What is Chromatic dispersion?

The broadening of light pulses in an optical fiber because light of different wavelengths travels at slightly different speeds. In standard single-mode fiber it is nearly zero near 1.31 µm and about 17 ps/(nm·km) at 1.55 µm.

Japanese name: 波長分散

Chromatic dispersion appears in 3 practice questions across 1 topic, including Silicon photonics.

Field: Silicon photonics

Try it: questions about Chromatic dispersion

In long-haul optical fiber communication, what is the main reason wavelengths around 1.55 µm (C-band) are widely used?

  1. AIt is the band where loss in silica optical fiber is lowest
  2. BIt is the band where silicon absorbs light most strongly, making photodetectors easy to build
  3. CIt is the band where chromatic dispersion is zero, so pulses do not spread at all
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Answer: A. It is the band where loss in silica optical fiber is lowest

Loss in silica (SiO2) fiber increases from Rayleigh scattering at short wavelengths and from infrared absorption at long wavelengths, so it is lowest in between, around 1.55 µm (about 0.2 dB/km). Even after 100 km the loss is only about 20 dB, and the ability to amplify the light directly in the optical domain with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) is another reason the C-band is used for long-haul communication. In standard single-mode fiber, chromatic dispersion is nearly zero around 1.31 µm (O-band); dispersion remains at 1.55 µm. Silicon barely absorbs this wavelength.

For relatively short-reach optical links inside data centers, which is a correct reason wavelengths around 1.31 µm (O-band) are often used?

  1. AFiber loss is the lowest of all wavelengths, so signals reach thousands of km without amplifiers
  2. BChromatic dispersion in standard single-mode fiber is nearly zero, so high-speed signal waveforms are less distorted
  3. CThe photon energy equals silicon's band gap, so silicon can be used as-is for the photodetector
Show answer and explanation

Answer: B. Chromatic dispersion in standard single-mode fiber is nearly zero, so high-speed signal waveforms are less distorted

Chromatic dispersion is the spreading of optical pulses caused by slight differences in propagation speed through the fiber at different wavelengths. In standard single-mode fiber, dispersion is nearly zero around 1.31 µm, so high-speed signals can easily be sent a few km to about 10 km without dispersion compensation, and many data center optical transceivers use this band. Loss is lowest around 1.55 µm (about 0.2 dB/km); at 1.31 µm it is somewhat higher, about 0.3–0.35 dB/km. The photon energy at 1.31 µm is about 0.95 eV, which silicon does not absorb.

Chromatic dispersion in the explanations

Questions that mention Chromatic dispersion (3)

  1. In long-haul optical fiber communication, what is the main reason wavelengths around 1.55 µm (C-band) are widely used?
  2. For relatively short-reach optical links inside data centers, which is a correct reason wavelengths around 1.31 µm (O-band) are often used?
  3. Which correctly describes the coherent scheme, used for links of several tens of km or more such as between data centers, compared with IM-DD?

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Related terms

Single-mode fiber O-band C-band CPO (co-packaged optics) Edge coupler Extinction ratio Grating coupler Mach-Zehnder modulator Plasma dispersion effect Propagation loss

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