Measurement of chromatic dispersion of optical fibers using wavelength-tunable soliton pulses

The chromatic dispersion of optical fibers is measured using a compact wavelength-tunable soliton pulse generation system. In this system, an ultrashort optical pulse can be generated in a wide wavelength region and the wavelengths of the optical pulses can be changed simply by varying the fiber input power. Since the system is compact and changing the wavelength is very easy, measurement of the chromatic dispersion can be demonstrated easily using a simple setup. The magnitudes of the second- and third-order dispersions in the optical fibers are measured in the wide wavelength region from 1.32 to 1.93 mu m, Since the pulse width of the soliton pulse is as narrow as 200 fs, the dispersion of the fiber can be measured in an optical fiber as short as 10 m.