NDFWM efficiencies.

© 1996 Optical Society of America