Abstract

Optical fiber systems promise an enormous information bandwidth for data communications. These high bandwidth systems are ideal for LANs on which multichannel video, audio, and digital information can be exchanged freely between work stations. If a complete digital system is used, the bit rate for a single video channel (similar to a TV channel) would approach 100 mbit/s. This may not be the most economical and/or reliable system for such an application in such an environment. We have suggested and investigated an optical fiber FDM system for this use. The most severe obstacle among others to using the optical fiber FDM is the well-known problem of serious intermodulation between channels. The intermodulation has been traditionally believed due to the device's nonlinearities. Our investigations show that the optical intensity modulation and the characteristics of the fiber may contribue more to the intermodulation. Computer simulations and some experimental evidence related to these and schemes for implementing the FDM system are discussed.

© 1985 Optical Society of America