K. Cochrane et al., Wavelength-dependent measurements of optical-fiber transit time, material dispersion, and attenuation, APPL OPTICS, 40(1), 2001, pp. 150-156
A new, to our knowledge, method for measuring the wavelength dependence of
the transit time, material dispersion, and attenuation of an optical fiber
is described. We inject light from a 4-ns rise-time pulsed broadband flash
lamp into fibers of various lengths and record the transmitted signals with
a time-resolved spectrograph. Segments of data spanning a range of approxi
mately 3000 Angstrom are recorded from a single flash-lamp pulse. Compariso
n of data acquired with short and long fibers enables the determination of
the transit time and the material dispersion as functions of wavelength dep
endence for the entire recorded spectrum simultaneously. The wavelength-dep
endent attenuation is also determined from the signal intensities. The meth
od is demonstrated with experiments using a step-index 200-mum- diameter Si
O2 fiber. The results agree with the transit time determined from the bulk
glass refractive index to within +/-0.035% for the visible (4000-7200-Angst
rom) spectrum and 0.12% for the UV (2650-40005-Angstrom) spectrum and with
the attenuation specified by the fiber manufacturer to within +/-10%. (C) 2
001 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 060.2300, 060.2310.