Generation and transmission of optical solitons in the gigahertz region using a directly modulated distributed-feedback laser diode.

We have succeeded for the first time, to our knowledge, in the generation and transmission of 6-24-GHz, 17-psec transform-limited solitons, using a directly modulated distributed-feedback laser diode with a narrow-band spectral filter and erbium-doped optical fiber amplifiers. The average optical power at 6 GHz from the erbium amplifier is greater than 10 mW, which corresponds to a peak power of 98 mW. The peak power is already in the soliton power regime for dispersion-shifted fibers. The solitons are transmitted over 22 km, and their original width can be completely preserved. The soliton-narrowing effect and high-order solitons that divide are also observed.