Four-Wave Mixing Bandwidth Enlargement Using Phase-Matching Control by Gain-Transparent Stimulated Brillouin Scattering

We demonstrate an optical approach to control fourwave mixing (FWM) conversion bandwidth based on gaintransparent stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in fiber. By introducing self-compensation of optical gain/loss with frequency-locked SBS pump and Stokes waves, the FWM phase matching condition can be flexibly controlled through SBS induced refractive index change without affecting the signal power. The conversion efficiency has been enhanced by up to 9.3 dB for an idler outside the original conversion bandwidth. The 3dB bandwidth is enlarged from 11.04 nm to 15.62 nm, resulting in 41% increase from its original value. Our technique can be adopted to other applications of parametric processes where phase matching is not automatically satisfied. Keywords-Four-wave mixing; stimulated Brillouin scattering; optical wavelength conversion; optical phase matching