Long-haul, 10 Gbit/s error-free transmission of NRZ data and dispersion-managed solitons using the same transmission system

A dispersion management scheme that supports both dispersion-managed solitons and non-return-to-zero (NRZ) data formats is demonstrated by error free transmission at 10 Gbit/s in excess of 9500 km in a recirculating fiber loop. Our results suggest that data pulse formats that are intermediate to standard NRZ and pure solitons may have significant advantages.