Four-Wave Mixing in a Rapidly-Spun Fiber

The generalized Schroedinger equation that governs wave propagation in a rapidly-spun fiber was derived in a previous report (ITD-06-46951J). In this report the aforementioned equation is used to study four-wave mixing (FWM). The properties of FWM associated with a rapidly-spun fiber are described, and contrasted to those associated with constantly-birefringent and randomly-birefringent fibers. FWM driven by perpendicular linearly-polarized pump waves, or counter-rotating circularly-polarized pump waves, provides polarization-independent signal amplification and phase-conjugation, whereas FWM driven by co-rotating circularly-polarized pump waves provides polarization-independent frequency conversion.