Light signals for high-speed fiber-optics communication systems

This paper shows that, when the pulsewidth is defined as the time interval within which a given fraction a of the total light energy of the pulse is c ontained, the signal shape with the smallest dispersion broadening is not G aussian. The time profiles of the pulses with the greatest dispersion-broad ening length are presented for all 0<epsilon<1 as superpositions of symmetr ic Hermitian wave packets. It is demonstrated that the information-transfer rate can be significantly increased by such pulses by comparison with Gaus sian signals of the same initial width. (C) 1999 The Optical Society of Ame rica. [S1070-9762(99)00302-4].