2009 OSA/OFC/NFOEC 2009

a1035_1.pdf
JWA7.pdf
JWA7.pdf

Dispersion Compensation by SBS Based Slow-Light in an

Optical Fiber
Thomas Schneider, Andrzej Wiatrek, Ronny Henker
Hochschule fr Telekommunikation, Gustav-Freytag Str. 43-45, D-04277 Leipzig, Germany
schneider@hft-leipzig.de

Abstract: We present a new scheme to simultaneously delay pulses without broadening and
compensate the optical fiber dispersion. Our technique is based on a negative group velocity
dispersion achieved by a stimulated Brillouin scattering spectrum control.
2009 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (999.9999) Slow light; (290.5900) Scattering, stimulated Brillouin

1.

Introduction

Due to the ever increasing bandwidth demand, the future internet requires ultrahigh speed photonic switching and
routing. Beside the increase of the data rate, all-optical networks can reduce the required energy and can therefore
reduce the carbon dioxide footprint of information and communication technologies. However, the realization of
optical buffers and memories in all-optical network nodes is still an unsolved issue. Therefore, a lot of methods for
the slowing down and enhancement of light pulses were proposed. In principle, all of them can be divided into two
different systems; i) methods which rely on the propagation time of a pulse in a waveguide or resonator, ii) methods
which are based on a strong dispersion. The first class suffers from the fact that, in most cases, only time delays of
multiples of a bit time can be achieved. The second has the problem that the natural or artificial dispersion leads not
only to a delay but at the same time to a strong pulse broadening. An artificial dispersion in an optical waveguide
can be produced by stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) [1, 2]. SBS based slow light offers several advantages over
other mechanisms and the group velocity can be controlled over a very large range. Disadvantages of the SBS, like
the small bandwidth, can be circumvented by a simple modulation of the pump wave [3] and by a superposition of
gain and loss spectra the achievable time delays can be drastically enhanced [4, 5].
On the other hand, every delay in a SBS based delay line is accompanied by a broadening of the pulse. Here, we
will show that by the superposition of gain and loss spectra it is possible to delay pulses without a broadening. The
method is based on a compensation of the pulse broadening due to the narrow SBS gain bandwidth by a negative
group velocity dispersion (GVD). This negative GVD can as well be used to compensate the pulse broadening due
to the waveguide dispersion.
2.

Theory and Experiment

Stimulated Brillouin scattering is an interaction between a pump wave and an acoustic wave in a medium. The
acoustic wave will be produced by the pump wave itself. If the optical power of the pump is above a certain
threshold, a part of it is transferred to a counter propagating Stokes wave. Since pump and acoustic wave have a
relative velocity to each other, the Stokes wave is shifted in frequency. In standard single mode fibers (SSMF) the
Stokes wave has a frequency shift of fB 11GHz and a Lorentzian spectrum with a very narrow half 3dB bandwidth
of 0/2 15MHz.
From a practical point of view the SBS can be seen as an amplification process. If the power of the pump is
below the threshold, it produces a gain and a loss for counter propagating pulses. The pulses experience
amplification if their carrier frequency is downshifted by fB and their bandwidths fit in the Brillouin bandwidth 0. If
their carrier frequency is upshifted by fB, they will be attenuated. According to the Kramers-Kronig relation the gain
and the loss are accompanied with a strong artificial dispersion which leads to a delay or acceleration of the pulses.
Therefore, they will be delayed in the gain and accelerated in the loss bandwidth. For a single gain the time delay is
T=g0/0(1-)/(1+). So in the line center (=0) it follows T=g0/0. If a Lorentzian gain is superimposed with
two losses at its wings the time delay is [6]:

T =

2
k 2 ( + d )2
g 0 1 2
k 2 ( d )
mk

.
2 2
2 2
2
2
0 1 + 2 2

(
)
(
)
k
d
k
d
+

+
+

978-1-55752-865-0/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

) (

(1)

 2009 OSA/OFC/NFOEC 2009

a1035_1.pdf
JWA7.pdf
JWA7.pdf

Here, all frequencies and bandwidths were normalized to the gain bandwidth and the induced loss was normalized to
the induced gain, so that =(0)/0, d=/0, k=1/0 and m=g1/g0 with g0,1 = gPPP,LLeff/Aeff as the induced gain and
loss in the line center, PP,L is the pump and loss power at the fiber input, respectively, gP is the peak value of the
SBS gain coefficient, Leff and Aeff are the effective length and area of the fiber, 0,1 is the half FWHM Brillouin gain
and loss bandwidth, =2f is the optical frequency, 0 the center frequency of the gain and is the frequency shift
of the losses in respect to 0. In the line center the time delay becomes [4]:

T =

k2 d2
g 0
.
1 2mk
2
0
k 2 + d 2

(2)

As can be seen from Eq. (2), as long as d > k the time delay will be increased by the losses. The arrangement of gain
and losses with the mentioned normalized parameters is shown in Fig. 1 (a). The corresponding time delay is
presented in Fig. 1 (b).
7

(a)

(b)

g0/g0

Time Delay T

Gain

-1

d
-2

-3

4
3
2

-4

-5
-2

-1

Normalized Frequency

0
-1,0

-0,8

-0,6

-0,4

-0,2

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1,0

Normalized Frequency

Fig. 1. (a). Normalized gain for a single gain (dotted line), two losses (dashed line) and a gain superimposed with two losses at its wings
(solid line). (b), Normalized time delay for a single gain (dotted line) and a gain superimposed with two losses (solid line). The
parameters for the simulation are: g0/g0=1, 0=1, m=5, d=1.1, k=0.1.

For the simulation parameters (m=5, d=1.1, k=0.1) from Eq. (2) it follows a time delay of T 1.8g0/0. Therefore,
in comparison to the single gain case, the losses increase the time delay 1.8 times in the line center.
The pulse will be delayed and amplified in the gain spectrum. Due to the narrow-band Lorentzian shape,
spectral components in the center of the pulse experience a stronger amplification than spectral components away
from it. This results in a broadening of the pulse. This broadening can be reduced if the Brillouin spectrum is much
broader than the pulse spectrum. But since T=g0/0, a broadening of the gain spectrum reduces the time delay to the
same amount. On the other hand, spectral narrowing is not the only reason for pulse broadening. The other one is the
GVD. This GVD-dependent broadening can be approximated to a difference between time delays at the center
frequency and at the FWHM bandwidth [7]. Hence, if the time delay at the FWHM bandwidth is higher than at the
center frequency the GVD-dependent broadening becomes negative and can compensate the broadening due to
spectral narrowing. According to Fig. 1 (b), for the simulated parameters this is the case if the half pulse bandwidth
is between 0.5 and 1 times the normalized frequency . As we will show here, this negative GVD-dependent
broadening can be used to compensate the pulse broadening due to the dispersion of the optical fiber.
We proved our theoretical predictions with an experimental set up which has already been described in [8]. As
Brillouin medium we used a 25km SSMF in which we delayed Gaussian shaped pulses with a temporal width of
1.5ns. A broad Brillouin gain was produced by a directly noise modulated distributed feedback (DFB) laser diode.
The two losses were produced by another DFB laser which was externally modulated by a Mach Zehnder modulator
(MZM) with a sinusoidal signal, driven in a suppressed carrier regime. The loss laser was downshifted in frequency
in respect to the gain laser by twice the Brillouin shift in the fiber in order to superpose the gain with the two losses.

 2009 OSA/OFC/NFOEC 2009

a1035_1.pdf
JWA7.pdf
JWA7.pdf

Figure 2 shows the delayed pulses (solid line) together with the reference (dashed line) for two different optical
powers of the gain laser. In Fig. 2 (a) the gain power was 9.35dBm and in Fig. 2 (b) it was 12.35dBm. All other
parameters are equal for both measurements (0/2 165MHz, 1/2 15MHz, P1=15.73dBm, =140MHz).

(a)

(b)

1.0

Normalized Amplitude

Normalized Amplitude

1,0

0,8

0,6

0,4

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0,2

0.0

0,0
-2

-1

Time Delay [ns]

-2

-1

Time Delay [ns]

Fig. 2. Delayed pulses (solid line) and reference (dashed line) for a gain power of 9.35dBm (a) and 12.35dBm (b).

The reference is the non-delayed pulse at the fiber output. As can be seen, it has a temporal width of around
1.9ns which is around 25% larger than the 1.5ns input pulse. This broadening is a result of the fiber dispersion. The
delayed pulses are shorter. For a gain power of 9.35dBm we have a pulse delay of 2.74ns and a FWHM width of
1.45ns. Whereas, for 12.35dBm the results are 2.78ns and 1.52ns. Hence, the delayed output pulses have the same
temporal duration as the pulses at the fiber input. Therefore, the delay line has compensated the fiber dispersion.
3.

Discussion and Conclusion

In conclusion we have shown that by the superposition of two loss spectra at the wings of a broadened gain, a SBS
based slow light system can delay pulses without a broadening and it can compensate the fiber dispersion. On the
other hand, the compensation comes at the expense of a pulse shape distortion. As can be seen from Fig. 2, a small
part of the pulse with a higher group velocity separates from the main pulse. However, in optical communication
systems a logical one is detected at 50% of the maximum pulse power. Since the additional pulse peak is only
around 20% of the main pulse, it increases the noise. But, for real data signals it would lead to a distortion of the eye
diagram. Since we have many free parameters in our set up, we believe that an optimization could minimize or even
cancel these distortions.
We gratefully acknowledge the help of J. Klinger and K.-U. Lauterbach from the HfT Leipzig. A. Wiatrek and
R. Henker acknowledge the financial support from Deutsche Telekom.
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]

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