Enhanced performance of optical frequency comb (OFC) source based on FWM in HNLFs

Abstract In this paper, we have analyzed the performance of Optical Frequency Comb source strategy, which is based on exploitation of Four Wave Mixing (FWM) effect in Highly Nonlinear Fibers (HNLF). We inject two closely spaced Continuous Wave (CW) lasers (spacing = 50 GHz) into first stage consisting of HNLF 1, which results in generation of FWM products. The output of first stage is then fed to compressor stage consisting of Single Mode Fiber (SMF), which causes compression to generated pulses. Finally, output of compressor stage is fed to the third stage consisting of HNLF 2 which results in multi-tone generation. Performance is analyzed by varying the length of Non-linear medium HNLF 1 and launch powers. About 20 optical frequency comb lines have been generated at launch power of +23.75 dBm with flatness of ±4.785 dB with HNLF 1 Length of 0.2 km.