Dispersion-induced composite second-order distortion at 1.5 mu m

Abstract

Experimental and theoretical results have shown that the composite second-order (CSO) nonlinearity of 1.5- mu m AM analog laser links is inadvertently affected by the coupling of laser chirp with fiber dispersion in regular single-mode fiber. To counteract the dispersion effect, it is shown that dispersion-shifted fiber can be employed in place of the regular fiber. Other possible ways to reduce distortion are to use lasers with reduced chirp, presumably with a multiquantum-well laser structure, or lasers with well-controlled spatial hole burning. Short fiber spans (<or=5 km) for applications providing loop distribution in conjunction with fiber amplifiers are feasible without the use of countermeasures.<<ETX>>