Highly tunable broadband coherent wavelength conversion with a fiber-based optomechanical system

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a fiber-based optomechanical system capable of broadband, coherent wavelength conversion without phase matching or cavity enhancement, significantly simplifying implementation and extending bandwidth to tens of THz for various optical applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel fiber-based optomechanical approach for broadband coherent wavelength conversion that overcomes limitations of traditional nonlinear optical methods.

Findings

Achieved coherent wavelength conversion over tens of THz bandwidth.

Demonstrated optomechanically induced transparency and absorption.

Simplified experimental setup without phase matching or cavity enhancement.

Abstract

The modern information networks are built on hybrid systems working at disparate optical wavelengths. Coherent interconnects for converting photons between different wavelengths are highly desired. Although coherent interconnects have conventionally been realized with nonlinear optical effects, those systems require demanding experimental conditions such as phase matching and/or cavity enhancement, which not only bring difficulties in experimental implementation but also set a narrow operating bandwidth (typically in MHz to GHz range as determined by the cavity linewidth). Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate coherent information transfer between two orthogonally propagating light beams of disparate wavelengths in a fiber-based optomechanical system, which does not require any sort of phase matching or cavity enhancement of the pump beam. The coherent process is demonstrated by phenomena of optomechanically induced transparency and absorption. Our scheme not only significantly simplifies the experimental implementation of coherent wavelength conversion, but also extends the operating bandwidth to that of an optical fiber (tens of THz), which will enable a broad range of coherent-optics-based applications such as optical sensing, spectroscopy, and communication.