Depolarization technique for wavelength conversion using four-wave mixing in a dispersion-flattened photonic crystal fiber.

We have developed a depolarization technique to achieve polarization-insensitive wavelength conversion using four-wave mixing in an optical fiber. A maximum conversion efficiency of -11.79 dB was achieved over a 3 dB bandwidth of 26 nm in a 100-m-long dispersion-flattened photonic crystal fiber. The polarization-dependent conversion efficiency was less than 0.38 dB and the measured power penalty for a 10 Gbit/s NRZ signal was 1.9 dB. The relation between the conversion efficiency and the degree of polarization of the pump was also formulated.