Optical Fiber Chromatic Dispersion — Pulse Broadening Simulator

A light pulse sent down an optical fiber is never a single pure frequency: its finite duration forces it to carry a spread of wavelengths, and because the fiber's refractive index depends on wavelength, those components travel at slightly different group velocities. This simulator visualizes that group-velocity dispersion (GVD) mechanism directly — a cloud of spectral components belonging to one Gaussian pulse travels down a 3D fiber core, fanning out in proportion to how far each wavelength has drifted from the pulse center, while live formulas compute the exact output pulse width, dispersion length, and broadening factor for the fiber length, dispersion parameter, input pulse duration, and carrier wavelength you choose — the same physics that limits bit rate and reach in real long-haul telecom links.