On the use of fiber-induced self-phase modulation to reduce chromatic dispersion effects in microwave/millimeter-wave optical systems

In this letter, a novel approach to compensate for the dispersion-induced power penalty in externally modulated 1550-nm analog fiber-optic systems is presented. The principle is based on the use of fiber-induced self-phase modulation to generate a chirp distortion effect opposite to that induced by the chromatic dispersion. A significant reduction of chromatic dispersion effects is achieved, which results in augmenting the frequency-length product of the fiber-optic link. It is theoretically and experimentally shown how this dispersion compensation may be controlled by means of the optical power injected to the optical fiber.