Tunable Wavelength Conversion of ps-Pulses Exploiting Cascaded Sum- and Difference Frequency Generation in a PPLN-Fiber Ring Laser

Tunable wavelength conversion of picosecond (ps)-pulses based on cascaded sum- and difference frequency generation is proposed and demonstrated by use of a fiber ring laser incorporating a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide and two parallel-arranged tunable filters (TFs). The pulsed signal with 40-GHz repetition rate and 1.57-ps pulsewidth is employed. No external pump and control sources are required in the wavelength converter. By properly adjusting two TFs to change the lasing pump and control wavelengths, flexible wavelength conversion from a changeable input signal wavelength to a variable output idler wavelength is achieved.