Polarisation guiding in ultralong distance solitontransmission

Abstract
Signal polarisation rotation due to polarisation dependent loss has been observed for the first time in an optical communications transmission system. In particular its effect as a limiting factor in solitonic polarisation multiplexed systems is discussed. An analytic expression for the degree of rotation is presented and experimentally verified. Additionally, 5 Gbit/s solitons have been transmitted a distance of 11 000 km without transmission control.