Timing-jitter reduction for a dispersion-managed soliton system: Experimental evidence

We have measured the timing jitter for dispersion-managed solitons in a recirculating loop for distances up to 20,000 km. The data were obtained with modulated data, 2(7) - 1 and 2(23) - 1 pseudorandom binary sequence patterns, at 10-Gbit/s rates and with an unmodulated pulse train at 10 GHz. We have obtained good agreement with our data, using a filtered Gordon-Haus model for the timing jitter reduced by the energy enhancement of our solitons relative to solitons in a fiber with a constant dispersion equal to our map's path-average dispersion. We have also measured a bit-error rate of <10(-9) at a distance of 15,000 km. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.