Measurement of Chromatic Dispersion using the Baseband Radio-Frequency Response of a Phase-Modulated Analog Optical Link Employing a Reference Fiber

Abstract

Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98)Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39.18Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Long haul fiber optic links Chromatic dispersion PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) SPONSOR / MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S) 9. SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) SPONSOR / MONITOR'S REPORT NUMBER(S)In this work we demonstrate a new technique for measuring the chromatic dispersion of an optical fiber using the baseband RF response of a phase-modulated analog optical link in concert with a well-characterized fiber that serves as a dispersion reference. We show that optical phase modulation provides increased measurement resolution and immunity to optical modulator bias-drift as compared to baseband methods utilizing optical intensity modulation. In addition, we provide a simple derivation of the dispersion response of a long analog optical link to both intensity-and phase-modulated signals and derive simple expressions for the resolution of baseband chromatic dispersion measurements employing both types of modulation.