Quantum noise properties of parametric amplifiers driven by two pump waves

In a parametric amplifier (PA) driven by two pump waves the signal sideband is coupled to three idler sidebands, all of which are frequency-converted (FC) images of the signal, and two of which are phase-conjugated ( PC) images of the signal. If such a device is to be useful, the signal must be amplified, and the PC and FC idlers must be produced, with minimal noise. In this paper the quantum noise properties of two-sideband (TS) parametric devices are reviewed and the properties of many-sideband devices are determined. These results are applied to the study of two-pump PAs, which are based on the aforementioned four-sideband (FS) interaction. As a general guideline, the more sidebands that interact, the higher are the noise levels. However, if the pump frequencies are tuned to maximize the frequency bandwidth of the FS interaction, the signal and idler noise-figures are only slightly higher than the noise figures associated with the limiting TS interactions. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.