| 摘要 |
<p>The present invention proves an apparatus and method for performing polarization-insensitive four-photon mixing of optical signals. The polarization-insensitive optical mixer receives an input optical signal (at 41) and two substantially orthogonally polarized pump signals (at 42). The input optical signal and the two substantially orthogonally polarized pump signals are combined in a beam combiner (43) and then four-photon mixed in a first nonlinear mixing device (46) to produce a number of mixing products. The two substantially orthogonally polarized pump signals may be generated in an orthogonal pump signal generator which includes a second nonlinear mixing device for four-photon mixing the first pump signal and a mixing signal to produce a second pump signal which is a phase conjugate of the first pump signal. Certain of the mixing products represent phase conjugates of the input optical signal, and are therefore useful in compensating for chromatic distortion in optical fiber.</p> |
