Abstract

One attractive feature of the all-optical approach to ultralong distance transmission is that it greatly facilitates wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). For most transmission modes, however, nonlinear interactions tend to cause severe interchannel interference.^1,2 On the other hand, in a fiber with uniformly canceled loss (distributed amplification), it is well known that solitons of different velocities (different wavelengths) are transparent to each other.³ We have shown, through numerical simulation, that transparency is also maintained in a system using lumped amplifiers as long as the length of the collision (the distance the solitons travel down the fiber while passing through each other) is ~2 or more times greater than the spacing between amplifiers. Our result implies the potential for at least several multi-Gbit/s WDM channels spanning just 1 or 2 nm in a system of transoceanic length (6000-8000 km).

© 1990 Optical Society of America