Chapter 2 - Pulse propagation in fibers

Abstract

For an understanding of the nonlinear phenomena in optical fibers, it is necessary to consider the theory of electromagnetic wave propagation in dispersive nonlinear media. The objective of this chapter is to obtain a basic equation that governs propagation of optical pulses in single-mode fibers. Section 2.1 introduces Maxwell's equations and important concepts such as the linear and nonlinear parts of the induced polarization and the frequency-dependent dielectric constant. The concept of fiber modes is introduced in Section 2.2 where the single-mode condition is also discussed. Section 2.3 considers the theory of pulse propagation in nonlinear dispersive media in the slowly varying envelope approximation with the assumption that the spectral width of the pulse is much smaller than the frequency of the incident radiation. The numerical methods used to solve the resulting propagation equation are discussed in Section 2.4.