Abstract

The commercial long-haul communication lines available now are meant for signal transmission at 1.31 μm and use optimized standard single-mode fibers. However, the 1.55-µm transmission wavelength is more promising since this wavelength coincides with the minimum-optical-loss spectral range of fused-silica-based fibers. Recently developed erbium-doped-fiber amplifiers are capable of compensating fiber loss in the wavelength region around 1.55 µm, which permits this wavelength to be used for long-haul signal transmission. Thus for standard fibers (SF’s) with a 1.31-µm zero-dispersion wavelength the shift to the 1.55-µm transmission area with -17 ps nm⁻¹ km⁻¹ chromatic dispersion leads to considerable dispersion signal broadening. Therefore an important problem is the creation of a dispersion compensator (DC) that would eliminate the limitations imposed by chromatic dispersion in single-mode fiber spans operating in the wavelength area around 1.55 µm.¹

© 1993 Optical Society of America