In this paper, firstly, effects of third order dispersion (TOD) on coupled pulses are analyzed. Then, averaging method is modified and proved to be an effective way for obtaining non-radiative bi-soliton solution of the TOD perturbed nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE), which models a dispersion managed (DM) optical transmission system. Finally, the obtained bi-soliton evolution behavior is studied, and compared with that of uni-soliton. With the increase of average TOD, pulse velocity of bi-soliton largely deviates from that of uni-soliton. Thus, even though TOD cannot be exactly vanished in fabrication, it is suggested to compensate average TOD as low as possible.

It is found that the supercontinuum spectrum is generated from cross-phase modulated soliton pulses which are propagated through a dispersion-flattened/decreasing fiber with low birefringence. The cross-phase modulation is achieved by exciting two orthogonally polarized modes in a birefringent fiber and the effect of input azimuth of linearly polarized pulses is discussed theoretically and numerically.

We review recent progresses in our studies on the fiber-optic soliton compression and related subjects with special emphasis on dispersion-flattened fibers (DFFs). As for the ultimately short pulse generation, it has been demonstrated to compress 5 ps laser diode pulses down to 20 fs with a 15.1 m-long single-stage step-like dispersion profiled fiber employed. The compression was brought about through a series of the higher order soliton processes in conjunction with a single and ordinary erbium-doped fiber preamplifier, and DFFs contained at its end played a major role. We have performed intensive investigations on the DFF compression mechanisms in the 100-20 fs range. A fairly reliable model was developed for the higher order soliton propagation along a DFF in the temporal range from 100 down to 30 fs by taking into consideration the higher order nonlinear and dispersion effects as well as incident pulse shape dependence. Through the simulation, parametric spectrum generation originating from the modulation instability gain was pointed out at frequencies apart from the pump wave frequency, which agrees with the experimental observation. Its possible application is also discussed.

This paper describes an all-optical label swapping for the photonic label switching router (LSR). The optical code routing photonic LSR in which label is mapped onto an optical code is one of the most promising photonic network technologies. It utilizes such unique features of optical code division multiplexing (OCDM) as asynchronous transmission, tell-and-go access protocol, and high degree of scalability. In practical photonic LSRs, all optical code conversion will play an important role. All-optical code conversion of 10 Gbit/s binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) codes by use of cross-phase modulation (XPM) in an optical fiber without wavelength-shift is proposed for the photonic LSR and experimentally demonstrated.

We performed 10 Gbit/s optical soliton transmission experiment over 2,000 km with bit error rate of < 10-9 in a comb-like dispersion profiled fiber (CDPF) loop of 80 km amplifier spacing which corresponds to 1.8 times of dispersion distance. By reducing the average dispersion of the CDPF, error free distance of 3,000 km was obtained.

The effectiveness of periodic dispersion compensation on single-channel 40 Gbit/s soliton transmission system was experimentally investigated. This technique requires just the dispersion compensation fibers and wideband optical filters in the transmission line, which has no difficulty to be used in the practical system. By using polarization-division-multiplexing together with periodic dispersion compensation, single-channel 40 Gbit/s transmission over 4700 km was demonstrated. Single-polarization 40 Gbit/s transmission experiments, which are more suitable for system implementation and compatible with WDM were also conducted. We investigated the transmission characteristics and pulse dynamics in different dispersion maps and in the optimized dispersion map, single-channel, single-polarization 40 Gbit/s transmission over 6300 km was successfully demonstrated.

By sacrificing approximately ten percent of the transmission speed, ultra-high speed optical time division multiplexed network can be fully operatable by the use of currently available electrical switches. The network utilizes dispersion managed quasi-solitons and transmits TDM packet which comprises of ATM cells that are introduced from a gateway through bit compression to match to the ultra-high speed traffics. The network can provide flexible bandwidth and bit on demand at burst rate of the maximum LAN speed.

The reduction of Soliton-soliton interaction to stabilize the soliton pulse propagation in the periodic dispersion-compensated standard fiber system using optical bandpass filter has been investigated by numerical simulation, and experimentally 10 Gbit/s soliton transmission was realized without fine tuning dispersion management over 5700 km, using appropriate optical bandpass filters and polarization scrambler.

Feasibility of 20 Gbit/s single channel transoceanic soliton transmission systems with a simple EDFA repeaters configuration has been studied. Both a simple and versatile soliton pulse generator and a polarization insensitive optical demultiplexer, which can provide a almost square shape optical gate with duration of full bit time period, have been proposed and demonstrated by using sinusoidally modulated electroabsorption modulators. The optical time-division multiplexing/demultiplexing scheme using the optical demultiplexer results in drastic improvement of bit error rate characteristics. We have experimentally confirmed that the use of alternating-amplitude solitons is an efficient way to mitigate not only soliton-soliton interaction but also Gordon-Haus timing jitter constraints in multi-ten Gbit/s soliton transmission. Timing jitter reduction using relatively wide band optical filter bas been investigated in 20 Gbit/s loop experiments and single-carrier, single-polarization 20 Gbit/s soliton data transmission over 11500 km with bit error rate of below 10-9 has been experimentally demonstrated, using the modulator-based soliton source, the optical demultiplexer, the alternation-amplitude solitons, and wide-band optical filters. Obtained 230 Tbit/skm transmission capacity shows the feasibility of 20 Gbit/s single channel soliton transoceanic systems using fully practical technologies.

A new device consisting of an optical pulse generation section and pulse coding section monolithically integrated on a single-chip has been developed. The pulse generation section consists of a multiple quantum well (MQW) electroabsorption modulator integrated with an MQW DFB laser. The modulator operates at large-signal modulation and low voltage (from 2 to 3-V DC bias with a 3.2-V peak-to-peak RF signal). The second modulator is operated independently as a pulse encoder. An approximately transform-limited optical pulse train, whose full width at half maximum (FWHM) in the time domain is less than 17-ps and spectral FWHM is 28-GHz, is obtained with a repetition frequency of 10-GHz. Compressive strain is introduced in both InGaAsP quantum wells in order to obtain efficient device characteristics. These include a low threshold current (18-mA) for the laser, and low driving voltage (30-dB for 3-V swing) and high-speed operation (over 12-GHz for a 3-dB bandwidth) for the modulators. Demonstrations show that this new device generates short optical pulses encoded by a pseudo-random signal at a rate of 10 Gbit/s. This is the first time 10 Gbit/s modulation has been achieved with a multi-section electroabsorption modulator/DFB laser integrated light source. This monolithic device is expected to be applied to optical soliton transmitters.

The timing jitter reductions with differently shaped optical bandpass filters are discussed and the transmission distance achievable against the timing jitter is evaluated using optical bandpass filters in several tens of Gb/s soliton transmission. Experimental confirmation of timing jitter reduction with optical bandpass filters is demonstrated in 10Gb/s optical soliton recirculating loop experiments by measuring the timing jitter and the bit error rates.

Optical soliton transmissions at 10 and 20Gbit/s over 1000km with the use of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers are described in detail. For the 10Gbit/s experiment, a bit error rate (BER) of below 110-13 was obtained with 220-1 pseudorandom patterns and the power penalty was less than 0.1dB. In the 20Gbit/s experiment optical multiplexing and demultiplexing techniques were used and a BER of below 110-12 was obtained with 223-1 pseudorandom patterns under a penalty-free condition. A new technique for sending soliton pulses over ultralong distances is presented which incorporates synchronous shaping and retiming using a high speed optical modulator. Some experimental results over 1 million km at 7.210Gbit/s are described. This technique enables us to overcome the Gordon-Haus limit, the accumulation of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), and the effect of interaction forces between adjacent solitons. It is also shown by computer runs and a simple analysis that a one hundred million km soliton transmission is possible by means of soliton transmission controls in the time and frequency domains. This means that limit-free transmission is possible.

We consider applications of optical solitons to signal processing. Soliton switching devices promise ultrafast operation and compatibility with communications systems using optical pulses. Quantum soliton effects include broadband squeezing and quantum nondemolition measurements, and can reduce noise and increase sensitivities of optical measurements. We report the demonstration of two-color soliton switching and describe progress towards implementation of quantum nondemolition measurement of photon number using soliton collisions.

We consider applications of optical solitons to signal processing. Soliton switching devices promise ultrafast operation and compatibility with communications systems using optical pulses. Quantum soliton effects include broadband squeezing and quantum nondemolition measurements, and can reduce noise and increase sensitivities of optical measurements. We report the demonstration of two-color soliton switching and describe progress towards implementation of quantum nondemolition measurement of photon number using soliton collisions.