Dispersion management for randomly varying optical fibers.

An asymptotic theory for optical pulse propagation in a dispersion-managed (DM) fiber with random dispersion is presented. The validity of the theory is verified with direct numerical simulation. The equations that describe the slow evolution of initial pulses have special solutions that, for fibers with moderate noise in the dispersion profile, perform much better than ideal DM solitons optimized for the unperturbed fiber.