Time-Frequency (Wigner) Analysis of Linear and Nonlinear Pulse Propagation in Optical Fibers

Time-frequency analysis, and, in particular, Wigner analysis, is applied to the study of picosecond pulse propagation through optical fibers in both the linear and nonlinear regimes. The effects of firstand second-order group velocity dispersion (GVD) and self-phase modulation (SPM) are first analyzed separately. The phenomena resulting from the interplay between GVD and SPM in fibers (e.g., soliton formation or optical wave breaking) are also investigated in detail. Wigner analysis is demonstrated to be an extremely powerful tool for investigating pulse propagation dynamics in nonlinear dispersive systems (e.g., optical fibers), providing a clearer and deeper insight into the physical phenomena that determine the behavior of these systems.