Eigenvalue communications in nonlinear fiber channels

Continuous progress in optical communication technology and corresponding
increasing data rates in core fiber communication systems are stimulated by
the evergrowing capacity demand due to constantly emerging new bandwidth-hungry services like cloud computing, ultra-high-definition video streams, etc.
This demand is pushing the required capacity of optical communication lines
close to the theoretical limit of a standard single-mode fiber, which is imposed
by Kerr nonlinearity [1–4]. In recent years, there have been extensive
efforts in mitigating the detrimental impact of fiber nonlinearity on signal
transmission, through various compensation techniques. However, there are
still many challenges in applying these methods, because a majority of technologies utilized in the inherently nonlinear fiber communication systems had been originally developed for linear communication channels. Thereby, the application of ”linear techniques” in a fiber communication systems is inevitably
limited by the nonlinear properties of the fiber medium. The quest for the optimal design of a nonlinear transmission channels, development of nonlinear
communication technqiues and the usage of nonlinearity in a“constructive”
way have occupied researchers for quite a long time.