Abstract

Solitons that propagate in an optical fiber experience timing jitter that limits both the bit rate and the information transmission distance. This timing jitter is caused by several effects: the Gordon-Haus effect, the polarization effect, and the acoustic effect.^1,2 At bit rates in excess of 10 Gbit/s, the acoustic effect becomes the dominant cause of the timing jitter at distances greater than a few thousand kilometers.^1,2 The acoustic effect is created by the large transverse gradient of the electric fields in the optical fiber due to the soliton pulses. These large field gradients electrostrictively excite acoustic waves that influence later solitons. The acoustic wave perturbs the effective refractive index of the fiber, leading to changes in the frequencies and temporal locations of the solitons. The excited acoustic wave propagates transversely to the fiber axis; so, the perturbation of the effective refractive index of the fiber changes on a time scale of 1 nsec—the time that it takes the acoustic wave to cross the fiber core area. We thus expect that neighboring solitons in a high-bit rate transmission system, operating at more than 5 Gbit/s, will experience correlated time shifts.

© 1996 Optical Society of America