Methods for estimating the Effective Modal Bandwidth (EMB) of laser optimized Multimode Fiber (MMF) at a specified wavelength, λ.sub.S, based on the measured EMB at a first reference measurement wavelength, λ.sub.M. In these methods the Differential Mode Delay (DMD) of a MMF is measured and the Effective Modal Bandwidth (EMB) is computed at a first measurement wavelength. By extracting signal features such as centroids, peak power, pulse widths, and skews, as described in this disclosure, the EMB can be estimated at a second specified wavelength with different degrees of accuracy. The first method estimates the EMB at the second specified wavelength based on measurements at the reference wavelength. The second method predicts if the EMB at the second specified wavelength is equal or greater than a specified bandwidth limit.

Methods for modifying multi-mode optical fiber manufacturing processes are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for modifying a process for manufacturing multi-mode optical fiber includes measuring at least one characteristic of a multi-mode optical fiber. The at least one characteristic is a modal bandwidth or a differential mode delay at one or more wavelengths. The method further includes determining a measured peak wavelength of the multi-mode optical fiber based on the measured characteristic, determining a difference between the target peak wavelength and the measured peak wavelength, and modifying the process for manufacturing multi-mode optical fiber based on the difference between the target peak wavelength and the measured peak wavelength.

Arrays of fiber pigtails can be used to project and receive light. Unfortunately, most fiber pigtail arrays are not aligned well enough for coherently combining different optical beams. This imprecision stems in part from misalignment between the optical fiber and the endcap spliced to the end of the optical fiber. The endcap is often polished, curved, or patterned, causing the light emitted by the endcapped fiber to refract or diffract as it exits the endcap. This refraction or diffraction shifts the apparent position of the beam waist from its actual position. Measuring this virtual beam waist position before and after splicing the endcap to the fiber increases the absolute precision with which the fiber is aligned to the endcap. This increase in absolute precision reduces the deviation in virtual beam waist position among endcapped fibers, making it easier to produce arrays of endcapped fibers aligned precisely enough for coherent beam combining.

A method of categorizing a group of multimode optical fibers, the method including comparing an effective modal bandwidth of a first multimode optical fiber with a first threshold, the first multimode optical fiber being in a group of multimode optical fibers meeting a first OM-standard and the first threshold being an effective modal bandwidth of the first multimode optical fiber. The method further including categorizing the first multimode optical fiber as meeting OM functional requirements of a second OM-standard if the effective modal bandwidth of the first multimode optical fiber is equal to or above the first threshold, wherein the second OM-standard is higher than the first OM-standard.

The present invention has an object to provide an optical fiber testing method and an optical fiber testing device capable of measuring the delay ratio between the modes at each position of a fiber over a long distance in which a plurality of modes propagate.

An optical fiber testing method and its device according to the present invention, measure the change amount for the wave number k of a Brillouin Frequency Shift ν in stimulated Brillouin scattering generated in the same acoustic mode, with respect to each target propagation mode. Thereby, the ratio of the change amount measured at each propagation mode is acquired as the group delay ratio between the modes.

Disclosed is a method of characterizing a multimode optical fiber link including a light source and two or more multimode fibers. The method includes a step of characterizing each of said multimode fibers using a measurement of the Dispersion Modal Delay (DMD) for each of said multimode fibers, and delivering, for each of said multimode fibers, at least three fiber characteristic curves as a function of a radial offset value r; a step of characterizing the light source by at least three source characteristic curves showing at least three parameters of the source as a function of a fiber radius r and obtained by a technique similar to the DMD measurement; and a step of computing an Effective Bandwidth (EB) of the link, comprising calculating a transfer function using both each of said source characteristic curves and each of said at least three fiber characteristic curves for each of said multimode fibers.

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to the field of fiber optics, and more specifically to apparatuses, methods, and/or systems associated with testing fiber optic transmitters. In an embodiment, the present invention is an apparatus comprising a laser optimized multimode fiber having near minimally compliant effective modal bandwidth, near maximum channel length, and α-profile that produces an R-MMF DMD slope.

A light physical constant measurement method includes: virtually dividing an optical transmission medium along a propagation direction to set a plurality of first segments; and estimating light physical constants of the plurality of first segments based on the result of a first propagation simulation that uses a model in which an input optical signal of each of the plurality of intensities propagates sequentially through the plurality of first segments, and in the estimating of light physical constants of the plurality of first segments, the light physical constants of the plurality of first segments are searched for using an evaluation function of evaluating a difference between a measured power spectrum of an output optical signal and a power spectrum of the output optical signal obtained as a result of the first propagation simulation, to estimate the light physical constants of the plurality of first segments.

In this invention, a novel technique is introduced to measure chromatic dispersion (CD) in optical fibers. This technique is based on a relatively low-frequency optoelectronic oscillation (OEO) to provide fast, precise and low-cost method for CD measurement that can be implemented easily in commercial instruments. The proposed setup is implemented to measure the CD in normal single mode fibers with lengths of 40 km, 10 km, 1 km. Moreover, it is implemented to measure CD in 400 in of nonzero dispersion shifted fiber to test the system ability to resolve small chromatic delays. The proposed setup can resolve delays less than 0.1 ps/nm (which can be further improved by increasing the oscillation frequency) and measure CD with precision as low as 0.005 ps/nm.km as low as 20 seconds over a wavelength range from 1500 to 1630 nm. Further improvements may be possible by slightly better system design.

A method is used to select a multimode fiber meeting requirements of a first minimum bandwidth at a first wavelength and a second minimum bandwidth at a second wavelength different from the first wavelength. Differential mode delay (DMD) data is measured for the multimode fiber at the first wavelength. The DMD data comprises output laser pulse data as a function of the radial position of an input laser pulse having the first wavelength. The DMD data is transformed into mode group space, to obtain relative mode group delay data as a function of mode group. The multimode fiber is selected based on meeting requirements of the first minimum bandwidth at the first wavelength based on a first set of criteria, comprising a first criterion using as input the measured differential mode delay (DMD) data for the multimode fiber measured at the first wavelength. The multimode fiber is selected based on meeting requirements of the second minimum bandwidth at the second wavelength based on a second set of criteria, comprising: a second criterion using as input the relative mode group delay data. A related system is also described.