Polarization-insensitive optical four-photon mixer
AssigneeAT&T Corp.
InventorsChristian Kurtzke, Jay M. Wiesenfeld
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Abstract
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for performing polarization-insensitive four-photon mixing of optical signals. The polarization-insensitive optical mixer includes a polarization splitter for splitting an optical signal into parallel and perpendicular polarization components, different mixing paths for mixing a pump signal of like polarization with each of the parallel and perpendicular components in a nonlinear mixing device, and a polarization combiner for combining the resulting mixing products. Certain of the mixing products represent phase conjugates of the input optical signal, and are therefore useful in compensating for chromatic distortion in optical fiber.
Claims33
A polarization-insensitive optical mixer comprising:
- a polarization splitter for splitting an optical signal into a parallel and a perpendicular polarization component;
- a first mixing path having a first nonlinear mixing device for mixing said parallel component of said optical signal with a first pump signal having a polarization substantially aligned with a polarization of said parallel component to produce a mixing product of said first pump signal and said parallel component;
- a second mixing path having a second nonlinear mixing device for mixing said perpendicular component of said optical signal with a second pump signal having a polarization substantially aligned with a polarization of said perpendicular component to produce mixing products of said second pump signal and said perpendicular component, said second mixing path having an optical length substantially equivalent to an optical length of said first mixing path;
- and
- a polarization combiner for combining said mixing products of said first and second pump signals and said parallel and perpendicular components to produce a desired mixing product of said optical signal.
A multi-channel optical mixer comprising:
- a first channel router for receiving a multi-channel optical signal and separating said multi-channel optical signal into distinct channel signals;
- and
- a plurality of polarization-insensitive optical mixers, each of said polarization-insensitive optical mixers separating at least one of said channel signals into a parallel and a perpendicular polarization component, and mixing said parallel and said perpendicular component with a first and a second pump signal, respectively, to produce a polarization-insensitive mixing product of said at least one channel signal
A method of polarization-insensitive optical mixing of an optical signal comprising the steps of:
- splitting said optical signal into a parallel and a perpendicular polarization component;
- passing said parallel component through a first mixing path having a first nonlinear mixing device for mixing said parallel component of said optical signal with a first pump signal having a polarization substantially aligned with a polarization of said parallel component to produce a mixing product of said first pump signal and said parallel component;
- passing said perpendicular component through a second mixing path having a second nonlinear mixing device for mixing said perpendicular component of said optical signal with a second pump signal having a polarization substantially aligned with a polarization of said perpendicular component to produce a mixing product of said second pump signal and said perpendicular component, said second mixing path having an optical length substantially equivalent to an optical length of said first mixing path;
- and
- combining said mixing products of said pump signals and said parallel and perpendicular components of said optical signal in a polarization combiner to produce a desired mixing product of said optical signal.
A multi-channel optical mixer comprising:
- a channel router for receiving a multi-channel optical signal and separating said multi-channel optical signal into distinct channel signals;
- and
- a plurality of polarization-insensitive optical mixers, each of said polarization-insensitive mixers separating at least one of said channel signals into a parallel and a perpendicular polarization component, and mixing said parallel and said perpendicular component with a first and a second pump signal, respectively, to produce a polarization-insensitive mixing product of said at least one channel signal;
- wherein said channel router receives said mixing products of said channel signals from said polarization-insensitive mixers, and combines said mixing products of said channel signals to produce a desired mixing product of said multi-channel signal.
A method of polarization-insensitive optical mixing of a multi-channel optical signal, comprising the steps of:
- separating said multi-channel optical signal into a plurality of distinct channel signals;
- and
- providing a plurality of polarization-insensitive optical mixers, each of said polarization-insensitive mixers separating at least one of said channel signals into a parallel and a perpendicular polarization component, and mixing said parallel and said perpendicular component with a first and a second pump signal, respectively, to produce a polarization-insensitive mixing product of said at least one channel signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.