Patent ID: 7304788

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a first optical coupler, for combining first and second optical pump signals to provide a combined pump wave, the first pump wave having a first frequency and the second pump wave having a second frequency different from the first frequency; a second optical coupler, for combining the combined pump wave with a relatively weaker input signal to produce a combined input optical signal, the input signal having a frequency associated with a sideband frequency of the combined pump wave; and a highly nonlinear fiber, for frequency converting input signal spectral components having a frequency that differs from frequencies of the first and second pump waves, wherein the input signal is frequency converted to an idler signal in the combined input optical signal, the idler signal having a frequency that also differs from the frequencies of the combined pump wave, and wherein the combined input optical signal and the highly nonlinear fiber are adapted for frequency conversion via Bragg scattering without adding quantal noise.