Optimal dispersion maps for wavelength-division multiplexed soliton transmission systems

Summary form only given. Dispersion-managed soliton wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) transmission with 20-Gbit/s per channel is a promising way to realize long distance systems with an aggregate transmission capacity >100 Gbit/s. Optimizing the performance of such dispersion-managed systems is of crucial importance, and requires launching properly shaped and chirped pulses into the fiber to minimize the shedding of energy into a dispersive pedestal. We have analyzed dispersion-managed solitons with loss and gain by applying averaging when the dispersion-map period is shorter than the fiber's dispersion length.