Abstract

The coming broadband network (B-ISDN) era will require ultrahigh speed technologies not only for transmission lines, but also for transmission nodes. The goal is to handle signal rates of more than 100-Gbit/s, so that vast amounts of information including data and pictures, can be provided to many subscribers through optical fiber cables. To this end, all-optical time-domain signal processing technologies are being studied for realizing ultrahigh-bit-rate optical time-division-multiplexing (TDM) transmission systems. They include high-speed picosecond optical pulse generation, all-optical multi/demultiplexing (MUX/DEMUX) and optical timing extraction techniques. Here, recent advances in these essential technologies and applications to 100Gbit/s optical TDM transmission will be described together with major issues and future prospects.

© 1995 Optical Society of America