Optimization of the average-dispersion range for long-haul dispersion-managed soliton systems

We consider limitations on unfiltered transmission of dispersion-managed so litons, arising from the Gordon-Haus jitter, adjacent pulse interaction, an d signal-to-noise degradation. We maximize the range of allowed values of a verage dispersion, thereby providing the first step in optimization of disp ersion maps for wavelength-division-multiplexed lightwave systems. As speci fic examples, we consider dispersion maps made of several different types o f optical fiber and study their performance for transmission of 10-40 Gb/s channels over distances in the range from 3000 km to 10 000 km.