Abstract

Cross-phase modulation (XPM) in nonlinear optical fibers has been investigated for several purposes in recent literature^[1],[2]. Several XPM-induced soliton devices, such as Kerr shutters, intensity discriminators, soliton switches^[2],[5], have been developed for applications in optical soliton communication. To our knowledge, most of these investigations are limited to designs of coupling or switching devices. Few works are devoted to optical soliton multiplex communication system by compensating the fiber XPM effect. Although the XPM effect is always exsit when two or more optical waves copropagating inside a nonlinear fiber, we have found that these mutual-modulating effects can be greatly reduced to near zero under certain condition. This condition provides a possibility to realize an optical soliton multiplex communication system. That is, two solitons at two different wavelengths or two different polarizations may copropagate in a nonlinear fiber without interfering each other.

© 1993 Optical Society of America