Feature

Massive Soliton WDM Transmission at N × 10 Gbit/sec, Error-free Over Transoceanic Distances

L. F. Mollenauer, P. V. Mamyshev, and M. J. Neubelt, Bell Labs-Lucent Technologies, Holmdel, N.J.

We have demonstrated massive wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), over transoceanic distances, in multiples of 10 Gbit/sec. The vital ingredients to this success were first, solitons, second, sliding-frequency guiding filters, and third, the use of "dispersion-tapered" fiber spans between amplifiers, i.e., spans for which D(z) tends to follow (here in step-wise approximation), the same exponential decay profile as the signal energy. Although the first two ingredients and their benefits are by now well known, the third, at least in this context, is both novel and vital.