Nonlinear effects in optical

p fibers - v1

Miguel A. Muriel

UPM-ETSIT-MUIT-CFOP

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-1
 Nonlinear effects in optical fibers

1) Introduction

2) Causes

3) Parameters
P t

4) Fundamental processes

5) Types

6) Envelope nonlinear equation

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-2
 1-Introduction

-The
The propagation properties depend on the optical signal,
signal traveling along the
optical fiber
-The p
presence of an optical
p field can modify
y optical
p properties
p p of the medium

 W  P W 
I  2
 m  A  m 
2

2
I E

-High
Hi h optical
ti l intensity
i t it → Nonlinear
N li regime→
i I t
Interaction
ti between
b t li ht and
light da
nonlinear medium.

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-3
 2-Causes

- Increase of capacity through WDM technologies → many channels in fiber

- Optical transmitters are more powerful

- Optical amplifiers

- B↑→TB↓ → high peak power

- Low temporal dispersion → pulses are widened very little → they keep their
peak power along transmission

- Reduced
R d d dimension
di i off core fiber→
fib hi h power density
high d it → 1 mW
W in
i SMF →
12 MW/m2.

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-4
 Linear Media

-Linear displacement of electrons with the incident field

-The reemitted wave has the same frequency as the incident

Nonlinear Media

-Nonlinear
Nonlinear displacement of electrons with
ith the incident field
-The reemitted wave has the same frequency as the incident,
together with harmonics.

www.wikipedia.org Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-5

 Linear regime

- Output power proportional to the input power

- Phase
Ph change
h proportional
i l to the
h effective
ff i refractive
f i index
i d

- New wavelengths aren´t generated

Nonlinear regime
g

- Output power NOT proportional to input power → extra attenuation

- Phase change NOT proportional to effective refraction index →

generation of chirp pulse

- New wavelengths are generated → different carriers interacting

between themselves → crosstalk and distortion

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-6
 3-Parameters

1- Effective core area

2 Effective length
2-

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-7
 3-1- Effective core area ( Aeff )

- Non uniform density of field and power in the transversal section of the fiber

- Effective area → Equivalent area with uniform density

 IdA 
2

Aeff 
  Cartesian  dA  dxdyy

 dA Cylindrical  dA  2 rdr
2
I

Aeff

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-8
- SMF, fundamental mode LP01

2
r
 
 w
E (r )  e
2
r
2
2 
 w
I (r )  E (r )  e

w  Mode field radius

MFD  2 w  Mode field diameter

  MFD 2
Aeff   w2 
4

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-9
Effective core area of various fiber types (typical values)

ITU-T fibre type Aeff @ 1550 nm (µm²)

G 652 (SMF)
G.652 80
G.653 (DSF) 50
G.654 ((CSF)) 90
G.655 (NZDSF) 55 (D>0), 60 (D<0)
(DCF) 20

SMF: Single Mode Fiber

DSF: Dispersion Shifted Fiber
CSF: Cutoff Shifted Fiber
NZDSF: Non-Zero DSF
DCF: Dispersion
C
Compensating
i Fiber
Fib

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-10
- Aeff↑ → Pth↑

- The DSF fiber presents the smallest effective area among the line fibers.
fibers

- Among special fibers, the effective area is particularly small in DCF →Caution
when
h fixing
fi i the
h DCM inputi power levels
l l in i dispersion
di i compensatedd links.
li k

- In MM fibers Aeff is estimated as core section.

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-11
 3-2- Effective length ( Leff )

- Signal
Si l power decreases
d exponentially
ti ll with
ith distance
di t z

 f z
P( z )  P(0)e

 [dB / km)]  4,343

4 343  f [1/ km]   f  0,
0 23 

- Effective interaction length Leff is the length of a fiber with zero attenuation,
which has the same nonlinear impact as a fiber with attenuation 

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-12
 P( z)
P(0)
P(0)

z
Leff

L  f L
1 e
P (0) Leffff   P( z )dz
z 0
 Leffff 
f

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-13
 f L  1  Leffff  L
1
 f L  1  Leff 
f
1
lim Leff 
L  f

p  L  200 Km,   0,, 22 [dB / km)]

Example

  f  0,, 05 [[1/ km]

  f L  (0, 23)(0, 22)(200)  10,12
1
 Leff   20 Km
f

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-14
 4) Fundamental processes

In silica fibers there are two fundamental processes:

p

1) Stimulated Scattering
Molecular vibration modes of Si O2

 photon(OUT)   photon(IN)  phonon

2) Optical Kerr effect

Variation of refraction index with optical intensity

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-15
 4-1- Stimulated Scattering

Rayleigh Brillouin Raman

(0) (0± B) (± R)
- Density fluctuations -Molecular vibrations
- Particles -Molecular
Molecular rotations
-Acoustic waves
- Local refractive index -Electronic transitions
-Acoustic phonons
variations -Optical phonons
- B ~ GHz
- R ~ THz
TH

www.vpiphotonics.com Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-16

Rayleigh  

Brillouin phonon
 phonon
h

Raman
phonon

www.wikipedia.org Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-17

http://www.intechopen.com/ Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-18
 4-2- Optical Kerr effect

dn( E ) 1 d 2 n( E )
n( E )  n
(0)  E 2
E 2

dE ( E  0) 2 dE
n0   ( E  0)
 n1 2 n2

n( E )  n0  n1 E  Pockels Effect

n( E )  n0  n1 E  n2 E  2

 n ( E )  n0  n2 E 2
 Kerr Effect

(Fundamentals of Photonics, 2nd Ed., Saleh and Teich, 2007) Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-19
The refractive index depends on the optical field power.

n( E )  n0  n2 E 2 20 ( m) 2
n2  (2, 2 3, 4)·10
W 
P
E I 
2

Aeff

P
n  n0  n2 I  n0  n2
Aeff

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-20
 Nonlinear coefficient

k0 n2

Aeff

In standard single mode fiber with:

Aeff  80   m 
2

1
( m)2   1, 76
n2  2,35·10 20 (W ·km)
W 
  1,55   m 

Parameter/Fiber Type SSMF DSF DCF

 / W-1 km-1 1,2 1,76 8,3

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-21
 5) Types

1- SBS
1 Stimulated
S i l d Brillouin
B ill i Scattering
S i
2- SRS Stimulated Raman Scattering

3- SPM Self-Phase Modulation

4- XPM Cross-Phase Modulation
5- FWM Four-Wave Mixing

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-22
 Optical
Stimulated
Kerr effect
Scattering
changes refractive index
in the fiber
Stimulated Stimulated
Raman Brillouin
Scattering Scattering
(SRS) (SBS) Self Phase Four Wave
Modulation Mixing
(SPM) (FWM)
• Above threshold power
• Can be used for optical Cross Phase
amplification
lifi ti Modulation
(XPM)

www.vpiphotonics.com Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-23

 5-1-SBS (Stimulated Brillouin Scattering )

Brillouin scattering is a result of the interaction between the optical wave

and the propagating density fluctuations in the fiber, due to thermo-elastic
motions of the molecules, that can be regarded as acoustic waves, traveling
through the fiber at the speed of sound.
sound

A strong
t pump wave generatest a refractive
f ti iindexd modulation
d l ti (Bragg
(B
grating) in the material via the effect of electrostriction.

A part of the pump wave is backscattered at the refractive index modulation

((Bragg
gg ggrating),
g) this is the Stokes wave.

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-24
 P  S  B
Pump Doppler shifted Density (Acoustic)
Scattered Brillouin

c
P 
P B

 S   P  B

Frequency shift of the back scattered wave for:

Pump wavelength, P = 1550 nm
Refractive index, n = 1.45
y, a = 5.96 km/s
Sound velocity,

2a n
B   11.15 GHz
P
Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-25
-  → Full width half maximum (FWHM) of Brillouin Gain
d
depends
d on the
h pump power

- νB (Typical ) ≈ 50 MHz @ 1550 nm

Lorentzian shape
gB,max
Brillouin Gain

fB

fP-fS=fB
rel. Frequency

www.vpiphotonics.com Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-26

 Threshold Power

KAeff   P 
Pth  21 1  
g B Leff   B 

- gB → Brillouin-gain coefficient (~ 5·10-11 m/W)

- K → Constant determined by the polarization (≤ K ≤ 2)
- B , P → Brillouin and pump spectral bandwidth

www.vpiphotonics.com Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-27

 5-2- SRS Stimulated Raman Scattering

- Raman scattering is a result of the interaction between the optical wave

and the molecules of the material. Therefore, no phase matching condition is
needed
d d

- The scattered wave could be shifted down (Stokes) or up (anti-Stokes) in

frequency. In optical fibers, the intensity of the downshifted wave is much
higher

- Scattering mainly in the propagation direction

- The channels with a higher carrier frequency deliver a part of their power
to the channels with a lower carrier frequency

- In terms of wavelength,
wavelength the channel with higher wavelength is amplified at the
expense of the channel with the lower carrier wavelength

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-28
- The Raman gain in optical fibers is very broad (~40 THz)

- The maximum of the frequency shift is at ~ 13 THz (105 nm)

 optical phonon ( R )  13.2 THz

 R  6 Thz

(Nonlinear Fiber Optics, 5thEd., Agrawal, 2010) Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-29

 Threshold Power

16
Pth  Aeff
g R Leff

- gR → Peak Raman Gain (~ 8 10-14 m/W)

( 8·10

Pth ~ 570 mW (@ 1.55 µm) con  R  16 Thz

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-30
Input signals of equal power Relative output signals

SRS Effect

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-31
 SRS effect in WDM

Input WDM input

1
Channel 1
0

1
Channel 2 
0 Most affected channel
The bits that overlap
in time experience
the Raman gain Acts as pumping signal
1
Channel 1
0

1
Channel 2
0 
WDM output
Output

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-32
 5-3- SPM Self-Phase Modulation

- SPM leads to a phase alteration of the wave due to its own intensity.

- Phase alteration causes a spectral broadening of the pulses

- Together with fiber dispersion

dispersion, spectral broadening can be translated into
an alteration of the temporal width of the pulse

-In
I the
h case off normall dispersion
di i ( D < 0 ) the
h pulse
l isi additionally
ddi i ll stretched,
h d
whereas it will be compressed for an anomalous dispersion ( D > 0 )

- Important in single-channel systems (Intra-SPM)

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-33
 P(t )
n(t )  n0  n2 I (t )  n0  n2
Aeff

 (t )  0t  k0 n(t ) L  0t  k0 n0 L  

P(t ) L
Nonlinear

www.wikipedia.org Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-34

 d (t ) dP(t )
 (t )   0   L
dt  dt
 NL ( t )

www.wikipedia.org Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-35

 5-4- XPM, CPM Cross-Phase Modulation

- Cross-phase modulation (XPM, or sometimes, CPM) is similar to SPM, but the

origin of the spectral broadening of the pulses are the other pulses propagating at
the same time in the waveguide; they will mutually influence each other, via the
alteration of the intensity-dependent refractive index.

- The refractive index that a wave experiences can be altered by the intensities of
all other waves propagating in the fiber.

- A pulse at one wavelength has an influence on a pulse at another wavelength.

This effect can be exploited for optical switching and signal processing, but lead
to a degradation of a communication system performance.
performance

- This is especially important for WDM systems where a huge number of pulses
with different carrier wavelengths will be transmitted in one fiber (Inter-SPM)
(Inter SPM)

- The XPM is the fundamental effect that determines the capacity of optical
transmission
i i systems.

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-36
NL (t )  k0 n2 ( I a (t )  cab I b (t )) L
dPa (t ) dPb (t )
NL (t )   L(  cab )
dt dt

- It is important that there in no coincidence of pulses 

 Different velocities vg  Different 1
d 1
  2  0  D  0
d
 D  XPM  NZ-DSF fiber

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-37
www.wikipedia.org Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-38
 5-5- FWM Four-Wave Mixing

- Four-wave-mixing
F i i (FWM),
(FWM) or sometimes
i four-photon-mixing
f h i i (FPM),
(FPM)
describes a nonlinear optical effect at which four waves or photons interact
with each other due to the third order nonlinearity of the material

-As a result, new waves with sum and difference frequencies are generated
during
g the ppropagation
p g in the waveguide
g

- It is comparable to intermodulation in electrical communication systems

- For WDM systems in dispersion-shifted fibers, FWM is the most important

nonlinear effect

- FWM leads to a reduction of the SNR and, hence, an increase of the BER

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-39
 Inter SPM  Important in multichannel systems (N  3)
-Inter-SPM

With phase matching  3 tones interaction  4th tone

-With

4  1  2  3

-They propagate in the same direction

213 231
123 321
112 332

1 2 3
113 1 2 3 331
223 132 221
312

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-40
 With two frequencies 1 y 2 (  2  1 )
4  21  2  1  
4  22  1  2  

1 2 4 1 2 4’

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-41
 192,8 192,9 193,0 193,1 193,2 193,3 193,4 193,5 193,6 193,7 193,8

O i l frequencies
Optical f i (THz)
(TH )

N = nº of channels
M= N2 (N-1)/2
M = nº of new frequencies

2
 n2 P 
FWM Efficiency  2 
 Aeff D( ) 

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-42
 5-6- Envelope
p nonlinear equation
q

Nonlinear propagation constant β( )

 
 P (t )  kn 2
 ( )  k0  n0  n2   k0 n0  0 2 A
 Linear Aeff  Aeff
 Li   
 Nonlinear  

→Nonlinear coefficient (Kerr effect)

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-43
 A 2 2 A 2
j  j A A
z 2 t 2
 
SPM

-This equation is referred as the Nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation because

it resembles the Schrödinger equation with a nonlinear potential term

-The NLS equation is a fundamental equation of the nonlinear science

- In the general case of β3≠0 and αf ≠ 0, this equation is called the generalized
(or extended) NLS equation

A  2  2 A 3  3 A  f 2
j   A  j A A
z 2 t 2
6 t 3
2  
SPM

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-44
In the more general case of three simultaneous signals, as in WDM:

 2  2 A1 3  3 A1  f
A1
j
z  2  t 2
 

6 t
 

3

2
A1  j A
 1
2
A1  j 2

 
A2
2
 A3
2
A

1  j A2

2
A3
*

SPM XPM FWM

1st order 2nd order Attenuation
GVD GVD

Miguel A. Muriel-2015/10-45