Abstract

Dispersion control is important in high-data-rate fiber-optic communications systems. Quadratic dispersion compensation may be achieved with dispersion-management schemes using fibers of differing dispersions.¹ Linear chirped gratings, in reflection, allow a constant dispersion over bandwidths sufficient to support ultrashort pulses² and have also been used as dispersion-compensating elements in communication systems.³ In ultrahigh-speed communication systems or in systems using ultrashort (<1 ps) pulses the third-order dispersion term (∂³β/ ∂ω³) becomes important. We have previously analyzed using a simple delay model and numerical simulations, the response of quadratically chirped gratings and have shown how in principle they could be used to provide third-order dispersion compensation.⁴ In this paper we present the experimental mea surement of a large cubic dispersion from chirped gratings fabricated using a new dual-scan phase-mask technique capable of fabricating a wide range of structures using simple phase masks.

© 1996 Optical Society of America