Broadband non-linearly chirped fiber Bra,og gratings were fabricated by using a step-chirped phase mask. These gratings were used to construct a third-order dispersion compensator with a bandwidth of over 6 nm around the zero dispersion wavelength. The dispersion slope is sufficient for compensating a 60-km-long dispersion-shifted fiber. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.