Linear and nonlinear dispersion compensation of short pulses using midspan spectral inversion

Fiber nonlinearity and dispersion may limit the repeater spacing in high speed fiber-optic transmission systems. We report experimental and numerical results on the nonlinear propagation of short optical pulses over standard nondispersion shifted fiber links which are dispersion compensated using midspan spectral inversion. It has been found that an increased transmission nonlinearity can be tolerated if the spectral inversion is moved away from the midpoint of the span. Full recovery of the initial pulsewidth is experimentally demonstrated in the presence of nonlinearities. A system design based on these results is presented, allowing high transmitted power and long repeater spacing.