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To: The Phoenix who wrote (15293)	7/6/2000 11:13:42 AM
From: Mr.Fun	Read Replies (4) of 21876

The Qtera engineers told me at OFC that they were not using solitons, rather that they were using raman amplification to achieve their distance between regeneration. FYI Solitons are an alternative way to extend the distance between regeneration. The reason that signals need regeneration is as an optical pulse travels over a physical fiber the pulse changes shape, typically the leading edge travels slightly faster than the trailing edge due to refraction in the fiber. After 1000Km or so, the pulse becomes considerably more difficult to read and may bleed over into the previous pulse. Soliton technology resolves this by transmitting a pulse that is already distorted, but in a way that the natural refraction of the fiber brings the pulse into sharper focus rather than distorting further. As you can imagine, this is very difficult technology to implement. Research in soliton technology has gone on for more than a decade and there are still no commercial products.