Abstract

The rapidly growing traffic in today’s optical long-haul transmission systems requires a manifold increase in capacity. This can be achieved by increasing the bit-rate per channel or by increasing the number of channels transmitted simultaneously in a WDM system. An increase in the number of channels, in turn, requires an extension of the used spectral range or a tighter packing of the channels and therefore a better utilization of the available optical bandwidth.

© 2000 Optical Society of America