1. Soliton Research at the Lightwave Communication Systems Laboratory
Ken Demarest
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
University of Kansas 1 1

2. Summary Introduction to optical solitons The KU soliton generator
The KU recirculating loop
Preliminary soliton transmission results
Summary and suggestion for future work 2 2

3. Optical Solitons
An optical soliton is a short, high-amplitude an optical pulse that does not spread as it propagates

4. Linear, Dispersive Fiber25

5. Kerr Effect and Chirp 26

6. Nonlinear, Nondispersive fiber28

7. Nonlinear Fiber with Positive Dispersion27

8. Fundamental Soliton 29

9. Soliton-based optical fiber transmission
Achieved error free distances in single-channel and WDM 3 3

10. Three Types of Soliton Generators
1. Soliton laser based on mode-locking
2. Electroabsorption Modulator-based soliton generators
3. LiNbO3 Mach-Zehnder Modulator-based soliton generators 8 5

11. Mach-Zehnder Soliton Generator9 6

12. Amplitude Modulation 10 7

13. Pulse Compression 16 8

14. Structure and Operation18 10

15. KU Soliton Generator 19 11

16. Mearsured Pulse Compression
Uncompressed pulses
Compressed pulses 21 13

17. Soliton Source: Output
Soliton Train
Data Encoded Soliton Sequence 20 12

18. 20GHz Time/polarization Division Multiplexed Soliton Train
PM fiber
Polarization of
Incident Light 23 14

19. Soliton Generator For WDM24 15

20. Recirculating Loop 27 16

21. KU Recirculating Loop Testset32 20

22. OC48 Rate Transmission Emulation
Standard Fiber
75 km: Error Free
600 km: Error Free
(BER<2*10-13)
1050 km: BER=2*10-10
1350 km: BER=3*10-7 31 19

23. Measured, Near-Soliton Characteristics
20 ps/div
Transmitter
4*35 km
6*35 km
Launch power: 8 dBm dBm 37 22

24. Future Work
1. Long-distance 10 Gb/s or time/polarization-division-multiplexed
soliton transmission in alternating positive and negative dispersion fiber links.
2. 10 Gb/s or 20 Gb/s WDM transmission in dispersion- compensated standard fiber link with long amplifier spans.
3. Experimental demonstration of soliton control for all-optical networks. 39 23