Abstract

Much attention is now being given to the generation of ultra-short optical pulses for optical communication, optical computing, and many other scientific areas[1] [2]. In this regard, the main attraction of mudulation instability in an optical fiber is its potential application to the generation of an optical pulse train with an extremely-high repetition rate[3][4], which is more desirable for this purpose than isolated short pulses [5] [6]. To achieve a higher repetition-rate pulse, it is of vital importance to investigate the relationship between the anomalous dispersion of the fiber and the pulse repetition rate. This is because the modulation instability of an optical signal results from an interplay between the anomalous dispersion and the nonlinear Kerr effect. So far, with this modulation instability in the fiber, a 0.3 THz repetition rate pulse train has been obtained [4]. However, little investigation of the relationship between the anomalous dispersion and the repetition rate has been conducted.

© 1988 Optical Society of America