Conversion wavelength and power dependence of an optical delay system utilizing HNLFs and DCF

Conversion wavelength and power dependence of the time delay and output signal quality for an optical delay system consisting of dispersion compensation fiber (DCF) and highly nonlinear fibers (HNLFs) is investigated in this paper. The numerical results show that the time delay generally varies linearly with the conversion wavelength propagating through DCF and changes slightly with the power launched into HNLFs. But it has abrupt change at some values of conversion wavelength or input power level. Output signal quality of the overall system varies significantly with the conversion wavelength and input power level. The reasons behind these results are analyzed. Finally, the input power level is optimized to achieve linearly varying time delay and desirable output signal quality for an optical delay system.