Effects of the amplifier location in interchannel soliton collisions in periodic dispersion maps in the presence of third order dispersion

We analyze the effects of third order dispersion in wavelength division multiplexed dispersion‐managed soliton transmission systems using an ordinary differential equations model obtained by the variational method. Interchannel soliton collisions in this type of transmission systems produce shifts of their center frequencies which result in a timing jitter at the receiver that can severely impair signal transmission. We investigate how the third order dispersion term affects the collision‐induced residual frequency shifts as the amplifier location within a period of the dispersion map is varied. The validity of the model employed in the analysis is assessed by comparing the variational results with direct simulations of the partial differential equations for specific cases, finding excellent agreement.