Simple Method for Measuring the Zero-Dispersion Wavelength in Optical Fibers

TL;DR

The paper introduces a simple, spectrally-based method for accurately measuring the zero-dispersion wavelength and dispersion ratio in optical fibers using four-wave mixing, demonstrated experimentally on photonic crystal fibers.

Contribution

It presents a novel, straightforward technique for zero-dispersion wavelength measurement that requires only two spectral measurements and a tunable source, improving simplicity over existing methods.

Findings

Method accurately measures zero-dispersion wavelength.

Experimental results agree with interferometry measurements.

Applicable to photonic crystal fibers and potentially other fiber types.

Abstract

We propose a very simple method for measuring the zero-dispersion wavelength of an optical fiber as well as the ratio between the third- and fourth-order dispersion terms. The method is based on the four wave mixing process when pumping the fiber in the normal dispersion region, and only requires the measurement of two spectra, provided that a source tunable near the zero-dispersion wavelength is available. We provide an experimental demonstration of the method in a photonic crystal fiber and we show that the measured zero-dispersion wavelength is in good agreement with a low-coherence interferometry measurement.