System and method of dispersion compensation in optical communication systems

A method of communicating an optical signal on an optical communication system comprising:

• transmitting said optical signal over an optical path, said optical path including a plurality of spans, at least some of said spans extending from one optical amplifier to another optical amplifier;
• allowing chromatic dispersion to accumulate over a group of said plurality of spans of said optical path to a first predetermined level;
• amplifying said optical signal with at least one Raman/EDFA amplifier coupled to said optical path, said amplifier comprising a Raman portion having a Raman gain selected to achieve a desired noise figure level for said Raman/EDFA amplifier and an EDFA portion having an EDFA gain selected to achieve a predetermined total gain for said Raman/EDFA amplifier;
• and
• non-periodically compensating for accumulated dispersion of said optical signal using a dispersion compensating fiber disposed between said Raman portion and said EDFA portion of said at least one Raman/EDFA amplifier.

An optical communication system comprising:

• a transmitter configured to transmit an optical signal over an optical information path to a receiver, said optical information path comprising:
• a plurality of spans including high loss spans and low loss spans, at least some of said spans extending from one optical amplifier to another optical amplifier, each of said low loss spans having an associated loss lower than a loss associated with said high loss spans;
• and
• a plurality of Raman/EDFA amplifiers having a Raman portion and an EDFA portion, wherein at least one Raman/EDFA amplifier of said plurality of Raman/EDFA amplifiers further includes at least one dispersion compensating fiber coupled to one of said low loss spans such that said optical communication system is configured to allow dispersion to accumulate in said high loss spans and to compensate for dispersion directly following said one of said low loss spans.