An apparatus includes a non-solitonic all-optical communication path having serially connected first and second segments. The first segment end-couples to a lumped optical transmitter. The second segment end-couples to a lumped optical receiver. Each segment has a series of spans of transmission optical fibers. The all-optical communication path has an optical phase conjugator that optically end-couples the first segment to the second segment. The optical phase conjugator is positioned away from the path's midpoint.