title: Spontaneous inelastic Rayleigh scattering in optical fibers.
abstract: Rayleigh scattering (RS) adds noise to signals that are transmitted over optical fibers and other optical waveguides. This noise can be the dominant noise source in a range between 10 Hz and 100 kHz from the carrier and can seriously degrade the performance of optical systems that require low close-in noise. Using heterodyne techniques, we demonstrate that the backscattered close-in noise spectrum in optical fibers is symmetric about the carrier and grows linearly with both input power and fiber length. These results indicate that the RS is spontaneous and is due to finite-lifetime thermal fluctuations in the glass.
authors: Sensors and Electronic Devices Directorate, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, 2800 Powder Mill Road, Adelphi, Maryland 20783, USA. olukayode.k.okusaga.civ@mail.mil
authors: Olukayode
authors: O
authors: Okusaga
authors: James P
authors: JP
authors: Cahill
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Docherty
authors: Curtis R
authors: CR
authors: Menyuk
authors: Weimin
authors: W
authors: Zhou