QAMSS Lecture: Nonlinear Phenomena in Specialty Optical Fibers – Physics and Applications

Nonlinear effects in optical fibres both limit communication systems and enable applications such as all-optical signal processing, amplification and regeneration. Conventional optical fibres typically require several kilometres for these applications because of their relatively low nonlinear parameter, resulting in practical limitations related to system size and stability. Specialty optical fibres significantly reduce the required length. Highly nonlinear silica fibres with a smaller effective mode area reduce it to around 1 km, while nanowires and microstructured optical fibres achieve a further order-of-magnitude reduction. Highly nonlinear fibres based on materials such as lead silicate, tellurite, bismuth and chalcogenide glasses have reduced the required length to the order of centimetres. I will overview these specialty optical fibres and the novel dispersive and nonlinear phenomena they exhibit.

About the speaker

Prof. Mário Ferreira, University of Aveiro, Portugal.