Multi-thousand kilometer optical soliton data transmission experiments at 5 Gb/s using an electroabsorption modulator pulse generator

We have demonstrated the transmission of data-coded optical soliton pulse at the bit-rate of 5 Gb/s over a few thousand kilometers. Ultra-short optical pulses generated with a sinusoidally driven electroabsorption modulator and a DFB-LD that were approximately hyperbolic-secant squared shape were transmitted through the fiber. Both recirculating loop transmission lines and straight transmission lines were used for the experiments. The pulse width was maintained well over 6,000 km transmission in the recirculating loop experiment. Three-thousand-km stable transmission was achieved using a straight-line setup at the bit-rate of 5 Gb/s, although the average fiber chromatic dispersion deviated slightly from the optimum value. The results indicate the possibility of the soliton transmission system for multi-thousand-km optical communication systems