Evolution of the gain extinction ratio in dual-pump phase sensitive amplification

We have experimentally achieved a gain extinction ratio (GER) of 30 dB at 21.75 dBm pump power in a dual-pump phase sensitive amplifier based on highly nonlinear fiber, which is more efficient than what we predict with the conventional three-wave model. We point out that high-order sidebands play a key role. Then we scrutinize the trajectories of the output signal vector in the complex plane with increasing nonlinear phase shift and understand the roll-over behavior of GER versus pump power curve. We found that the phase flip of the output signal occurs around the largest GER. Adjusting design parameters, we show how to improve GER. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America