Spontaneous emission in four-wave mixing
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Four-wave mixing (FWM) enables nonlinear signal processing such as amplification, wavelength conversion, and photon-pair generation. We analyze spontaneous emission in FWM, including contributions from Raman scattering, vacuum-noise coupling to the four-wave mixing through loss, and spontaneous FWM seeded by vacuum fluctuations. Using an ensemble-based numerical model, we evaluate output field statistics and noise figures for degenerate FWM. Excellent agreement with analytical theory is found in the low-loss regime, where the noise figure approaches the 3 dB limit. We show that realistic loss values in nonlinear silica fibers introduce negligible noise penalty, while higher loss causes the gain and noise figure to approach those of a passive device.
Author: Karsten Rottwitt
Institution: Technical University of Denmark
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7215058362