Abstract

Hasegawa and Tappert¹ have proposed using the nonlinear properties of a single-mods optical fiber to compensate the pulse-broadening dispersive effect to achieve transmission rates of the order of several Gbit/s. The evolution of the pulse envelope, neglecting losses and third-order dispersion, is governed by the nonlinear Schroedinger equation. This equation² possesses a special class of pulse-like solutions (envelope) solitons. Among them, the fundamental soliton and breath- ers (bound states of solitons) are prime candidates for an optical communication system. The pulse shape of fundamental solitons remains unchanged throughout propagation, while that of breathers undergoes periodic contraction and splitting.

© 1986 Optical Society of America