Efficient Degenerate Four-Wave Mixing in a Single Mode Waveguide

Abstract

Degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) in bulk media has proven useful over the years for phase conjugation and material characterization [1]. It has also been demonstrated in waveguide geometries, principally fibers [2]. There has been one experiment reported in planar wave guides, but the conjugate reflectivity was only 10-9 since the nonlinear medium CS2 was used as the waveguide cladding [3]. Higher efficiencies are clearly desireable, especially since degenerate four-wave mixing in waveguide geometries is useful for signal processing operations such as signal convolution, time inversion, and time compression [4]. In this paper we report the first measurements of degenerate four-wave mixing in semiconductor-doped glass waveguides made by Na+-K+ ion exchange. Efficiencies approaching 10% have been obtained with picosecond pulses.