Enhancement of out-of-band rejection in optical filters based on phase-sensitive amplification

We present a novel optical filter based on amplification and deamplification in a phase-sensitive amplifier (PSA), whose out-of-band rejection is enhanced by slightly imbalancing the inputs to the PSA. The out-of-band rejection of the PSA-based filter with balanced input signal and idler powers is given by G² in the optical domain, where G is the maximum phase-sensitive gain. By unbalancing the input to the PSA, the optical out-of-band rejection is significantly enhanced beyond G², thus enabling filters with high rejection even with moderate-gain PSAs. We demonstrate a filter with optical and electrical extinctions of 29 dB and 60 dB, respectively, using a moderate PSA gain of only 10 dB. Further, this technique allows for ultrawideband frequency tuning, spanning multiterahertz bandwidths along with filter response reconfigurability. These novel concepts will be invaluable for optical signal processing in high-performance analog and digital systems.