Abstract
We investigated the dispersion compensation by means of self phase modulation induced by the nonlinear Kerr effect in photonic crystal fibers (PCF). Accurate calculations of both chromatic dispersion and nonlinear coefficient in small core PCF were performed using a vector finite element method. Besides, ultrashort pulse propagation in PCF was simulated using the generalized nonlinear Schrodinger equation. Conditions necessary for the formation of soliton during propagation of a fermosecond pulse were investigated. To compensate the broadening caused by dispersion, we thoroughly examined the pulse propagation in the anomalous dispersion regime at the wavelength lambda=810nm. The study showed that by carefully selecting laser and PCF parameters, the pulse broadening and frequency chirping, due to group velocity dispersion of the PCF, can be compensated by using the Kerr nonlinearity of the medium.