Abstract

Fibre optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) offer the possibility of very broadband amplification and high gain. The gain region of the OPA is also flexible as the centre wavelength can be changed by altering the fibre dispersion characteristics and the wavelength of the pump source. An OPA with bandwidth of 200 nm and 25 dB gain has been reported using pulsed pumping and highly nonlinear fibre as the gain medium.¹ In standard Corning dispersion shifted fibre a bandwidth of 75 nm and 21.4 dB gain have been achieved with continuous wave pumping.² These results indicate that future OPAs may provide amplification over all the telecommunication windows in a single device.

© 2002 Optical Society of America