Abstract

Ultralong distance transmission employing optical solitons and periodic lumped amplification offers great promise for future highbit rate communication systems. To exploit the maximum potential of such systems, it is important to ad dress the issues of optimum source and amplifier configurations. It may be desirable to employ sources that generate fundamental solitons directly. One such laser source—the erbium fiber soliton laser—is described. We discuss the average soliton dynamics of the laser and the use of this model in soliton transmission systems. We also describe experiments designed to explore alternative amplifier configurations. Since the transmission capacity of the system is ultimately limited by the accumulated effects of amplified spontaneous emission, the combination of a fiber amplifier with the noise-eating properties non-linear fiber loop mirror may be extremely attractive. We also describe experiments underway relating to soliton transmission in recirculating fiber loops. Various configurations are described including novel loop mirror/amplifier architectures for ultrahigh bitrate soliton switching, transmission, and optical memory applications.

© 1991 Optical Society of America