Dispersion control with use of long-period fiber gratings

Chirped long-period fiber gratings are analyzed for management of dispersion in optical fiber communications systems. A ray model is used to derive simple analytic expressions that describe the transmission, chromatic delay, and dispersion properties of chirped long-period fiber gratings. A numerical model based on coupled-mode theory is used to verify the accuracy of the analytic expressions and explore design issues of the chirped long-period grating. With certain reasonable restrictions, chirped long-period gratings are found to be a viable and desirable alternative to existing dispersion compensation techniques. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America [S0740-3232(00)01602-1] OCIS codes: 050.1590, 050.2770, 060.2340, 130.0130.