Fiber-optic Communication Systems

Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 1992, the state of the art of fiber-optic communication systems has advanced dramatically despite the relatively short period of only 10 years between the first and third editions. For example, the highest capacity of commercial fiber-optic links available in 1992 was only 2.5 Gb/s. A mere 4 years later, the wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) systems with the total capacity of 40 Gb/s became available commercially. By 2001, the capacity of commercial WDM systems exceeded 1.6 Tb/s, and the prospect of lightwave systems operating at 3.2 Tb/s or more were in sight. During the last 2 years, the capacity of transoceanic lightwave systems installed worldwide has exploded. Moreover, several other undersea networks were in the construction phase in December 2001. A global network covering 250,000 km with a capacity of 2.56 Tb/s (64 WDM channels at 10 Gb/s over 4 fiber pairs) is scheduled to be operational in 2002. Several conference papers presented in 2001 have demonstrated that lightwave systems operating at a bit rate of more than 10 Tb/s are within reach. Just a few years ago it was unimaginable that lightwave systems would approach the capacity of even 1 Tb/s by 2001.

The second edition of this book appeared in 1997. It has been well received by the scientific community involved with lightwave technology. Because of the rapid ad- vances that have occurred over the last 5 years, the publisher and I deemed it necessary to bring out the third edition if the book were to continue to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date account of fiber-optic communication systems. The result is in your hands. The primary objective of the book remains the same. Specifically, it should be able to serve both as a textbook and a reference monograph. For this reason, the emphasis is on the physical understanding, but the engineering aspects are also discussed throughout the text.