Compensation of dispersion in optical fibers for the 1.3-1.6 μmregion with a grating and telescope

The transmission of ultrashort optical pulses over long distances in optical fibers is limited by pulse broadening due to group velocity dispersion. A grating and telescope dispersion compensator with group velocity dispersion of equal magnitude and opposite sign can compensate for the fiber dispersion. The possible benefits of such dispersion compensation in the 1.3-1.6-μm wavelength region are investigated. The results show that compensation of first-order dispersion at 1.55 μm in a fiber with zero dispersion near 1.3 μm is primarily limited by the second-order dispersion of the grating and the telescope compensator. For a wavelength slightly greater than the zero dispersion wavelength, both the first- and second-order group velocity dispersion can be canceled by the grating and telescope dispersion compensator, allowing transmission exceeding 100 Gb/s over 100 km