Experimental demonstration of intermodal dispersion in a two-core optical fibre

The recent prediction that intermodal dispersion could affect the propagation of short pulses in a two-core optical fibre was confirmed experimentally. A picosecond pulse at 1.548 mu m launched into one core of a meters-long two-core fibre was found to come out of either core of the fibre as two temporally separate pulses. By measuring the time delay between these two pulses, the intermodal dispersion in the fibre was estimated to be 1.13 ps/m, in good agreement with theory. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.