UC San Diego

In this dissertation, wideband frequency-mixing parametric processes in nonlinear light guides are engineered to enable implementation of mature near-infrared wavelength band technology in the spectrally significant short-wave infrared band. An ultracompact, powerful, widely-tunable, all-fiber laser transmitter is demonstrated in silica- based mixer and used for spectral fingerprinting of carbon dioxide. Furthermore, highly-sensitive optically- preamplified receiver is demonstrated, providing high-gain and low-noise figure operation in arbitrary spectral windows of the short-wave infrared band. Lastly, candidate non-silica platforms for extending the mixer operation to the mid-infrared spectral regions are rigorously analyzed