Simultaneous measurement of optical fibre nonlinearity and dispersion using frequency resolved optical gating

By using a frequency resolved optical gating to characterise an optical pulse both before and after propagation in a length of standard singlemode fibre, the authors have simultaneously determined the fibre's nonlinear refractive index n(2) and group velocity dispersion. Over the wavelength range 1534-1559 nm, an average n(2) = (2.53 +/- 0.09) x 10(-20) m(2) W-1 (linear polarisation) was measured and dispersion characteristics which are in good agreement with specifications were obtained.