Abstract

Efforts to increase channel density in optical WDM communication systems and to reduce dispersion penalties in optical fiber have directed research toward reducing laser chirping under modulation. At the same time, methods of measuring the spectral broadening of modulated lasers have improved.¹ Here we present for the first time, we believe, a mathematical formulation for the gated delayed self-homodyne technique as well as experimental data for homodyne power spectra of symmetric and asymmetric laser spectra. This technique was recently proposed as a means to make high-resolution chirp measurements.²

© 1989 Optical Society of America