basicsofnon-linearfiberoptics-nptel（12页）.docVIP

Basics of Non-Linear Fiber Optics What is Non-linear fiber optics? When the optical intensity inside an optical fiber increases, the refractive index of the fiber gets modified. The wave propagation characteristics the become a function of optical power. Unlike linear fiber optics, where the propagation constant is a function of fiber and the wavelength only, the propagation constant becomes a function of optical power in addition to the other parameters. Inside a single mode optical fiber, an optical power of few tens of mW may drive the medium into non-linearity. Why should we Study Non-linear Fiber optics? When the optical fiber becomes non-linear the pulse propagation gets significantly modified. Also new frequencies get generated inside the optical fiber. The spectrum of the output signal is not same as that of the input signal. To observe the non-linearity in the bulk medium generally a large optical power is required. Whereas, optical non-linearity can be easily observed inside an optical fiber with very low optical power of few tens of mW. This can be explained as follows: The efficiency of non-linear process is proportional to the optical intensity (Optical power per unit area) and the interaction length. For a bulk medium the efficiency is Where is the optical power and is the optical wavelength. On the other hand the efficiency for the optical fiber is Where is the core radius of the fiber and is the attenuation constant of the fiber. Note that is the power density in the fiber core, and is the effective interaction length on the fiber. Since is very small for the optical fiber, the interaction length is few Km of a typical single mode optical fiber. Also since the core radius is very small, few micrometer, the optical intensity inside the core is very high. The ratio of the fiber to bulk efficiency (assuming ) is That means the non-linear efficiency inside a fiber is about billion times mor