  Optical soliton pulses offer many applications within optical communication
systems, but by definition a soliton is only subjected to second-order
anomalous group-velocity-dispersion; an understanding of higher-order
dispersion is necessary for practical implementation of soliton pulses. A
numerical model of a waveguide was developed using the Nonlinear Schrodinger
Equation, with parameters set to ensure the input pulse energy would be equal
to the fundamental soliton energy. Higher-order group-velocity-dispersion was
gradually increased, for various temporal widths and waveguide dispersions. A
minimum pulse duration of 100-fs was determined to be necessary for fundamental
soliton pulse propagation in practical photonic crystal waveguides.
