A method of simultaneously specifying the wavelength dispersion and
nonlinear coefficient of an optical fiber. Pulsed probe light and pulsed
pump light are first caused to enter an optical fiber to be measured.
Then, the power oscillation of the back-scattered light of the probe
light or idler light generated within the optical fiber is measured.
Next, the instantaneous frequency of the measured power oscillation is
obtained, and the dependency of the instantaneous frequency relative to
the power oscillation of the pump light in a longitudinal direction of
the optical fiber is obtained. Thereafter, a rate of change in the
longitudinal direction between phase-mismatching conditions and nonlinear
coefficient of the optical fiber is obtained from the dependency of the
instantaneous frequency. And based on the rate of change, the
longitudinal wavelength-dispersion distribution and longitudinal
nonlinear-coefficient distribution of the optical fiber are
simultaneously specified.