Stepwise dispersion profiling of periodically amplified soliton systems

Average soliton propagation in periodically amplified optical fiber systems with stepwise varying dispersion is studied analytically and numerically. A simple scheme for determining optimal profiles is described and generalized design diagrams in terms of the average system dispersion and net periodic loss are presented. n-fold optimal profiling is shown to be as effective in reducing perturbations to the average soliton as n-fold reduction of the amplifier spacing. Hence, stable soliton propagation for communications applications well beyond the usually accepted limits is proposed.