Intermodal Four-Wave Mixing and Parametric Amplification in Kilometer-Long Multimode Fibers

We theoretically and numerically investigate intermodal four-wave mixing in kilometer-long fibers, where random birefringence fluctuations are present along the fiber length. We identify several distinct regimes that depend on the relative magnitude between the length scale of the random fluctuations and the beat lengths of the interacting quasi-degenerate modes. In addition, we analyze the impact of mode dispersion and we demonstrate that random variations of the core radius, which are typically encountered during the drawing stage of the fiber, can represent the major source of bandwidth impairment. These results set a boundary on the limits of validity of the classical Manakov model and may be useful for the design of multimode parametric amplifiers and wavelength converters, as well as for the analysis of nonlinear impairments in long-haul spatial division multiplexed transmission.