Patent ID: 7869680

Claim:
An optical communications link, comprising: a first fiber span including a first fiber line, said first fiber line comprising a first fiber segment and having a first loss/gain coefficient profile, a first second-order dispersion coefficient profile, and a first nonlinear coefficient profile; a second fiber span including a second fiber line, said second fiber line comprising a second fiber segment and having a second loss/gain coefficient profile, a second second-order dispersion coefficient profile, and a second nonlinear coefficient profile; and an optical phase conjugator optically coupled between said first and second fiber spans, an optical signal received by said first fiber span being propagated respectively through said first fiber span, said optical phase conjugator, and said second fiber span; wherein said optical communications link is further characterized by a first overall gain constant between respective inputs of said first and second fiber segments; wherein said first fiber span, said second fiber span, and said optical phase conjugator are configured such that (i) said second loss/gain coefficient profile along said second fiber segment is in substantial scaled translational symmetry with said first loss/gain coefficient profile along said first fiber segment by a first constant, (ii) said second second-order dispersion coefficient profile along said second fiber segment is in substantial scaled translational symmetry with said first second-order dispersion coefficient profile oppositely signed along said first fiber segment by said first constant, and (iii) said second nonlinear coefficient profile along said second fiber segment is in substantial scaled translational symmetry with a reciprocal of said first overall gain constant times said first nonlinear coefficient profile along said first fiber segment by said first constant, whereby progressive compensation along said second fiber segment of at least one nonlinearity introduced along said first fiber segment is facilitated.