Abstract
The continuing growth of capacity in telecommunications systems generates a need for new technological approaches to handling large amounts of information in the optical domain. There are obvious potential needs for devices that can operate at higher bit rates, or that can help handle large numbers of wavelengths, and ultrafast technology can help in both of these areas. Additionally, however, there is new potential for optoelectronic devices that can help in the more complex functions of telecommunications switching, including possibly eliminating some of the signal processing functions that must currently be done electrically, or potentially working intimately with electronic systems in the most complex switching tasks. Optoelectronic devices are interesting especially as the complexity of the tasks grow because they have the advantages that they may be controlled electrically, possibly read out electrically, and perhaps also integrated with electronic circuits for highly functional blocks. Various recent approaches have also demonstrated that optoelectronic devices can operate at very high speeds with controllable and flexible functionality.
© 2002 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
R. A. Boudreau
ThWW2 OSA Annual Meeting (FIO) 1990
Stewart D. Personick
WAA1 Integrated and Guided Wave Optics (IGWO) 1986
JUN SHIBATA and TAKAO KAJIWARA
WF1 Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC) 1989