40-GHZ SOLITON TRAIN GENERATION THROUGH MULTISOLITON PULSE-PROPAGATION IN A DISPERSION VARYING OPTICAL-FIBER CIRCUIT

We experimentally demonstrate a novel optical beat-signal to soliton t rain conversion technique based on multisoliton compression effects du ring propagation in a dispersion varying optical fiber. Unlike previou s techniques based on dispersion decreasing fiber that are limited to repetition rates > 50 GHz this scheme can be extended to work at repet ition rates as low as 30 GHz and is therefore of interest for current ultra-high speed communication applications. We report the generation of 40 GHz CW trains of 3.4 ps pulses and demonstrate their stable prop agation through 7.5 km of dispersion shifted fiber.