Abstract

Nondegenerate four-wave mixing process (NDFWM) in semiconductor lasers or traveling wave amplifiers (TWA) is a promising candidate for frequency converters in future optical communication systems. Many experiments have been reported using a TWA or a Fabry-Perot laser where a pump or injection locking beam is coupled from outside in addition to a signal beam. If we can use the lasing beam of a DFB laser as a pump beam, an external laser is not required. Although some experiments have been demonstrated,^1,2 cavity resonance is utilized to overcome the short interaction length of DFB laser, which prevents the flat detuning characteristics. This report presents the NDFWM without assistance of cavity resonance in a long- cavity λ/4 shifted DFB laser.³ High-conversion efficiency, wide-frequency-conversion range, and flat detuning characteristics without cavity resonance are demonstrated.

© 1996 Optical Society of America