PLANAR LIGHTWAVE CIRCUIT DISPERSION EQUALIZER

The authors report an integrated-optic dispersion equalizer fabricated on a planar lightwave circuit (PLC). This PLC dispersion equalizer is composed of several asymmetrical Mach-Zehnder interferometers cascade d in series. The dispersion equalizer has a high degree of design flex ibility and can compensate for both normal and anomalous fiber dispers ions at any center wavelength. Moreover, the equalizer can be applied to WDM transmission systems. This equalizer employing five asymmetrica l interferometers is fabricated and its measured dispersion values are +834 and -1006 ps/nm. The effectiveness of the equalizer is demonstra ted in a 2.5 Gb/s transmission experiment with a 1.3 mu m zero-dispers ion fiber at 1.55 mu m. Also, its performance is evaluated theoretical ly.