Abstract

Modulation instability (MI) in uniform optical fibers has been widely investigated during the last decades. Although theoretically predicted a while ago [1], it has only been recently reported experimentally [2] that it can also be observed in optical fibers whose group velocity dispersion (GVD) is periodically modulated along its propagation axis while the average dispersion is positive. To our knowledge, all investigations so far have been performed with basics sinusoidal or square modulation formats of the GVD. In this paper, we demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that MI can also be observed in one of the most common and useful periodic modulation format exploited in telecommunication and signal treatment: a Dirac comb.

© 2015 IEEE