An optical transmitter which reverses the ON-OFF state of the optical intensity of a bright soliton lightwave and generates a dark soliton lightwave having an optical phase shift, an optical receiver for the dark soliton lightwave, and a superfast, high-capacity optical transmission system which is capable of increasing the soliton pulse array density while suppressing timing jitter. The optical transmission system is provided with the optical transmitter which transmits a dark soliton lightwave having digital information, the optical receiver which receives the dark soliton lightwave as a return-to-zero pulse and a transmission optical fiber interconnecting the transmitter and the receiver. The system has a construction in which the transmission optical fiber has, at the wavelength of the transmission lightwave, a normal dispersion value which makes negative the average wavelength dispersion value over the entire length of the optical fiber, and the average value of the wavelength dispersion value and the optical output intensity of the transmission optical fiber have values so that a non-linear optical effect and a wavelength dispersion effect, which are exerted on the transmission lightwave, are balanced with each other.