Novel X(3) Phenomena in Optical Fibers and Fiber Cavities

摘要: This thesis presents a series of theoretical and experimental studies of x(3) nonlinear phenomena in optical fibers and optical fiber cavities. In the study of four-wave mixing, we derive a simple theory which is capable of accurately describing the mean gain and statistics of a fiber optical parametric amplifier pumped by a temporally incoherent light source, and experimentally verify it. Another study of cascaded four-wave mixing shows that a cascade of x(2n-1) processes can mimic an equivalent x(2n+1) process. Direct amplification of high order sidebands is experimentally observed, and we use this observation to explain the nonlinear mechanism behind the dispersive wave emission by a single soliton, and the new frequency components generated in a soliton-linear wave interaction. In the study of fiber cavities, a fiber optical parametric oscillator with a multi-watt level output power and wide tunability over 400 nm around telecommunication band is demonstrated. By introducing an intracavity filtering, a high conversion efficiency fiber parametric oscillator with a maximum internal conversion efficiency of 93% is also demonstrated. Finally, the universal physical phenomenon of symmetry breaking is studied in a passive nonlinear fiber ring cavity which is synchronously driven by a pulsed pump. We provide strong experimental evidence for the existence of symmetry breaking in this fiber cavity by observing the spectral power asymmetry, and the temporal shift of the intracavity pulse.