Analysis of multichannel optical soliton collisions with asymmetric energy in strongly dispersion managed transmission networks considering higher-order effects

Abstract

We study the interaction properties of optical soliton pulses propagating in a two-channel wavelength-division multiplexed strongly dispersion managed communication system. We analyze the effects of third order dispersion, Raman scattering and self-steepening using an ordinary differential equations model obtained by a variational method applied to the Generalized Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation. The validity of the model is assessed against the integration of the full nonlinear partial differential equations. The variational equations are initially solved for a single pulse in order to identify the launching parameters for each pulse in the first DM cell of the system. One pulse per wavelength is then injected in the transmission link. We then systematically study the evolution of multiplexed soliton trains and analyse the transmission system in terms of residual frequency shifts and interchannel interactions as the map strength is varied, focusing on the ratio of dissimilar peak powers in a broad range of dispersion difference values, concluding that the transmission characteristics improve by using specific values of unequal energies and considering higher-order correction terms. The work presented is an extension of previous analysis where isolated intra-channel two-pulse interactions had been addressed considering pulses with dissimilar energies.