The complete article appears in the August issue of Photonics Spectra. If you do not have a copy of this issue, e-mail us a request. Be sure to include your street address or fax number. The technology places several closely spaced wavelengths of light into one fiber, with each wavelength serving as the communications equivalent of a lane of traffic on a highway.
Network providers can easily expand networks by adding wavelengths without having to lay new fibers.
The standard wavelength spacing is 50 or 100 GHz, which corresponds to 0.4 or 0.8 nm in the 1550-nm band. Meet the author Akira Inoue is involved in research and development at the Yokohama Research Laboratories of Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. in Yokohama, Japan. He has a BS from Kyoto University. Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.