Dispersion compensating fibers

In this paper we briefly review the work on dispersion compensating fibers (DCFs) in the last few years. Starting with the basic principle behind DCF, its need for upgrading the 1310 nm optical fiber links is discussed. The experimental and theoretical results of some researchers have been cited. The latest trend in optical communication has been to use dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) systems in the gain window of an optical fiber amplifier. However, nonlinear effects like four wave mixing (FWM) impose serious limitations. To overcome this difficulty use of fibers with non-zero dispersion has been suggested. For long distance repeater less transmission this dispersion will go on accumulating and will limit the number of bits one can send at each wavelength. Properly designed dispersion compensating fibers can overcome this difficulty. Already there has been some work in this direction by various researchers.