A simple scheme for polarization insensitive four-wave mixing in semiconductor optical amplifiers

A simple scheme for polarization insensitive four-wave mixing (FWM) in semi conductor optical amplifiers (SOA's) is proposed, which utilizes just one c onventional polarization-insensitive SOA and one input pump wave. The techn ique would be efficient in practical applications for frequency shifts abou t 0.5 THz for a device length of say 200 mu m The polarization insensitive operating principle of the FWM type is analyzed using an improved space-ave raged model for describing FWM of copropagating and counterpropagating opti cal waves.