OPTICAL FILTERS & DISPERSION COMPENSATION

Fiber Bragg Grating Dispersion Compensation Module

Why Filters?
Sometimes, it is necessary to select one particular channel from the system for special transmission In a WDM optical system each optical channel is characterized by an individual wavelength Therefore the capability of optical selection is required which is achieved using optical filters

What does a filter do?

It allows only one wavelength to pass through and blocks all other wavelengths

Optical filter selects optical signals at one wavelength (3)

Why Optical Filters for dispersion management?

A shortcoming of DCFs is that a relatively long length (> 5 km) is required to compensate the GVD acquired over 50 km of standard fiber. This adds considerably to the link loss, especially in the case of long-haul applications. Schemes have been developed for dispersion management Most are classified in the category of optical equalizing filters.

Dispersion management in long-haul fiber link using optical filters after each amplifier. Filters compensate for GVD and also reduce amplifier noise.

Types of filters used

Mach-Zehnder interferometer Fiber Bragg gratings Chirped fiber gratings

 Optical filters can be made using an interferometer It is sensitive to the frequency of the input light Acts as an optical filter because of its frequency-dependent transmission characteristics

Mach-Zehnder (MZ) filter

A MachZehnder (MZ) interferometer can also act as an optical filter. A single MZ interferometer does not act as an optical equalizer. But a cascaded chain of several MZ interferometers forms an excellent equalizing filter Such filters have been fabricated in the form of a planar lightwave circuit by using silica waveguides

Mach Zehnder interferometer

A planar lightwave circuit made using of a chain of MachZehnder interferometers

Operation

Operation of the MZ filter understood from the unfolded view shown The device is designed such that the higherfrequency components propagate in the longer arm of the MZ interferometers. As a result, they experience more delay than the lower-frequency components taking the shorter route.

Fiber Bragg grating (FBG)

Has a periodic variation of the refractive index (RI) in the core along the fiber length. Change of the core RI is formed by intensive exposure to UV radiation using an interference pattern For a FBG the following equation holds 2neff = B =grating period; neff = effective core RI; B = Bragg wavelength (center wavelength of channel to be reflected)

Principle of operation

Index variation in fiber Bragg grating

FBG as filter
A fiber Bragg grating acts as an optical filter because of the existence of a stop band (the frequency region in which most of the incident light is reflected back) The stop band is centered at the Bragg wavelength B

FBG as filter
The periodic nature of index variations couples forward- and backward-propagating waves at wavelengths close to the Bragg wave-length Thus, waves are reflected depending on their frequency over a bandwidth determined by the grating strength.

Spectral response

Spectral response on the reflection of a fibe Bragg grating

Chirped Fiber Gratings (CFG)

The optical period neff in a chirped grating is not constant but changes over its length Bragg wavelength (B) also varies along the grating length Hence, different frequency components of an incident optical pulse are reflected at different points

Chirped Fiber Gratings (CFG)

Stop band of CFG results from overlapping of many mini stop bands (each shifted as Bragg wavelength shifts along the grating) Low-frequency components of a pulse are delayed more because of increasing optical period (and the Bragg wavelength)

Dispersion compensation by a linearly chirped fiber grating: a) Index profile along grating length b) reflection of low and high frequencies at different locations within the grating because of variations in the Bragg wavelength.

THANK YOU