Polarization-independent one-pump fiber-optical parametric amplifier

One-pump fiber optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) can be rendered polarization independent by using a polarization-diversity technique. We have experimentally demonstrated a fiber OPA with peak signal gain of 9 /spl plusmn/ 0.2 dB when the signal polarization angle was varied from 0/spl deg/ to 90/spl deg/. Power penalty of less than 1 dB was measured in a 10-Gb/s transmission system.