Lightwave Communication Systems

Twenty years have passed since the first serious proposal was made to employ a glass fiber waveguide as a telecommunications transmission medium. Vigorous research has led to widespread applications of optical-fiber communication throughout the telecommunications industry. First-generation systems introduced in the late 1970's operated at 0.85-um wavelength over multitude fibers for interoffice trunking in metropolitan areas. Second- generation systems that began service in 1982 exploited the low-loss and low-dispersion 1.3-um wavelength region of multimode fibers for interoffice as well as subscriber-loop applications. Present- day systems employing single-mode fibers at 1.3um are deployed for metropolitan-trunking and long-haul services. Soon, the North American continent and the Atlantic Ocean will be spanned by optical fiber cables. This talk will trace the historical development of lightwave systems, describe present commercial systems for various applications and look into future trends.