On timing jitter in wavelength-division multiplexed soliton systems

Collision-induced timing shifts in a wavelength-division multiplexed soliton system are computed when damping, amplification, filtering and positive dispersion management following the loss profile are included. A statistical analysis is presented which takes into account the resulting effect of the large number of collisions occurring in the fiber. Analytic expressions are derived for the root mean square timing jitter and the maximum length of error-free transmission with an arbitrary number of channels. An extensive analysis of system performance corresponding to situations with and without filters and/or dispersion management is carried out. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.