Interplay of phase-sensitive amplification and cascaded four-wave mixing in dispersion-controlled waveguides

Phase-sensitive parametric interactions can selectively process the two complex quadratures of the optical field. We implement phase-sensitive amplification in a large band-gap semiconductor photonic crystal waveguide in order to avoid two-photon absorption and free-carrier-related effects. Experimentally, an extinction ratio of 15 dB is achieved in a 1.5-mm-long photonic crystal waveguide, at a peak pump power of about 600 mW. We show that cascaded parametric interaction has a strong impact on squeezing and phase-sensitive extinction ratio and that this depends on the dispersion profile of the waveguide.