Evolution of optical solitons in nonlinear dispersive lossy fibres

A variational technique has been applied to the evolution of optical solitons in a nonlinear dispersive lossy fibre. An analytical model has been developed to describe the interaction of two co-propagating orthogonally polarized optical pulses in a lossy fibre, governed by a pair of coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations, and the threshold amplitude at which the solitons form a bound state has been obtained.