Abstract

In some respects, the periodic nature of dispersion-managed optical communication systems bears a close analogy with the problem of optical resonators. Requiring that the pulse shape of a stationary solution reproduce itself at every period of the dispersion map (Fig. 1) is reminiscent of the self-consistent analysis of the modes of an optical cavity. A question that comes naturally to mind, then, is the following: is it possible that dispersion managed systems support higher-order "modes" (or quasi-higher-order modes) ? In this paper, we present numerical evidence of a positive answer to that question. We propose a simplified analysis leading to quantitative predictions suported by numerical simulations of dispersion-managed systems.

© 1998 Optical Society of America