System for higher-order dispersion compensation

An adaptive higher-order dispersion compensator comprising:

• a) a polarization controller that converts incoming light of an arbitrary polarization to a polarization controlled signal having a desired state of polarization;
• b) a differential higher-order delay line optically coupled to receive the polarization controlled signal, the delay line including:
• i) a polarization beam splitter coupled to receive the polarization controlled signal, where the polarization beam splitter splits the polarization controlled signal into a first polarization signal and a second orthogonal polarization signal,
• ii) a first optical fiber linearly chirped Bragg grating coupled to receive the first polarization signal,
• iii) a second optical fiber linearly chirped Bragg grating coupled to receive the second polarization signal,
• iv) a first tuning mechanism that tunes the first grating independently from the second grating;
• v) a third optical fiber non-linearly chirped Bragg grating coupled to receive the polarization controlled signal;
• vi) a second tuning mechanism that tunes the third grating;
• and
• vii) an output signal analyzer optically coupled to sample a resulting output, wherein the analyzer can tune the polarization controller and the tuning mechanisms.

A higher-order dispersion compensator for a signal having a first polarization mode dispersion component, a second order polarization mode dispersion component, and a variable chromatic dispersion component, the compensator comprising:

• a) a first order polarization mode dispersion compensation means;
• b) a second order polarization mode dispersion compensation means;
• and
• c) a variable chromatic dispersion compensation means;
• d) wherein the signal is processed through each compensation means.

An adaptive higher-order dispersion compensator comprising:

• a) a polarization controller that converts incoming light of an arbitrary polarization to a controlled polarization output signal having a desired state of polarization;
• b) a differential delay line optically coupled to receive the controlled polarization output signal, the delay line including:
• i) a polarization beam splitter element coupled to receive the controlled polarization output signal, where the controlled polarization output signal is split into a first polarization signal and a second orthogonal polarization signal;
• ii) a first waveguide optically coupled to receive the first polarization signal, the first waveguide having a first linearly chirped grating tuned to reflect the first polarization signal and having a first reference reflection point;
• iii) a second waveguide optically coupled to receive the second polarization signal, the second waveguide having a second linearly chirped grating tuned to reflect the second polarization signal and having a second reference reflection point;
• iv) a tuning mechanism coupled to the second grating, wherein the tuning mechanism variably adjust the second reference reflection point with respect to the first reference reflection point;
• and
• v) a combiner element that recombines the two reflected orthogonal polarization signals into a delay line output;
• c) a non-linearly chirped grating optically coupled to receive the delay line output which can be tuned to impart a variable higher-order dispersion compensation;
• d) a signal quality analyzer optically coupled to sample the delay line output, wherein the analyzer evaluates the quality of the delay line output signal and provides a control signal to the polarization controller, the differential delay line, and the non-linearly chirped grating.