Abstract

Group velocity dispersion (GVD) is one of the key characteristics of optical fibers. It is thus important to be able to accurately measure this parameter. Several techniques have been developed to reach this goal [1] including methods based on nonlinear effects (mainly the four wave mixing (FWM) process [2,3]) valid for fiber samples ranging from a few meters up to hundred of meters. However, these methods require an important number of measurements as well as an accurate knowledge of the fiber nonlinear coefficient and of the launched pump peak power. In this work, we propose an extremely simple nonlinear method, free of these constraints, and that requires the measurement of only two optical spectra (Fig.1) to retrieve the zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDW) of an optical fiber. Moreover, this technique enables us also to determine the ratio between the third- and fourth-order dispersion terms expressed at the ZDW.

© 2011 Optical Society of America