Massive wavelength-division multiplexing with solitons

Solitons have already enabled the demonstration of many-channel wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM), error free over transoceanic distances, at per-channel rates of 10 and 20 Gbit/s. In this paper, we assess the potential for extending the total transmission rate to many hundreds of gigabit/s in such massive WDM with solitons. We examine the new "dispersion-managed" solitons, as well as the conventional ones, and we consider the advantages of combining each with sliding-frequency guiding filters. Finally, we also describe a practical way for making the required accurate dispersion maps.