title: A fourth-order Runge-Kutta in the interaction picture method for numerically solving the coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equation.
abstract: A fourth-order Runge-Kutta in the interaction picture (RK4IP) method is presented for solving the coupled nonlinear Schr odinger equation (CNLSE) that governs the light propagation in optical fibers with randomly varying birefringence. The computational error of RK4IP is caused by the fourth-order Runge-Kutta algorithm, better than the split-step approximation limited by the step size. As a result, the step size of RK4IP can have the same order of magnitude as the dispersion length and/or the nonlinear length of the fiber, provided the birefringence effect is small. For communication fibers with random birefringence, the step size of RK4IP can be orders of magnitude larger than the correlation length and the beating length of the fibers, depending on the interaction between linear and nonlinear effects. Our approach can be applied to the fibers having the general form of local birefringence and treat the Kerr nonlinearity without approximation. Our RK4IP results agree well with those obtained from Manakov-PMD approximation, provided the polarization state can be mixed enough on the Poincar e sphere.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, university of Ottawa, 150 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, K1N 6N5, Ontario, Canada. zzhan3@uottawa.ca
authors.forename: Zhongxi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiaoyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bao