Nonlinear multiplexing in optical fiber communications

The nonlinear evolution of a dispersion-managed soliton admits a novel nonlinear multiplexing scheme for optical communications. Information is coded onto the canonical parameters (chirp and width) characterizing the pulse. It is shown that in dispersion-managed fiber communication channels, there exists the possibility of a nonlinear multiplexing scheme, with no linear analog, that effectively multiplies the bit-rate throughput several-fold. Alternatively, the same bit-rate is achieved while relaxing the requirements on the pulse width, so that slower modulation speeds and narrowband in-line filters may be used without paying a penalty in the information-transfer rate. In addition, the scheme is insensitive to minor variations in the multiplexing parameters. The analysis is based on a Hamiltonian reduction of the dispersion-managed nonlinear Schrodinger equation, and is corroborated with direct numerical simulations.