Abstract

The implementation of Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers allows for high-bit rate transmission over transoceanic distances. At the same time, the technique of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is used to increase the transmission rate, leading to an important amount of power inside the fiber. Because of the long distances and high powers, optical nonlinearities start to play a significant role. In dispersion shifted fibers (DSF), four wave mixing (FWM) leads to important transmission impairments. The FWM efficiency depends on both the chromatic dispersion profile and the nonlinear coefficient n₂/A_eff. It is therefore highly interesting to have a non-destructive technique that allows to map these parameters as a function of distance along the fiber. A convenient approach to measure the chromatic dispersion map in a DSF fiber was proposed by Mollenauer et al.¹

© 2002 Optical Society of America