Dispersion management in optical networks

The transmission of 8-wavelength, 2.5 Gb/s signals on a 2215 km optical path through all three testbeds of the MONET New Jersey Network is reported. The system performance varies with the order of occurrence of high-dispersion and low-dispersion network segments, suggesting a need for careful network design even when the total dispersion in the network is considerably lower than the theoretical limit.