Heterodyne autocorrelation method for characterizing 1.55 μm optical pulse train and for measuring dispersion and nonlinearity in optical fibers

Author

Tomaru, Tatsuya ; Kitajima, Shigeki ; Inoue, Hiroaki

Author_Institution

Adv. Res. Lab., Hitachi Ltd., Saitama, Japan

Volume

16

Issue

11

fYear

1998

fDate

11/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1981

Lastpage

1989

Abstract

Heterodyne autocorrelation measurement of 1.55 μm optical pulses from an actively mode-locked external cavity diode laser is performed before and after transmission through an optical fiber. In heterodyne autocorrelation, optical spectrum is resolved electronically. This method is suitable for measurement of optical pulses with a spectral width of less than 100 GHz, and it gives not only the pulse width and chirp of the pulses, but also it is useful for determining the dispersion and optical Kerr constant of an optical fiber. Analytical formalism for deducing these quantities is given for Gaussian pulses. Principal measurement is performed using a mode-locked diode laser. Dispersion is measured for a conventional-dispersion fiber of 35 km. Also, self-phase modulation (SPM) is measured for a dispersion-shifted fiber of 15.83 km

Keywords

demodulation; laser cavity resonators; laser mode locking; optical Kerr effect; optical correlation; optical fibre communication; optical fibre dispersion; optical modulation; phase modulation; semiconductor lasers; 1.55 μm optical pulse train; 1.55 mum; 15.83 km; 35 km; Gaussian pulses; actively mode-locked external cavity diode laser; conventional-dispersion fiber; dispersion-shifted fiber; heterodyne autocorrelation method; mode-locked diode laser; optical Kerr constant; optical fiber dispersion measurement; optical fibre communication; optical fibre nonlinearity measurement; optical pulse measurement; optical spectrum; pulse width; self-phase modulation; spectral width; Autocorrelation; Diode lasers; Fiber nonlinear optics; Optical fiber dispersion; Optical fibers; Optical mixing; Optical pulses; Performance evaluation; Pulse measurements; Space vector pulse width modulation;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.730359

Filename

730359