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US 4,979,234 AGranted
Saturated semiconductor laser amplifier for compensation of optical fibre dispersion
AssigneeAT&T Bell Laboratories
InventorsGovind P. Agrawal, Nils A. Olsson
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Abstract
The span of an optical dispersion-limited fiber for propagating optical pulses is improved by simultaneously chirping and amplifying the stream by means of a saturated semiconductor laser amplifier. The chirp causes a compression of the pulses as they propagate through an initial portion of the fiber, whereby the span of the fiber is increased.
Claims12
A fiber-optic communication system for digital transmission of information comprising:
- a first saturated semiconductor laser amplifier, for receiving and amplifying a first input stream of optical pulses to produce a first laser amplifier output stream of chirped optical pulses;
- and
- a first optical fiber segment having an input end positioned to receive the first laser amplifier output stream of chirped optical pulses from the first laser amplifier, whereby the chirped pulses of the first laser amplifier output stream are compressed during propagation through an initial portion of the first fiber segment and whereby a first fiber output stream of recognizable optical pulses emanates from an output end of the first fiber segment, the initial portion having a length which is a significant fraction of the length of the fiber segment.
A method of operating a fiber-optic communication system for digital data transmission comprising the step of
- operating a first semiconductor laser amplifier in a state of charge carrier saturation while a first input stream of optical pulses propagates through and is amplified and chirped by the first laser amplifier and then emerges from the laser amplifier and enters into and propagates through a first optical fiber segment which exhibits significant optical dispersion, whereby a significant pulse compression occurs during propagation of the pulses in an initial portion of the first fiber segment so that a significant enhancement of the span of the first fiber segment is enabled and whereby a first fiber output stream of recognizable optical pulses emanates from an output end of the first fiber segment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.