Wavelength shifting of optical pulses in a polydiacetylene waveguide

We characterize the process of wavelength shifting (generation of a pulse at the wavelength Lambda – Delta from a signal at Lambda + Delta under the action of a pump at lambdap) in a planar waveguide of poly (3BCMU) for short. With a propagation length of 4.5 mm, pulses of 20 ps time duration, and signal wavelength around 1.3 µm, we observe wavelength conversion with 1% efficiency when the energy of the pump pulse per unit width is about 10–5 J/m.