Optical fibers provide much more than a means to transport light between different locations. This article reviews how integration of functional fluid, solid, and gaseous materials in photonic crystal fibers enables control of their linear and nonlinear properties with applications in optoelectronics, sensing, and laser science.

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Hybrid photonic-crystal fiber

We present a theory describing trapping of the normally dispersive radiation by the Raman solitons in optical fibers. Frequency of the radiation component is continuously blueshifting, while the soliton is redshifting. Underlying physics of the trapping effect is in the existence of the inertial gravitylike force acting on light in the accelerating frame of reference. We present analytical calculations of the rate of the opposing frequency shifts of the soliton and trapped radiation and find it to be greater than the rate of the redshift of the bare Raman soliton. Our findings are essential for understanding of the continuous shift of the high-frequency edge of the supercontinuum spectra generated in photonic crystal fibers toward higher frequencies.

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Theory of radiation trapping by the accelerating solitons in optical fibers

We analyze the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) technique in long-haul next generation optical communication links and compare it with the well-established single-carrier (SC) data transmission using high-level modulation formats and coherent detection. The analysis of the two alternative solutions is carried out in the 100 Gbps scenario, which is commonly considered to be the next upgrade of existing optical links, with special emphasis on quaternary phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulations. The comparison between OFDM and SC takes into account the main linear and nonlinear impairments of the optical channel, e.g., group velocity dispersion (GVD), polarization mode dispersion (PMD), self-phase modulation (SPM), cross-phase modulation (XPM), and four-wave mixing (FWM), as well as the phase noise due to transmit and receive lasers, their relative frequency offset, other synchronization aspects, the overall complexity, the power and spectral efficiency, and the technological constraints.

/pdf/ofdm-versus-single-carrier-transmission-for-100-gbps-optical-149jy0apy7.pdf

OFDM versus Single-Carrier Transmission for 100 Gbps Optical Communication

This paper looks back at how the basic concepts related to optical resonators and lensguides emerged during the first decade of the laser era.

A.J. DeMaria

Papers

Optical fiber technology

Optical fiber technology