FOUR-LIGHTWAVE MIXER-GENERATOR

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a four-lightwave mixer-generator in which a noise generated due to unnecessary FWM is decreased. SOLUTION: In the four-lightwave mixer-generator which generates an FWM light by mixing a WDM signal light having a plurality of channels and a pumping light in a medium having a nonlinear dielectric polarization, the following relation Pp/Ps≥(q/ξ)×(N-s)/(N-1) is satified by the following three parameters: (i) the light intensity of the pumping light Pp, (ii) an averaged light intensity per channel of the incident WDM signal light Ps, and (iii) a parameter s which is a ratio of the frequency difference of the WDM signal light which is closest to the pumping light and the channel interval of the WDM signal light, where Psstands for an averaged light intensity per channel of the incident WDM signal light at the incident end of the medium, Ppstands for the light intensity of the pumping light, q stands for an allowable noise value (nondimensional) included in the FWM light, N stands for the number of channels of the WDM signal light, Δf stands for the frequency interval between channels, s Δf stands for the frequency difference between the pumping light frequency and the WDM signal light frequency which is closest to the pumping light, and ξ is an experimentally decided parameter. COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO