Two-pump optical parametric devices (OPDs), and methods of operating the same, generate desired output signals and idlers having reduced
stimulated Raman scattering (SRS)
noise levels. When the two-pump OPD is used as a two-pump
optical parametric amplifier (OPA), the pumps are polarized perpendicular to each other, and the lower-frequency
sideband (
signal or idler) is polarized parallel to the lower-frequency pump (perpendicular to the higher-frequency pump). The desired output may be an amplified
signal or a generated idler. When the two-pump OPD is used as a two-pump optical frequency converter (OFC), the pumps can be polarized parallel to one another, in which case the
signal and idler are both perpendicular to the pumps, or perpendicular to one another, in which case the lower-frequency
sideband (signal or idler) is polarized parallel to the lower-frequency pump (perpendicular to the higher-frequency pump).