Raman-assisted fiber optical parametric amplifier and wavelength converter in highly nonlinear fiber

We present a continuous-wave pumped fiber optical parametric amplifier and wavelength converter in I km of highly nonlinear dispersion-shifted fiber. The reduced pump requirements of the fiber allowed a low-signal-loss configuration in which respective net gains and wavelength-conversion efficiencies of up to 8.6 dB and 5.9 dB were obtained with only 89 mW of pump power. These values were increased to 19.5 dB and 17.3 dB, respectively, when a counterpropagating 680-mW pump was used to assist the parametric process through Raman amplification. Raman assistance in highly nonlinear fiber further promotes parametric amplification and wavelength conversion as a viable technology for the future. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.