3846 OPTICS LETTERS / Vol. 38, No.

19 / October 1, 2013

Tunable optical parametric amplification

characteristics of liquid-filled
chalcogenide photonic crystal fibers
S. P. Singh1,3 and S. K. Varshney1,2,4
1
Department of Physics & Meteorology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721 302, India
2
Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721 302, India
3
e-mail: satya0pratap@gmail.com
4
e-mail: skvarshney@ece.iitkgp.ernet.in
Received June 3, 2013; revised July 31, 2013; accepted August 19, 2013;
posted August 21, 2013 (Doc. ID 191489); published September 23, 2013
A new technique to attain tunable parametric amplification in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) through control of
chromatic dispersion is proposed and empirically investigated. By infiltrating the air channels of the PCFs with
suitable thermo-optic liquids, the zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDW) can be tailored to provide a wider gain spec-
trum in the mid-IR range and generate blueshifted frequency components. It is deduced that a change of 10–20 nm in
the ZDW around the pump creates a gain region several hundred nanometers from the pump wavelength by only
varying the temperature of the liquid externally. © 2013 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (060.2320) Fiber optics amplifiers and oscillators; (060.4370) Nonlinear optics, fibers.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OL.38.003846

Fiber-optic parametric amplifiers (FOPAs) have at-
tracted widespread interest because of their potential
to provide broadband and high gain in various spectral
bands, from the visible to mid-IR. FOPAs exhibit numer-
ous applications in high-capacity optical networks such
as optical regenerator wavelength conversion and para-
metric amplification in the mid-IR spectral region. Such
devices are suitable for absorption spectroscopy in the
“molecular fingerprint regime,” where various hydrocar-
bons, hydrochlorides, etc. show strong absorption [1–3].
The parametric process is based on four-photon mixing
(FPM), which relies on the relative phases among four
interacting photons, as opposed to the Raman and
erbium-doped fiber amplifiers that are based on transi-
tions between energy states. The phase insensitive ampli-
fication characteristics of OPAs can be utilized for pulse
reshaping [4] and quantum noise suppression [5]. Con-
ventional optical fibers, mainly highly nonlinear fibers,
have been employed to realize parametric gain with
longer fiber lengths. The advent of photonic crystal fibers
(PCFs), also referred to as microstructured optical fibers,
has opened the gateway to realizing both passive and ac-
tive devices and to overcome limitations of conventional
optical fibers, such as ultrahigh nonlinearities, controlled
dispersion, and endlessly, or effectively single-mode
behavior [6]. The air channels in a hexagonal arrange-
ment in PCFs constitutes the cladding and effectively re-
duces the refractive index of the cladding, making it
possible to guide the light into the core that is created
by omitting a central air channel. Such PCFs are referred
to as solid-core or index-guiding PCFs.
PCFs have been drawn using different material sys-
tems: pure silica, chalcogenide, or a combination of
materials, such as silica–chalcogenide or chalcoge-
nide–telluride [7–10]. Since silica becomes highly absorp-
tive at mid-IR wavelengths (>2.5 μm), non-silica glass
materials that show greater transparency in the mid-IR
regime, are frequently used. Moreover, the nonlinear
refractive index, n2 , of non-silica glasses (chalcogenide,
0146-9592/13/193846-04$15.00/0
telluride, bismuth, or compound glasses) is much higher
(almost by 2 to 3 orders) compared to the silica glass that
allows the design and fabrication of compact passive or
active devices. The air channels in the PCF cladding
structures further reduce the effective mode area of
the fiber, which eventually increases the effective
nonlinearity of the optical fiber, as the effective mode
area Aeff and fiber nonlinearity γ are related inversely
to each other.
In comparison to silica, arsenic trisulfide, As2 S3 , has a
wide transparency window [2] of up to ∼11 μm in the mid-
IR region, opening up the possibility of realizing mid-IR
fiber OPA for use in spectroscopic applications. Most
non-silica glasses, e.g., chalcogenide glasses, exhibit
higher intrinsic losses (100–200 dB km−1 ) that impose lim-
itations on the use of very long chalcogenide fibers [11].
However, only very small lengths of fiber (tens of centi-
meters) would be required due to this ultrahigh fiber’s
nonlinearities; therefore, one may neglect the losses.
The As2 S3 PCFs offer strong confinement and desired
dispersion characteristics by tailoring the air hole size d
and air hole separation Λ (pitch constant). Such
dispersion-engineered highly nonlinear chalcogenide
PCFs provide promising platforms for wavelength conver-
sion by parametric processes in the near- and mid-IR
ranges. The OPA gain spectrum can be controlled by con-
trolling the dispersion properties.
In this Letter, we report a distinctive functionality to
tailor the zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDW) of the fiber
once it is fabricated. The air capillaries of PCFs are filled
with liquids of high thermo-optic coefficient [12]. The
ZDW of the PCF filled with thermo-sensitive liquids
can be tuned by varying the external temperature. This
effect resembles detuning the pump wavelength from
its center wavelength. One can either detune the pump
wavelength or vary the ZDW. However, using tunable la-
ser sources is an expensive solution. Therefore, the pro-
posed methodology for achieving a thermally tunable
gain spectrum in the communication and mid-infrared
© 2013 Optical Society of America
 October 1, 2013 / Vol. 38, No. 19 / OPTICS LETTERS 3847

regions using a single CW pump source may perform
better.
The basic mechanism that leads to amplification in
FOPAs is four-wave mixing (FWM), which is a third-
order nonlinear process where two pump photons are
converted into a signal photon and an idler photon in
accordance with energy conservation, ωp
ωp 
ωs
ωI , where p, s, and i denote the pump, signal,
and idler, respectively. If we assume that there is no idler
at the input and launching a weak signal along with the
pump improves the FWM efficiency, then optical para-
metric signal gain [13,14] can be calculated as

2
γP
Gs  1
sinh2 gL; (1)
g smaller pitch constant and higher filling fraction that
where γ  2πn2 ∕Aeff λ is the nonlinear coefficient, P is the
cw pump power, L is the fiber length, and g is the para-
metric gain coefficient, which is given analytically as
r
κ2
g  γP2 − ; where κ  Δβ
2γP.
4
The parametric gain coefficient g should be real for a net
signal gain. The total phase mismatch κ is the sum of lin-
ear (Δβ) and nonlinear (2γP) phase mismatch that can be
evaluated once the linear phase mismatch Δβ is known:
Δβ  βs
βi − 2βp ;
where βs;i;p s are propagation constants for signal, idler,
and pump, respectively. The linear phase mismatch can
be expanded around the pump using a Taylor series [14]
as follows:
β4p
Δβ  β2p Δωs 2
Δωs 4 ;
12
where β2p and β4p are the second- and fourth-order
dispersion parameters at pump wavelength. The
dispersion parameters depend on the PCF geometry.
Note that odd order dispersion parameters cancel out,
leaving only even orders in Eq. (4). We have considered
dispersion parameters up to the fourth order. The fre-
quency shift is Δωs  ωs − ωp or ωp − ωi , where ωs , ωi ,
and ωp are the signal, idler, and pump frequencies, re-
spectively. The efficiency and spectral bandwidth of an
OPA are governed by the phase matching condition, as
shown in Eq. (4). The OPA gain is greater when total
phase mismatch κ is zero and vice versa. For a given
pump power, the nonlinear phase has a constant value,
while the linear phase mismatch depends on the wave-
length of all waves participating in the FWM process.
For net OPA gain, the linear phase mismatch Δβ should
be negative and with sufficient magnitude to balance the
constant positive nonlinear phase mismatch, i.e., Δβ
should lie in the range −4γP ≤ Δβ ≤ 0.
To attain tunable parametric gain in near- and mid-IR
wavelength ranges, two different configurations of PCFs
(PCF-A and PCF-B) were chosen. Both fibers consist of
As2 S3 as background material, with two rings of air chan-
nels filled with liquids of different refractive indices (1.3
and 1.45, respectively). The geometrical parameters of
both fibers are summarized in Table 1. PCF-A has a
gives rise to a very high fiber nonlinearity coefficient
due to a small effective mode area and high nonlinear
refractive index. PCF-B has a slightly larger pitch con-
stant and reduced air filling fraction that enhances the
effective mode area and reduces the nonlinearity coeffi-
cient. The thermo-optic coefficient [12] of both liquids is
(2) −4 × 10−4 ∕°C. The refractive index of As2 S3 is also tem-
perature dependent, with a value of 1.7 × 10−5 ∕°C at
1 μm [15], 1 order less when compared to dn∕dT of
the liquid. We have used a finite element method solver
(COMSOL Multiphysics) to obtain the propagation con-
stant of the chalcogenide PCF both with and without
liquids in the air holes. The refractive index variation
(3) of the liquid at temperature T°C is taken into account
using nT  nR
ΔTdn∕dT, where nR is the refractive
index of the material at room temperature and ΔT is the
temperature difference. Subsequently, the fiber nonli-
nearity γ (as defined above) and chromatic dispersion
(D  −λ∕c d2 n∕dλ2 ) are calculated for both PCF struc-
tures. The dispersion of PCFs is exhibited in Fig. 1.
The dashed and solid black curves correspond, respec-
(4) tively, to PCF-A and PCF-B in Fig. 1. It is evident that
PCF-A has two zero crossings (1.6 and 2.76 μm) while
PCF-B has a single zero crossing at 2.935 μm. The fiber
PCF-A exhibits both positive and negative dispersion
slopes near to ZDWs. The same fiber, if pumped near
to the ZDWs, can provide parametric gain with different
gain bandwidths, as discussed later. Since the thermo-
optic coefficient of the liquid is negative, the increase
in temperature results in blueshifting of the ZDW. The
variation of ZDW as a function of temperature is illus-
trated in Fig. 2(a) for both PCF-A and PCF-B. Note that
only the temperature-dependent ZDW for the first zero
crossing of PCF-A is shown in Fig. 2(a). It is clearly seen
that ZDW decreases with an increase in temperature.

Table 1. Parameters of PCFs

Fiber Pump γ Aeff β2p ps2 ∕km & β4p ps4 ∕km
Fiber Length Wavelength ZDW W ∕km@ μm2 @
−1

Types Λ μm d∕Λ (cm) (nm) (nm) Pump Pump ΔT=0° ΔT=50° ΔT=100°
PCF-A ZDW-I 1 0.9 10 1586 1600 9904 0.8 19.70 9.75 −2.62 × 10−3
−1.14 × 10−3 −1.27 × 10−3 −1.40 × 10−3
ZDW-II 1 0.9 10 2781 2760 3095 1.46 53.66 10.05 2.22
−0.17 1.3 × 10−2 0.28
PCF-B 4 0.73 50 2925 2935 308 13.96 3.20 1.58 5.06 × 10−4
−4.93 × 10−3 −5.00 × 10−3 −5.07 × 10−3
3848 OPTICS LETTERS / Vol. 38, No. 19 / October 1, 2013
Fig. 1. Dispersion characteristics of As2 S3 PCFs. PCF-A shows
greater potential for parametric amplification as it possesses
very high nonlinearity and better dispersion characteristics.
We found that for the second ZDW of the PCF-A
(2.76 μm), the ZDW was redshifted with an increase in
temperature. The ZDW decreases by ∼10–16 nm with
an increase in temperature (ΔT) of 100°C with respect
to room temperature. It is noted that the softening
temperature of As2 S3 is ∼300°C. The nonlinear refractive
index n2 of As2 S3 is 2 × 10−18 m2 ∕W from Ref. [16].
Figure 2(b) shows the spectral variation of fiber nonli-
nearity for both PCFs. The fiber nonlinearity of PCF-A
is an order of 4 (∼10; 000), whereas for PCF-B it is 308,
which is very small in comparison to PCF-A. It would,
therefore, require either a longer length of PCF-B or
higher input pump power to achieve significant paramet-
ric gain in PCF-B fiber. However, one may also use PCF-A
to generate the gain spectrum in the mid-IR by pumping
the fiber near to the second ZDW, which would yield a
higher gain than PCF-B fiber of the same length and input
pump power. The values of dispersion parameters for
both fibers are tabulated in Table 1.
A broadband gain region in the vicinity of the ZDW can
be obtained when β2p < 0 (anomalous dispersion regime)
and β4p > 0. A fiber with these dispersion characteristics
could be used for wideband optical amplifiers. However,
due to the complex dependency of gain on dispersion, it
is possible to create a second gain region far from the
pump wavelength when β2p > 0 and β4p < 0. This type
of gain characteristic might be useful in tunable narrow-
band amplification. The parametric gain of a 10 cm long
PCF-A fiber filled with a thermo-optic liquid of refractive
Fig. 2. (a) Temperature-dependent ZDW and (b) spectral
variation of fiber nonlinearity γ of both fibers, PCF-A and
PCF-B. PCF-A exhibits higher nonlinearity compared to PCF-B,
allowing a smaller length of fiber to be used.
Fig. 3. (a) Parametric gain spectrum in a 10 cm length of PCF-
A_ZDW-I (d∕Λ  0.9, Λ  1.0 μm, ZDW1  1.6 μm) when
pumped with 2 W of input cw power at 1586 nm wavelength.
(b) Corresponding linear phase matching characteristics at
different temperatures.
index 1.3 is plotted in Fig. 3(a), while the phase matching
curves are illustrated in Fig. 3(b) for the first ZDW
(ZDW-I). The input pump wavelength (near to ZDW-I)
and power are 1586 nm and 2 W, respectively. The fiber
length is small due to high nonlinearity; therefore, one
can neglect the fiber losses. The solid blue, dashed
red, and black,-dotted curves represent the gain when
there is no change in temperature, at a change of 50°C,
and at 100°C, respectively. It can be observed that signal
gain bandwidth broadens as we increase the tempera-
ture. By tuning the temperature of the liquid from high
to low, i.e., ΔT  100°C with respect to room tempera-
ture, the β2p becomes greater and positive.
This is due to the fact that the ZDW is redshifted, which
pushes the pump wavelength into a normal dispersion re-
gime. When signal wavelength is close to the pump wave-
length, β2p dominates in the linear phase mismatch, Δβ,
while β4p dominates when the signal wavelength is away
from the pump. The small gain region in the vicinity of the
pump is due to the β2p term, whereas the second gain
peaks far from the pump wavelength are due to the neg-
ative value of β4p in the linear phase matching condi-
tion [Eq. (4)].
We further evaluated the parametric gain characteris-
tics of PCF-A at the second ZDW, where the dispersion
slope is negative. This gives rise to interesting features.
Figures 4(a) and 4(b) show the parametric gain and
phase matching characteristics, respectively. In this case,
both β2p and β4p are positive at higher temperatures (see
Table 1). As a result, the OPA gain bandwidth [Fig. 4(a)]
in the vicinity of the pump wavelength is reduced, since
the linear Δβ adds up with the nonlinear phase mismatch,
resulting in a large total phase matching value [Fig. 4(b)].
The fourth-order dispersion parameter β4p changes sign
at ΔT  0°C (Table 1). This generates a second gain peak
in the spectrum, as seen in Fig. 4(a). If we further
decrease the temperature difference, i.e., below room
temperature, we would expect a translation of gain peaks
in the mid-IR range, a distinctive feature of this particu-
lar fiber.

Fig. 4. (a) Parametric gain spectrum in a 10 cm length of
PCF-A_ZDW-II (d∕Λ  0.9, Λ  1.0 μm, ZDW2  2.76 μm)
when pumped with 2 W of input cw power at 2781 nm wave-
length. (b) Corresponding linear phase matching characteris-
tics at different temperatures.
Figure 5 depicts the parametric gain and phase match-
ing of the second fiber, PCF-B, which has a ZDW of
2.935 μm. The PCF-B fiber exhibits small nonlinearity
in comparison to PCF-A, allowing the use of longer fiber
lengths at the same input pump power of 2 W. In this par-
ticular case, the fiber length was 50 cm. The pump wave-
length was 2.925 μm, 10 nm away from the ZDW. The
dispersion parameters as a function of temperature are
given in Table 1. The dispersion parameters β2p and
β4p are positive and negative for all temperatures. We ex-
pect gain characteristics similar to PCF-A [Fig. 3(a)].
However, the gain magnitude was much lower in the
PCF-B. One can improve the gain values by either in-
creasing the pump power or by altering the length.
The OPA gain bandwidth in PCF-A_ZDW-I, PCF-
A_ZDW-II, and PCF-B are approximately 500, 300, and
800 nm, respectively. It is clearly evident that PCF-B pro-
vided more bandwidth, at the cost of lower gain, whereas
PCF-A-ZDW-I ensured high parametric gain with short
lengths and moderate gain bandwidth. The gain band-
width shrinks for PCF-A_ZDW-II. We have also investi-
gated the effect of thermal expansion on PCF
geometry due to heating and the thermal effect of the in-
put pump power [17] due to absorption of the chalcoge-
nide glass, and its effect on the dispersion and OPA gain
characteristics of the proposed PCF designs. Through
numerical simulations, we found that thermal effects
due to laser power were small and negligible compared
to the effect of heating the fiber externally, as the glass
might start softening and affect the geometrical parame-
ters of the fibers.
Finally, this study demonstrates that chalcogenide
PCF-based OPAs are useful devices for generating a
broadband spectrum in the mid-IR and optical communi-
cation ranges. The variation of the ZDW with tempera-
ture is investigated, which helps in translating the
pump wavelength from an anomalous to a normal
dispersion regime, generating a gain region several hun-
dred nanometers away from the pump wavelength by
October 1, 2013 / Vol. 38, No. 19 / OPTICS LETTERS 3849
Fig. 5. (a) Parametric gain spectrum in a 50 cm length of
PCF-B fiber (d∕Λ  0.73, Λ  4.0 μm, ZDW  2.94 μm) when
pumped with 2 W of input cw power at 2925 nm wavelength.
(b) Corresponding linear phase matching characteristics.
simply tuning the temperature of the liquid. We have also
shown that PCF-A can generate radiation from the near-
to mid-IR with a large amount of gain in comparison to
PCF-B but at the cost of reduced gain bandwidth.
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