Tunable dispersion compensator and tunable dispersion slope compensator based on induced thermal chirping in fiber Bragg gratings

A prototype for tunable dispersion compensation and another for tunable dispersion slope compensation are presented and studied. They are based on enhanced thermal chirp induced in uniform fiber Bragg gratings. The results are repeatable and show good agreement with the theory. The group delay dispersion was tuned between -184 to 182 ps/nm while the quadratic coefficient was tuned between -20 to -80 ps/nm/sup 2/ with a ripple not higher than 5 ps/nm/sup 2/.