An inverse dispersion 
fiber having a large effective area and a 
transmission system that incorporates the 
fiber for providing dispersion and dispersion slope compensation in a 
transmission fiber. The large-effective-area inverse dispersion 
optical fiber (IDF) has a negative dispersion and a negative dispersion slope. The effective area, Aeff, of the IDF preferably is greater than approximately 31 micrometers squared (μm2) at a transmission 
wavelength of approximately 1550 nm. The large-effective-area IDF is suitable for use with super-large-effective-area (SLA) 
transmission fiber for compensating dispersion in the SLA 
transmission fiber while reducing nonlinear effects between 
wavelength channels and cabling loss, which is especially advantageous in transoceanic and long-haul terrestrial systems. These nonlinear effects are inversely related to the effective area of the 
fiber (i.e., nonlinearities˜1 / Aeff). Thus, an increase in the effective area of the fiber translates into a decrease in nonlinear interactions, which increases bandwidth capabilities and limits 
signal degradation. Furthermore, the large-effective-area IDF of the present invention has very desirable 
transmission properties. The present invention also provides a 
transmission system comprising at least one of the large-effective-area IDF optical fibers of the present invention. Furthermore, Aeff can be made large without having to increase the ratio, Ra, of the 
diameter of the core to the 
diameter of the trench region.