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Averaged dynamics of soliton molecules in dispersion-managed optical fibers

The existence regimes and dynamics of soliton molecules in dispersion-managed (DM) optical fibers have been studied. Initially we develop a variational approximation (VA) for description of periodic dynamics of a soliton molecule within each unit cell of the dispersion map. The obtained system of coupled equations for the pulse width and chirp allows to find the parameters of DM soliton molecules for the given dispersion map and pulse energy. Then by means of a scaling transformation and averaging procedure we reduce the original nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) with piecewise-constant periodic dispersion to its counterpart with constant coefficients and additional parabolic potential. The obtained averaged NLSE with expulsive potential can explain the essential features of solitons and soliton molecules in DM fibers related to their energy loss during propagation. Also, the model of averaged NLSE predicts the instability of the temporal position of the soliton, which may lead to difficulty in holding the pulse in the middle of its time slot. All numerical simulations are performed using the parameters of the existing DM fiber setup, and illustrated via pertinent examples.