Bandwidth limits due to mutual pulse interaction in optical soliton communication systems

Mutual interaction between soliton pulses may severely limit the maximum bit rate of a soliton-based optical communication system. We present explicit analytical results for soliton separation as a function of propagation distance in the presence of mutual pulse interaction. In particular, we find that soliton coalescence can be avoided by proper phase shifting of consecutive pulses and that a phase shift of π/2 minimizes the initial mutual interaction.