Incomplete collisions of wavelength-division multiplexed dispersion-managed solitons

Interactions of wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) dispersion-managed solitons solitons are studied by means of numerical simulations of both the nonlinear Schrodinger (NLS) equation and the nonlocal equation of the NLS type that describes pulse dynamics in systems with strong dispersion management. The interaction properties are found to depend significantly on the values of system parameters. Incomplete collisions can be particularly serious, because in some parameter regimes they lead to large timing and frequency shifts and in some cases to pulse collapse. However, for parameter values derived from recent experiments with dispersion-managed WDM soliton transmission, the interaction properties are even more favorable than for pure NLS equations. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.