Tunable all optical delay via slow and fast light propagation in a Raman assisted fiber optical parametric amplifier: a route to all optical buffering

We propose and demonstrate the use of narrow band optical parametric amplification for tunable slow and fast light propagation in optical fibers. The parametric gain is coupled to the Raman process which changes the gain value moderately but modifies the gain spectral shape. Consequently, the delay is enhanced at short wavelengths while it is moderated at long wavelengths. The maximum delay and tuning range can be optimized with respect to each other considering saturation effects in long fibers. The proposed scheme offers tunable delay in the presence of gain and with a bandwidth which is sufficiently wide to process digital data streams at tens of Gbit/s rates as well as picoseconds pulses. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America.