Interactions between dispersion-managed solitons with unequal powers

We revisit the problem of intrachannel interactions between solitons in dispersion-managed nonlinear fiber links, which is a major limiting factor for the use of solitons in fiber-optic networks. By means of systematic simulations, we demonstrate the existence of a well-defined maximum of the interaction length, zint, as a function of the ratio of peak powers of interacting solitons, while in the case of identical solitons the interaction length always attains a minimum. An explanation to these features is proposed. Interaction effects in threesoliton sets are studied too. The results suggest that the transmission characteristics of soliton streams in the dispersion-managed system may be improved by using alternating values of the peak powers whose ratio corresponds to the maximum of zint.