Abstract

5Gbit/s transoceanic optical submarine cable systems using EDFA repeaters and NRZ signals will be in service in 1995-1996 in the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean[1]. Research interest is now being directed toward the development of optical amplifier systems with a transmission capacity of multi-ten Gbit/s or more. To increase an aggregate system capacity, both the wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) transmission scheme using NRZ signals and soliton signals have been intensively studied[2]-[5]. Recently, the feasibility of 100Gbit/s transmission over 6300km by using 20-channel 5Gbit/s NRZ WDM signals[2] and 80Gbit/s transmission over 10,000km by using 8-channel 10Gbit/s soliton WDM signals[3] have been demonstrated. Soliton transmission systems are expected to carry higher bit rate (per channel) than NRZ systems[4]-[11], and thus soliton-WDM transmission with a channel bit rate of more than 10Gbit/s is quite attractive for transmission systems with ultra large capacity[4],[5].

© 1996 Optical Society of America