Cross-phase modulation
Cross-phase modulation (XPM) is a nonlinear optical effect where one wavelength of light can affect the phase of another wavelength of light through the optical Kerr effect.
Applications of XPM
Cross-phase modulation can be used as a technique for adding information to a light stream by modifying the phase of a coherent optical beam with another beam through interactions in an appropriate non-linear medium. This technique is applied to fiber optic communications.
XPM in DWDM applications
In DWDM applications with intensity modulation and direct detection (IM-DD) the effect of XPM is a two step process: First the signal is phase modulated by the copropagating second signal. In a second step dispersion leads to a transformation of the phase modulation into a power variation. Additionally the dispersion results in a walk-off between the channels and thereby reduces the XPM-effect.
Advantages of XPM
- Nonlinear Pulse Compression
- Passive mode locking
- Ultra fast optical switching
- Demultiplexing of OTDM channels
- Wavelength conversion of WDM channels
Disadvantages of XPM
- XPM leads to interchannel crosstalk in WDM systems
- It can produce amplitude and timing jitter
See also
- Self-phase modulation — SPM
- Four wave mixing — FWM
- Stimulated Raman scattering — SRS
- Cross-polarized wave generation — XPW