Simultaneous measurements of fiber dispersion and nonlinearities using pulse phase measurements

The upgrading of existing communication systems to wavelength-division multiplexing and high-speed time-division multiplexing systems has focused attention on the effects of fiber nonlinearities. We show that both linear and nonlinear fiber parameters can be measured by observing phase changes in optical pulses propagating through the test fiber. In particular, the method is illustrated on standard Corning SMF-28 and the measured values are within 100% of nominal values with a standard deviation of 4%. The method consists of characterizing the intensity and phase of a reference pulse both at the input and the output of the fiber. By comparing the measured phases with the calculated phases the fiber parameters are determined