Abstract

A supercontinuum, nearly flat spectrum covering the S, C and L transmission bands defined by the International Telecommunication Union is obtained by pumping a conventional nonzero dispersion-shifted fiber with a continuous-wave Raman fiber laser tuned to the region of small anomalous dispersion. By using a long fiber with low loss, complete power transfer from the pump to the supercontinuum is reached. We demonstrate that this supercontinuum can be used to perform accurate, long-range (>200 km) measurements of polarization mode dispersion in fibers. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.