Effects of precompensation and postcompensation on timing jitter in dispersion-managed systems

We present an analytic theory of timing jitter in dispersion-managed light- wave systems that is based on the moment method and the assumption of a chi rped Gaussian pulse. We apply the theory to a soliton system and show that 50% postcompensation of the accumulated dispersion can reduce the jitter by a factor of 2. We also apply the theory to a low-power light-wave system e mploying the return-to-zero format and find that timing jitter can be minim ized along the fiber link for an optimal choice of precompensation and post compensation. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.