Investigation of dispersion characteristic in tapered fiber

A dispersion characteristic of a tapered fiber is investigated using temporal interferometer by employing a broadband amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) source to generate an interference pattern. The dispersion characteristic of the tapered fiber is acquired from a Fourier transform of the interference pattern. The second and third order dispersions of beta(2) and beta(3) are obtained at 1544.1 nm for -600 ps(2)/km and -2 ps(3)/km, respectively. The beta(2) value obtained is observed to be more than 300 times higher than that of a non-tapered single mode fiber. The high dispersion characteristic is due to tapering process that changes the birefringence characteristic due to the reduction in the fiber's size and structure.