Gain and Bandwidth Characterization in Fiber Optical Parametric Amplifiers

The fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) is characterized using a optical time-domain reflectometer-based technique. The measurement technique visualizes how the parametric gain and bandwidth evolves as a function of length. Both gain and bandwidth are measured and compared to theory and a good agreement is found between them, making this technique useful for characterization of FOPAs. The impact of zero dispersion wavelength variations in the fiber and polarization dependence of the measurement technique are also discussed