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Dispersion Management

Author: the photonics expert Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta

Definition: the use of tailored chromatic dispersion to enhance the function of optical devices or systems

Categories: article belongs to category laser devices and laser physics laser devices and laser physics, article belongs to category lightwave communications lightwave communications, light pulses, article belongs to category methods methods

DOI: 10.61835/np1 Cite the article: BibTex plain text HTML

Dispersion management is a somewhat wider term than dispersion compensation, even though both are often used in the same way. Strictly, dispersion compensation should be understood as a method for canceling the chromatic dispersion of some optical element(s), whereas dispersion management is more generally the use of tailored dispersion properties in order to enhance some function.

Examples of dispersion management in different situations are:

In a mode-locked laser operating at a wavelength around 1 μm or shorter, the intracavity optical elements often contribute normal chromatic dispersion. For optimum pulse generation, it is often beneficial to overcompensate the normal chromatic dispersion in order to utilize the regime of anomalous dispersion, where soliton effects can help to obtain shorter pulses (→ soliton mode locking), which may also have a higher pulse quality e.g. in terms of weak pedestals and high stability. If the wanted pulse duration is in the regime of tens of femtoseconds or less, it is usually also necessary to compensate carefully the higher-order dispersion, i.e., to control the group delay dispersion over a significant optical bandwidth.
In a mode-locked fiber laser, dispersive and nonlinear effects can become so strong that the pulse parameters (including the pulse duration and chirp) vary significantly during each resonator round trip. With a suitable combination of fibers exhibiting normal and anomalous dispersion, a stretched-pulse fiber laser can be realized, which can generate pulses (dispersion-managed solitons) with significantly higher pulse energy than with, e.g., soliton mode locking.
Similar effects can be used in optical fiber communications: a fiber-optic link consisting of a periodic arrangement of fibers with normal and anomalous dispersion can help to suppress nonlinear effects such as channel cross-talk via four-wave mixing. It is possible to suppress the Gordon–Haus timing jitter at the same time, if the average chromatic dispersion is zero.

More to Learn

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Suppliers

The RP Photonics Buyer's Guide contains seven suppliers for dispersion management devices. Among them:

Thorlabs

Thorlabs manufactures a suite of options for dispersion management, including a pre-compensation module, dispersion compensating fiber, chirped mirrors, and low GDD optics. For ultrafast applications where dispersion must be well known and managed, Thorlabs’ portfolio includes a robust benchtop white light interferometer for characterizing reflective and transmissive dispersive properties of optics and coatings. The Chromatis™ dispersion measurement system covers 500 – 1650 nm, providing a means for measuring optics used for common femtosecond systems, including Ti:Sapphire systems as well as 1 µm and 1550 nm oscillators. The Chromatis compliments our ultrafast family of lasers, amplifiers, and specialized optics including nonlinear crystals, chirped mirrors, low GDD mirrors/beamsplitters, and dispersion compensating fiber.

Bibliography

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[3]	T. Yu et al., “Dispersion-managed soliton interactions in optical fibers”, Opt. Lett. 22 (11), 793 (1997); https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.22.000793
[4]	A. Hasegawa et al., “Recent progress in dispersion-managed soliton transmission technologies”, Opt. Fiber Technol. 3 (3), 197 (1997); https://doi.org/10.1006/ofte.1997.0227
[5]	V. S. Grigoryan and C. R. Menyuk, “Dispersion-managed solitons at normal average dispersion”, Opt. Lett. 23 (8), 609 (1998); https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.23.000609
[6]	S. K. Turitsyn, “Breathing self-similar dynamics and oscillatory tails of the chirped dispersion-managed soliton”, Phys. Rev. E 58 (2), R1256 (1998); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.58.R1256
[7]	Y. Chen et al., “Dispersion-managed mode locking”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 16 (11), 1999 (1999); https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.16.001999
[8]	A. Berntson and B. A. Malomed, “Dispersion management with filtering”, Opt. Lett. 24 (8), 507 (1999); https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.24.000507
[9]	L. F. Mollenauer et al., “Demonstration of massive wavelength-division multiplexing over transoceanic distances by use of dispersion-managed solitons”, Opt. Lett. 25 (10), 704 (2000); https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.25.000704
[10]	R. Ganapathy et al., “Soliton interaction under soliton dispersion management”, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 44 (4), 383 (2008); https://doi.org/10.1109/JQE.2007.914778

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