Abstract

The use of Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers in optical communication systems has eliminated loss as a limitation, thereby, allowing transmission over trans-oceanic distances without regeneration. The capacity of these long systems are now limited by fiber dispersion, fiber non-linearities and amplifier noise. Systems in which the information propagates in the form of solitons balance the effects of fiber dispersion and non-linearity to ameliorate these limitations. However, these soliton systems require a source of nearly transform-limited sech² optical pulses to form solitons in the transmission fiber. Here we report on an optical pulse source that should prove ideal as a practical optical soliton generator.

© 1994 Optical Society of America