Optical soliton propagation and control

Optical soliton pulses offer great promise as a means for transmitting high data rate information in optical fibers over trans-oceanic distances. This thesis addresses two aspects of optical soliton communication. First, soliton propagation in the presence of a small-signal background continuum is discussed. It is essential to examine soliton-continuum interaction as it may lead to timing jitter in the system, thus degrading transmission performance. In this thesis, soliton interaction with a sinusoidal wave packet is examined both theoretically and numerically. Next, a method for supervisory control, or line-monitoring, for an undersea soliton communication system is addressed. A line-monitoring system is a vital component for any undersea transmission system as it provides information on system status and fault location while the system is in-service. In this thesis, such a system is proposed and numerically simulated. Thesis Supervisor: Hermann A. Haus Title: Institute Professor