Patent ID: 7206516

Claim:
An optical fiber dispersion measurement system comprising: a measurement transmitter module connected to the fiber for producing a modulated signal from at least four optical signals; and a measurement receiver module connected to the fiber for receiving the modulated signal and comparing the phase of the four optical signals, wherein the measurement receiver module comprises: a photonic decoupler connected to the fiber to separate the modulated signal into a first signal, a second signal, a third signal and a fourth signal, a first opto electronic converter connected to the photonic decoupler to convert the first signal into a first electronic signal, a second opto electronic converter connected to the photonic decoupler to convert the second signal into a second electronic signal, a third opto electronic converter connected to the photonic decoupler to convert the third signal into a third electronic signal, a fourth opto electronic converter connected to the photonic decoupler to convert the fourth signal into a fourth electronic signal, a first phase comparator receiving the first and second electronic signal and producing a first differential signal, a second phase comparator receiving the first and third electronic signal and producing a second differential signal, a third phase comparator receiving the first and fourth electronic signal and producing a third differential signal, a fourth phase comparator receiving the second and third electronic signal and producing a fourth differential signal, a fifth phase comparator receiving the second and fourth electronic signal and producing a fifth differential signal, a sixth phase comparator receiving the third and fourth electronic signal and producing a sixth differential signal, and a processor to receive the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth differential signals and programmed to calculate the dispersion and dispersion slope from the differential signals.