Measurement of the frequency response of the electrostrictive nonlinearity in optical fibers

The electrostrictive contribution to the nonlinear refractive index is investigated by use of frequency-dependent cross-phase modulation with a weak unpolarized cw probe wave and a harmonically modulated pump copropagating in optical fibers. Self-delayed homodyne detection is used to measure the amplitude of the sidebands imposed upon the probe wave as a function of pump intensity for pump modulation frequencies from 10 MHz to 1 GHz. The ratio of the electrostrictive nonlinear coefficient to the cross-phase-modulation Kerr coefficient for unpolarized light is measured to be 1.58:1 for a standard step-index single-mode fiber and 0.41:1 for dispersion-shifted fibers, indicating a larger electrostrictive response in silica fibers than previously expected.