Characterization and Optimization of Four-Wave-Mixing Wavelength Conversion System

In this work, we present a comprehensive experimental and numerical investigation of the impact of system parameters on wavelength converters based on four-wave-mixing, with focus on practical system implementations in addition to the interaction within the nonlinear medium. The input signal power optimization is emphasized according to the trade-off between the linear and the nonlinear impairments, and the origin of the limitations at the optimum is studied. The impact of the input signal quality on the converted idler is discussed, and depending on the dominant noise contribution a varying conversion penalty is demonstrated. The penalty is also shown to scale with increasing number of WDM channels due to additional nonlinear cross-talk between them. Finally, by means of numerical simulations we extend the experimental characterization to high pump powers, showing the impact of parametric noise amplification, and different pump laser linewidths, which lead to increased phase-noise transfer. The experimental characterization employs an integrated AlGaAs-on-insulator waveguide, and the numerical simulations accompany the results to make the analysis general for $\chi^{(3)}$ materials that satisfy the assumptions of the split-step Fourier method.