A Broadband Light Amplifier on a Photonic Chip

In four-wave mixing, two photons at a pump wavelength are converted into two new photons, one at the signal wavelength and one at a wavelength equal to twice the pump wavelength minus the signal wavelength. The new signal photons combine with the originals to create an amplified signal. The idler photons are a copy of the signal at a new wavelength, so the system can be used to convert a signal from one communications channel to another. Credit: Gaeta Group/Cornell University