PULSE BROADENING IN OPTICAL FIBERS WITH MODE MIXING

Time-dependent coupled-power equations describing the transmission of light in multimode optical fibers are discussed, and a new method, using the temporal moments of transmitted light pulses, is described. This method, as well as showing details of a fiber's steady state and how it is reached, yields approximate equations for the length-dependence of pulse broadening in long chains of nonuniform fibers with mode mixing. These approximations are based on closed-form solutions for a two-mode waveguide, but they are generalized and seem to be useful as a mathematical model for long optical cables. © 1979 Optical Society of America.