Microstructure optical fibers for dispersion management in optical communication systems

摘要

A fiber optic system comprises an optical transmitter, an optical receiver, and an optical fiber transmission path that optically couples the transmitter and the receiver to one another. The transmission path includes a first section that has negative dispersion at an operating wavelength lambd0 greater than about 1300 nm and a second section that includes a MOF. The MOF has relatively large anomalous dispersion at lambd0 and is sufficiently long to compensate the accumulated negative dispersion in the first section. In one embodiment the MOF comprises a core, a lower index cladding that includes one or more layers of air holes surrounding the core, characterized in that the diameter of the core is less than about 8 mum and the difference in effective refractive index between the core and cladding is greater than about 0.1 (10%). Preferably, the cladding contains no more than 2 layers of air holes and the distance between the II nearest edges of adjacent air holes is less than about 1 mum.