Mechanism
When three wavelengths (λ1, λ2, and λ3) interact in a nonlinear medium, they give rise to a fourth wavelength (λ4) which is formed by the scattering of the incident photons, producing the fourth photon. It is easier to illustrate this if we use frequency instead of wavelength.
Given inputs f1, f2, and f3, the nonlinear system will produce
with the most damaging signals to system performance calculated as
since these frequencies will lie close to one of the incoming frequencies.
From calculations with the three input signals, it is found that 12 interfering frequencies are produced, three of which lie on one of original incoming frequencies.
Read more about this topic: Four-wave Mixing
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