Abstract

Recent successful experiments on soliton squeezing have rekindled interest in optical fiber media for quantum noise studies.¹ The phenomenon of modulational instability in the negative dispersion regime (λ > 1.3 µm) occurs when a quasi-continuous input wave becomes unstable to quantum fluctuations or external modulational perturbations, and generates a pair of sidebands that initially grow exponentially from quantum noise. Since the sidebands are typically detuned by terahertz (THz) from the pump, the effect of guided-acoustic-wave Brillouin scattering noise is reduced. This is an important requirement in order for potentially interesting quantum correlation phenomena to be experimentally observable.

© 1992 Optical Society of America