We have examined the main constraints on the design of single-channel, high-capacity soliton communication systems. In the average soliton regime, the Gordon-Haus timing jitter limits the bit rate to about 5 Gb/s for transoceanic fiber links, while for shorter transmission distances the main limitation is fiber perturbations arising from discrete in- line amplification. The use of dispersion-decreasing fibers and of periodic optical phase conjugation for jitter control can increase significantly the capacity of soliton communication systems. We found that the third-order dispersion assumes a prominent role in this case. Reducing this effect sufficiently, the main constraint becomes the soliton-soliton interactions and bit rates superior to 110 Gb/s can be achieved for amplifier spacings less than 80 km. For higher amplifier spacings the bit rate is limited by the Raman induced timing jitter.
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