STEPWISE DISPERSION PROFILING OF PERIODICALLY AMPLIFIED SOLITON SYSTEMS

Average soliton propagation in periodically amplified optical fiber sy stems with stepwise varying dispersion is studied analytically and num erically. A simple scheme for determining optimal profiles is describe d and generalized design diagrams in terms of the average system dispe rsion and net periodic loss are presented. n-fold optimal profiling is shown to be as effective in reducing perturbations to the average sol iton as n-fold reduction of the amplifier spacing. Hence, stable solit on propagation for communications applications well beyond the usually accepted limits is proposed.