Abstract

Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) systems provide point-to-point optical transmission at aggregate rates beyond a Tbit/s.^1–6 These systems divide the fiber bandwidth into a large num ber of channels, distinguished by wavelength, each operating at electronic rates (typically 10 Gbit/s per channel^1,2 with 40 Gbit/s under development^3–6). In general, each user may access only a small portion of the total bandwidth of the network at any given time. Bit-interleaved optical time division multiplexed (OTDM) systems have also been demonstrated at aggregate rates beyond a Tbit/s.⁷ Bit-interleaved OTDM systems are similar to WDM systems because they divide the fiber bandwidth into a large number of lower rate channels, distinguished by time slots, each operating at electronic rates. Therefore, from an architectural perspective, bit-interleaved OTDM systems are quite similar to WDM systems.

© 2002 Optical Society of America