Patent ID: 7379670

Claim:
A method for compensating for dispersion in an NRZ-based WDM optical communication system that includes a transmitter, a receiver and an optical fiber transmission path coupling said transmitter to said receiver; said method comprising: providing a first predetermined amount of pre-compensation dispersion between said transmitter and said optical fiber transmission path for wavelengths shorter than a zero dispersion wavelength and a second predetermined amount of pre-compensation dispersion between said transmitter and said optical fiber transmission path for wavelengths longer than said zero dispersion wavelength and a first predetermined amount of post-compensation dispersion between said optical fiber transmission path and said receiver for said wavelengths shorter than said zero dispersion wavelength and a second predetermined amount of post-compensation dispersion between said optical fiber transmission path and said receiver for said wavelengths longer than said zero dispersion wavelength, said first predetermined amount of pre-compensation dispersion being less than said first predetermined amount of post compensation dispersion and said second predetermined amount of pre-compensation dispersion being greater than said second predetermined amount of post compensation dispersion; and allowing accumulation of a non-zero residual dispersion to edge channels of said WDM signal; whereby said non-zero residual dispersion reduces nonlinear distortions experienced by said NRZ pulses.