Recent progress in dispersion-managed soliton fiber communications

Vladimir Mezentsev and Sergei Turitsyn

Photonics Research Group, Aston University,
Birmingham B4 7ET, UK

Abstract: We consider recent developmet in the theory and numerical modelling of dispersion manged solitons in fiber optics. Solitons have been considered as the 'natural bits' in high-speed optical fibre communications for more than 25 years, due to their natural ability to balance the effects of fibre dispersion and nonlinearity. However the implementation of the conventional solitons in homogeneous fibers had no significant advantages against quasi-linear propagation regimes. Only recently, during the last few years the break through happened in utilizing the soliton-based transmission. This rapid progress has been driven by the application of dispersion management techniques to soliton transmission, and the subsequent discovery that dispersion-managed solitons have even superior properties than their conventional counterparts. Today, it is clear that dispersion-managed solitons, are the ultimate carriers for next generation of fiber optical communication systems.