We investigate the performance of conventional. dispersion-shifted fibers (DSFs). as nonlinear medium in double-pumped fiber, optical parametric amplifiers (2P-FOPAs). We report on high gain (37 dB) with low ripple (+/- 1.5 dB) over a 47-mn bandwidth using these fibers. We show that the 2P-FOPA average gain, and the gain. uniformity are limited. by longitudinal variations of the zero dispersion wavelength and by polarization-Mode dispersion. We demonstrate that 2P-FOPAs constructed with DSFs exhibit negligible crosstalk even for high gains (40 dB) and-large output signal powers (12.5 dBm) in a ten-channel system.17918421844