Optical Soliton Simulation in Optical Fibers by OptiSystem

Abstract

Fiber optic communication is often known to offer higher frequency transmission of signals with greater bit rate and larger data carrying capacity over a long distance with lower loss and interference as compared to copper wire electrical communication. However, several factors that would affect the performance of an optical fiber transmission are such as group velocity dispersion (GVD), fiber loss and also self-phase modulation (SPM). In this paper, the effects of GVD, SPM, optical soliton formation and fiber loss are simulated using OptiSystem 14. It is found that GVD broaden pulse in temporal domain without modifying its spectrum. Meanwhile, SPM creates chirp in spectrum with its temporal profile maintained. This work concluded that a balance between the GVD and SPM is essential to form solitonthat is able to travel for a long distance without being distorted. It is also found that the decrease in the amplitude of the soliton is dependent on the fiber loss and this decay in the signal increases with the propagation distance.