1318

S. C. Pinault and M. J. Potasek

J. Opt. Soc. Am. B/Vol. 2, No. 8/August 1985

Frequency broadening by self-phase modulation in optical

fibers
Steven C. Pinault and M. J. Potasek
AT&T Engineering Research Center, P.O. Box 900, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Received November 6, 1984; accepted March 25, 1985
We examine the effects of optical nonlinearities that are due to the intensity-dependent index of refraction in optical fibers. The broadening of the frequency spectrum of an optical pulse will combine with the group-velocity dispersion, increasing the temporal pulse spreading, thereby limiting the information transmission rate. We derive
an exact formula for the rms frequency width of a Gaussian input pulse after it undergoes self-phase modulation.
This new formula gives good agreement with experimental results.
1.

INTRODUCTION

0(z,

The trends in communication are toward longer fiber lengths,

higher data rates, higher laser power, and smaller-diameter
fiber cores. With these trends the effects of optical nonlinearities due to the intensity-dependent refractive index can
become significant.' An important calculation is to determine
the magnitude of these effects as a function of source intensity
and propagation distance. One measure of this is the amount
of broadening of the frequency spectrum of an optical pulse.
The frequency broadening will, in combination with the
group-velocity dispersion, increase the temporal pulse
spreading, thereby limiting the information transmission
rate. 2 (There are cases, however, for which this does not
happen, as in the formation of solitons. See, for example, Ref.
3.) Approximate formulas have been presented for the frequency broadening of an optical pulse due to self-phase
modulation." 2 ' 4' 5 In this paper we derive an exact formula
for the rms frequency width of a Gaussian input pulse after
undergoing self-phase modulation. This new formula is seen
2
to give close agreement with observed values (see Section
3).

-) =

2
0o(r) + nfl2woro( r) ft-

22yz)

(3)

(cf. the analysis of Anderson and Lisak 7 for the dispersionless

case with the nonlinear self-steepening term included).
Lin and Gustafson 4 estimate the width of the broadened
spectrum for Gaussian and Lorentzian shaped pulses by
computing the maximum frequency shift max Aw. For a
Gaussian envelope with a 1/e intensity half-width of u we
have
ro(r) = AO exp(

_.2) '

(4)

and the phase shift after distance z is given by

AO
=

= O>m

n2 oL

ex+t

(r

(X2)

(5)
(6)

where Om is the maximum phase shift that occurs at T = 0 and

L = (1 - e- 2 yz)/2,y. The maximum frequency shift is then
Awmax

max d

[0

exp_--2)'.

(7)

2. BACKGROUND
In this section we consider the effects of the nonlinear index
of refraction over those distances and power levels such that
we can neglect dispersion. We are thus led to the following
form of the nonlinear Schr6dinger equation in group-velocity
coordinates6:
i-+iyA+n2wJAl 2A =0.
(1)
c
dz
Here A is the slowly varying complex envelope of an optical
pulse with underlying carrier frequency wo, z is the distance
along the fiber, r is the group-velocity coordinate, n2 is the
nonlinear index of refraction, and -yis a constant proportional

to loss. By writing A = rei and equating real and imaginary

parts we obtain
r(z, r)

ro(r)exp(--yz),

(2)

0740-3224/85/081318-02$02.00

Since the full 1/e bandwidth of the Gaussian pulse is 2/,

we have A/\max = 0.86k m (A0)o, where (Awo)o is the initial
2
frequency width. This is used by Stolen and Lin for Om
sufficiently large as an estimate for the width of the broadened
spectrum. Fisher and Bischel5 estimate the spectral width
by
ACO = (AwC)o + ALOmax
= (1 + 0.860m)(AO)o,

(8)

so as to include the frequency broadening and still obtain the

correct value (Aw)o when Okm = 0.
An important question both for communications and for
measurement techniques is to calculate at what value of 4bm
2
(i.e., what value for distance z and peak source intensity A0 )
the effect of the nonlinear refraction becomes significant.
1985 Optical Society of America

S. C. Pinault and M. J. Potasek

Vol. 2, No. 8/August 1985/J. Opt. Soc. Am. B

ad t

One measure is to determine a critical value of ,m at which

the spectral width doubles 2 : A/(Aco)o = 2.0. If we approximate Acw Acomax, we obtain >m = 2.3; if we approximate
AC
()o
+ Acmax, we obtain m 1.2. Stolen and'Lin 2

have determined a value of q5> = 2.0 using experimental

measurements together with numerical Fourier-transform
calculations. In the next section we describe a new calculation
that gives an exact closed formula for the rms spectral width
of an initially Gaussian pulse after undergoing self-phase
modulation. Using this formula we calculate a critical value
of Am = 1.97, which is in close agreement with the experimentally determined value and is a significant improvement
in the calculated accuracy.
3. SPECTRAL WIDTH CALCULATION
In this sectioi we compute the rms bandwidth by computing
the variance
(ACO)2 =

(w )

=r

lg(w)12 dw

Wlg(v)j 2dwl2

[f
f g(w)j 2dwa

where g(c) = F[A(r)], F denotes the Fourier transform, and

the complex amplitude A is given by

A(r) = A exp(--yz)exp( -)exp(ime2IG).

(10)

Since F(A) cannot be evaluated in closed form, we use Fourier-transform and convolution theorems to express Ac in
terms of A. We use the moment formula
f(n)(0) = (-I)n f

and the convolution formula

F[f]F[g] = F[f*g].

(12)

Combining these with integration by parts we obtain

2=

IA'(T)I 2dr + [ A(r)A*(r)d-r2

(13)

IA(r)12dr I
These integrals can all be evaluated in closed form. After a
calculation we obtain
IA( r) 2 dr

(h )o = 1 +

X om2)

= [1 + (0.880km) 2]1/ 2.

(14)

Note that for bm >> 1, we obtain Au - 0.880m(Aw)o in close

agreement with Stolen and Lin.2 For intermediate values of

l>m the values of Aco are quite different. Solving for Aw/(Aw)o
= 2.0 yields for the critical value m = 1.97, in close agreement
with the experimental value of 2.0 cited i Ref. 2.
REFERENCES

()2

2 g(w)12 dw

1319

coF[f](o)dw

1. R. H. Stolen, "Nonlinearity in fiber transmission," Proc. IEEE 68,

1232-1236 (1980).
2. R. H. Stolen and C. Lin, "Self phase modulation in silica optical
fibers," Phy. Rev. A 17, 1448-1453 (1978j.
3. A. Hasegawa and Y. Kodama, "Signal transmission by optical
solitons in monomode fiber," Proc. IEEE 69, 1145-1150 (1981).
4. C. H. Lin and T. K. Gustafson, "Optical pulsewidth measurement
using self phase modulation," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE-8,
429-430 (1972).
5. R. A. Fisher and W. K. Bischel, "Numerical studies of the interplay
between self phase modulation and dispersion for intense plane
wave laser pulses," J. Appl. Phys. 46, 4921-4934 (1975).
6. N. Tzoar and M. Jain, "Self phase modulation in long-geometry
optical waveguides," Phy. Rev. A 23, 1266-1269 (1981).
7. D. Anderson and M. Lisak, "Nonlinear asymmetric self phase
modulation and self steepening of pulses in long optical waveguides," Phy. Rev. A 27, 1393-1398 (1983).