Takehito SUZUKI, Shi WEI, and Yoh IMAI

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Ibaraki University, Hitachi, Ibaraki 316-8511, Japan

(Received September 5, 2009; Accepted January 9, 2010)

Nonlinear dynamics in optical fiber ring resonators (OFRRs) can be applied to the estimation of the nonlinear refractive index of optical fibers. The output power of the OFRR becomes convergent, periodic, and chaotic with an increase in the input power. In this study, the dependence of the output power on the nonlinear refractive index is analyzed numerically. The critical input power at which the convergent state changes to the periodic state decreases smaller as the nonlinear refractive index increases. In addition, the maximum oscillation width of the output power decreases monotonically with the nonlinear refractive index. These dependences are sensitive to the parameters of the OFRR. The estimation of the nonlinear refractive index can be realized effectively using the maximum or minimum critical input power, and the maximum oscillation width of the output power even under a subtle fluctuation in the optical fiber ring length.

Key words: optical fiber ring resonator, nonlinear refractive index