Theory of average pulse propagation in high-bit-rate optical transmission systems with strong dispersion management

A theory of signal transmission in high-bit-rate optical communication systems with large variations of dispersion (strong dispersion management) is presented. It is found that the averaged propagation of a chirped breathing optical pulse along the line is described by the nonlinear Schrodinger equation with an additional parabolic potential. The shape of the averaged pulse is intermediate between the sech-type soliton and a Gaussian pulse. The rapidly decaying Gaussian wings of such pulses allow denser information packing in comparison with the use of sech-type fundamental solitons. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.