Abstract

The history of optical communications has been a continuous struggle against the limitations imposed by noise and dispersion. To date most of the solutions have relied on optical techniques to compensate or mitigate the impact of these limitations. Advances in the speed of electronic devices have now reached the point where it is feasible to implement electronic compensation of the effects of some optical distortions such as modal dispersion, chromatic dispersion and polarisation mode dispersion. This talk will discuss the technology, architectures and approaches that can be used to implement electronic compensation and compare their performance with current optical solutions. The potential impact of these new technologies on optical amplifiers and optical networks will also be discussed.

© 2004 Optical Society of America