Dispersive and nonlinear effects in high-speed reconfigurable WDM optical fiber communication systems

Chromatic dispersion, polarization mode dispersion (PMD) and nonlinear effects are important issues on the physical layer of high-speed reconfigurable WDM optical fiber communication systems.; For beyond 10 Gbit/s optical fiber transmission system, it is essential that chromatic dispersion and PMD be well managed by dispersion monitoring and compensation. One the other hand, dispersive and nonlinear effects in optical fiber systems can also be beneficial and has applications on pulse management, all-optical signal processing and network function, which will be essential for high bite-rate optical networks and replacing the expensive optical-electrical-optical (O/E/O) conversion.; In this Ph.D. dissertation, we present a detailed research on dispersive and nonlinear effects in high-speed optical communication systems. We have demonstrated: (i) A novel technique for optically compensating the PMD-induced RF power fading that occurs in single-sideband (SSB) subcarrier-multiplexed systems. By aligning the polarization states of the optical carrier and the SSB, RF power fading due to all orders of PMD can be completely compensated. (ii) Chromatic-dispersion-insensitive PMD monitoring by using a narrowband FBG notch filter to recover the RF clock power for 10Gb/s NRZ data, and apply it as a control signal for PMD compensation. (iii) Chirp-free high-speed optical pulse generation with a repetition rate of 160 GHz (which is four times of the frequency of the electrical clock) using a phase modulator and polarization maintaining (PM) fiber. (iv) Polarization-insensitive all-optical wavelength conversion based on four-wave mixing in dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) with a fiber Bragg grating and a Faraday rotator mirror. (v) Width-tunable optical RZ pulse train generation based on four-wave mixing in highly-nonlinear fiber. By electrically tuning the delay between two pump pulse trains, the pulse-width of a generated pulse train is continuously tuned. (vi) A high-speed all-optical XOR gate based on polarization rotation induced by Kerr effect in a single highly--nonlinear fiber. (vii) Wavelength-shift-free 3R-regeneration of 40-Gbit/s optical RZ signal by OPA with a clock-modulated pump in highly-nonlinear fiber.; These techniques will play key roles in future high-speed dynamic WDM optical fiber communication systems and reconfigurable networks.