Novel pulse-delayed scheme for degenerate optical parametric amplification in χ (3) waveguides

We describe a novel pulse-delayed scheme to realize degenerate optical parametric amplification in χ(3) planar waveguides. The scheme utilizes two identical birefringent plates placed before and after a χ(3) planar waveguide to implement a single-arm, pulse-multiplexed nonlinear Mach–Zehnder interferometer. Using this scheme, we demonstrate ultrafast degenerate optical parametric amplification in AlGaAs waveguides.