Ultrafast Optical Transmission Technologies

In this paper, we discuss the requirements on the OTDM transmitter and receiver as well as on the fiber link. The following transmission experiments are described: 160 Gbit/s transmission over a record fiber length of 4320 km, 1.28 Tbit/s transmission over 240 km and 2.56 Tbit/s transmission over 160 km. The main task as regards OTDM technology is to investigate the feasibility of ultrahigh-speed data transmission. One has to study how the advantages of high TDM bit rates are eventually eroded by an increase in detrimental effects.