Abstract

Recent progress in single-mode fibers (SMF) and related technology has made it possible to transmit high data rates over very long distances. This has been illustrated by various top performance experiments ranging from over 100 km at 280 Mbit/sec to 50 km at 2 Gbit/sec.¹ However, these experiments were realized with either futuristic 1550-nm DFB lasers or high-power 1300-nm BH lasers emitting 15 mW/facet at the expense of reduced lifetime or depressed index cladding (DIG) fibers which are more expensive than matched cladding (MC) fibers because of their larger core and cladding diameters. For actually putting these SMF based systems into commercial use, it is necessary to render them cost-effective as compared with other transmission systems, mainly by minimizing the fiber and terminal equipment costs.

© 1984 Optical Society of America