"Ultra-rapid dispersion measurement in optical fibers"
Wolfgang Wieser, Benjamin R. Biedermann, Thomas Klein, Christoph M. Eigenwillig, Robert Huber
Optics Express 17, 22871-22878 (2009)
Abstract: We present a novel method to measure the chromatic dispersion of fibers with lengths of several kilometers. The technique is based on a rapidly swept Fourier domain mode locked laser driven at 50kHz repetition rate. Amplitude modulation with 400MHz and phase analysis yield the dispersion values over a 130nm continuous wavelength tuning range covering C and L band. The high acquisition speed of 10µs for individual wavelength-resolved traces Δt(λ) can reduce effects caused by thermal drift and acoustic vibrations. It enables real-time monitoring with update rates >100Hz even when averaging several hundred acquisitions for improved accuracy.