946 IEEE TRANSACTIONS

COMMUNICATIONS,
ON VOL.NO.
COM-26, 7 ,JULY 1978

Dr. Barnoski is a member of the American Physical Society and Robert S. Kennedy (S’58-M’63-SM’74-F’75)
the Optical Society of America. is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at M.I.T.
He received the B.S. degree from the University

* of Kansas in1955andthe S.M. and Sc.D.

Detlef Gloge (M’66-SM75-F’76) is head of
theOptical SystemsResearchDepartment at
Bell Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel, N.J.
He is in charge of research into optical fiber
system designs for futureuse in telecommunica-
tions.
Mr. Gloge joined Bell Laboratories in 1965
a4 member
a of theComponent Research
Department, working on optical transmission
techniques and components. He became a
supervisor in the Guided Wave Medium Research
Department in 1971, studyingoptical transmission media, especially
glass fibers. He assumed his present position in 1975.
A nativeof Breslau, Germany,he received hisundergraduate
diploma and doctorate degree in electrical engineering from the Univer-
sity of Braunschweig (Germany) in 1961 and 1964.He holds 18 patents,
has published 50 papers, and edited one book in the field of optical
communications.
Mr. Gloge is a member of the Optical Society of America and the
German Society of Electrical Engineers.
degrees in electrical engineering from Massachu-
setts Institute of Technology in 1959 and 1963,
respectively.
From 1955 to 1957 heserved with the Naval
Reactors Branch of the US. Atomic Energy
Commission and from 1963 to 1964 he was a
staffmemberof M.I.T.’s Lincoln Laboratory.
Since 1964hehas been on thefaculty of M.I.T.3 Department of
Electrical Engineering andComputer Science andamemberof the
Research Laboratory of Electronics. His professional interests are now
centered aroundopticsandopticalcommunication, with current
research emphasis upon communication through scatteringchannels,
quantum channels and fiber channels. Previously he had worked on
randomfading dispersive channels and publisheda book on that
subject.
Dr. Kennedy is a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, Eta Kappa
Nu, and the Optical Society of America. He is President of the Informa-
tion Theory Groupof the IEEE anda member of its Ad Hoc Committee
for the IEEE-USSR technical exchange program. He was chairman of
the editorial committeeforthe special IEEE Proceedings issue on
optical communication (October 1970). He has served as a consultant
t o government andindustryandhaslectured extensively on optical
communication.

Optical Fiber Communication-The State of the Art

TINGYE LI, FELLOW, IEEE

(Invited Paper)

Abstract-Optical-fibertransmission mentally. Extensiveresearch work was also carried out on

lines appear attractive for a
variety of .communication applications in which twisted copper pairs
optical devices and components, and on optical signal process-
and coaxial cables are now used. Theseapplications range from on- ing techniquesand subsystems. Experimental line-of-sight
premises data links and equipment wiring to interoffice and intercity
atmospheric systems were demonstrated,butthe reliability
telecommunications trunks. Experiments to explore the technical
and,therefore,the
feasibility of glass fibers in these areas are presently in progress. This usefulness ofsuch systems were clearly
shown t o be limited by adverse weather conditiom2 Also, it
paper summarizes the state of the art of the burgeoning field of optical
fibers. F’rogress in research on fibers, cables, devices, and components
appeared at that time (in the late 1960’s) that high-capacity
will be reviewed, and systems applications and field experiments will
systems, such as those employing periodic focusing elements,
be discussed.
would not find commerical usage until after 1980.3
The first serious proposal t o employ the optical fiber as a
1. INTRODUCTION telecommunications transmission medium appeared in 1966.4
However, it was not until 1970 that a low-loss fiber of 20 dB/
‘T HE desire for reliable and economical transmission media ~ then on, progress in the field of
km was a ~ h i e v e d .From
with large informationcarrying capacity has long been a optical-fiber transmission has been both rapid and a b ~ n d a n t . ~ . ~
strong motivating force in telecommunications research. When Two illustrative examples are the reduction of optical trans-
the laser was first realized in 1960, its potential usefulness as mission loss in fibers andtheimprovementof reliability of
a coherentsourceforoptical transmission was immediately semiconductor injection lasers. Fiber transmission loss in the
recognized, andwork in opticalcommunications began in wavelength region of 0.8-0.9 pm, where AlGaAs lightemitting
earnest? -3 At first lightwave propagation through the atmos- diodes (LEDs) and injection lasers emit, has been reduced to
phere and through periodic focusing elements in a controlled 1-2 dB/km. The lowest loss reported is 0.47 dB/km at h =
environment were studiedboththeoreticallyandexperi- 1.2 pm.* Figure 1 illustrates the decrease in fiber loss at X =
0.82 pm over the last decade. In the same period, thereliability
Manuscript received March 30, 1978. of the AlGaAs injection laser, operating continuously at room
The author iswith Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ 07733. temperature, has been improved dramatically (see Fig. 2). A

0090-6778/78/0700-0946$00.75 0 1978IEEE
OMMUNICATION-STATE
LI: FIBER OF THE ART 947

Strongly influencing the economic viability of potential

,Ooor YO optical-fiber systems are the transmission properties of optical
loss and pulse spreading (dispersion) attainable incommercially
produced fiber cables. In general, low loss means longrepeater
spans and small dispersion implies large transmission band-
width over long distances. Different areas of application will
have differentrequirementson these properties,which, in
turn, will influence the selection of devices and components
for specific systems.
x 0.47 For example, data links within a building may operate at
(A4.2pm)
transmission rates on the order of10 Mbits/s over distances up
0 . '68 1 1'70 " '72
~ ' '74
~ ' '76~ ' '78 I ' I
to several hundredmeters;therefore, fiber loss as high as
YEAR -100 dB/km and pulse spreading as much as -100 ns/km are
Figure 1. Progress in reduction of transmission loss in optical fibers. tolerable. Light-emittingdiodes (LEDs) andphotodetectors
Cross represents lowest value achieved. without internal gain (PIN photodiodes) are suitable as trans-
mitting sources and receiving detectors, respectively. Short
optical-fiber data links complete with electronics for interfac-
AfGaAs SEMICONDUCTOR LASER ing with existing equipment are now commercially available.
ROOM-TEMPERATURE
The situation is different for intracity applications where
v)

3
distances betweentelephonecentral officesare several kilo-
meters and transmission rates may range from 1 to lOOMbits/s.
Loss should be less than 10 dB/km and dispersion below a few
ns/km, especially if no repeaters are to be used in manholes
between central offices. Although LEDs and PIN photodiodes
are perfectly acceptable for operation at a few Mbits/s, lasers
and avalanche photodiodes (which have internal gain) are
required for thehigher-speed systems. Several field experiments
1
'72 '70 '74 '76 '78
are now being conducted in thisarea of application.
YEAR Requirements are most stringent forlong-haul, high-capacity
Figure 2. Progress in improvement of reliability of AlGaAs injection intercity systems thatmayoperateat transmissionrates of
lasers. several hundred Mbits/s or higher over distances of thousands
of kilometers. There, loss must not exceed a few dB/km and
dispersion must be well below 1 ns/km.The lowdispersion
projected mean life in excess of IO6 hours based on tempera- requirement dictates the use of single-mode fibers (or multi-
ture-accelerated aging tests has been r e p ~ r t e d . ~ mode fibers with very tightly controlled graded-index profiles).
This paper reviews recent progress in the field of optical- Operation near h = 1.3 pm where reported fiber loss and
fiber communications: the current state of research on optical material dispersion are minimal may be desirable. Single-mode
fibers, sources, and detectors will be reported; the state of the lasers and high-performance avalanche photodiodes are
art of fibercables,splices, connectors, and components will required. Much ofthecurrent research interest is directed
be described; and systems applications and field experiments toward this end.
will be discussed.
111. OPTICAL LOSS
11. APPLICATION OF OPTICAL-FIBER SYSTEMS
The very low-loss fibers of today are produced mostly by
The optical fiber is a very versatile transmission medium. the method of modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD).l O
When suitably engineered,optical-fiber cables may be used in a It is one of the methods whichby extremely pureglass materials
variety of applications where twisted copper wire-pairs, coaxial (with impurity levels of transition metals less than one part in
cables and metallic waveguides are now used for transmission lo8) can be obtained to satisfy the requirements of low loss.
of information; these applications range from short data links In this method silicon tetrachloride (SiC14)gas reactswith
andequipmentinterconnections withinabuilding to long oxygen at high temperaturetoform silica (SiOz),which is
telecommunications trunk circuits connecting switching deposited on the inside surface of a silica tube. Other gases,
offices within a city or between cities. The small size of the such as GeC14, BC13, or POC13, forexample, can be intro-
individual fiber, the allowable small bending radius of the fiber duced atthe same timeto deposit dopant oxides such as
cable, the large information capacity, the flexibility of system GeO,, B203, or P205 for varying the refractive index of the
growth,thefreedomfrom electromagnetic interference,the deposit. After sufficient material has been deposited, the tube
immunity from
ground-loop problems and the
potential is collapsed at a higher temperature into a solid rod or preform,
economy are some of the features which make optical-fiber which is then drawn into a fiber. Several kilometers of fiber
systems appear more attractive than copper systems. can be drawn from a single preform.
948 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. COM-26, NO. 7, JULY 1 9 7 8

30.0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 50 t
2 0.0 DOPED-SILICA CORE
BOROSILICATECLADDING
10.0 7

- 5.0 -
3.0 -
E
e -
-g 2.0
1.0 =
v)
v)
0

::;I, ,I
-I
0.5 -

,,,, ,,, , I
0.I
0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
WAVELENGTH ( p m )
Figure 3. Loss spectra of low-lossmultimodeopticalfibers(from
Ref. 12).
The double-crucible technique is employedfor making
fibers from more conventional multicomponent glasses. High-
purity glass materials are placed in a platinum or silica double
cruciblewith concentric nozzles from which the flowing
molten glassis drawn continuously. Progress has been made
steadilyinreducing the loss of multicomponent glass fibers
made by the double-crucible technique. A minimum loss of
3 . 4 dB/km at X = 0 . 8 4 pm hasbeen obtained in a sodium-
borosilicate glass fiber.l
The lowest loss observed to date in MCVD-produced doped-
silica multimode fibers is about 0.5 dB/km.8v12 These low-loss
fibers,with doped-silica (Ge02.Si02 and P205*Si02) cores
and borosilicate (B2O3 .SO2) claddings, exhibit rather wide
transmission “windows” in their loss spectra as shown in Fig. 3 .
Germanium-doped-silica (GeO2.SiO2) single-mode fibers with
0.5-dB/kmminimum loss and similar loss spectra have also
~ loss in the visible part of the spectrum
been p r 0 d ~ c e d . lThe
(shown in Fig. 3) is determined by Rayleigh scattering, which
is due to the frozen-in density and compositional fluctuations
in the material, and by the tail of the intrinsic(electronic)
absorptionbandofthe glass constituents in the ultraviolet
region. The absorption edge on the longer-wavelength side is
determined by the absorption of the OH ions present as an
impurity, and by the tail of the intrinsic (vibrational) absorp-
tion band of the glass constituents in the infrared region. The
absorption peak near 1.4 pm is the first overtoneofthe
fundamental stretching vibration of the OH bond at2.72 pm.
Besides absorption and Rayleigh-scattering losses which are
inherent in glass materials, additionallosses may be introduced
during fiberdrawing and cable manufacturing,and during
actual usage of the fibercablein the field. Factorssuch as
macroscopic imperfections in thebulk, irregularities atthe
core-cladding interface, insufficient cladding thickness, micro-
bends (minute but numerous curvatures inindividual fibers)
introduced during cabling, severe cable bends in usage,
imperfect splices, etc., can all cause additional loss and mustbe
avoided as much as possible.
Fiber-drawing techniquesnow are well developed so that
geometric variations and waveguide imperfections in fibers are
under control. Althoughcabling technology is at an earlystage
of development,experimental cables with negligible excess
cabling loss (<1 dB/km) have been d e m 0 n ~ t r a t e d . l ~I tis
, , I
% -200
%
07 08 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
WAVELENGTH Lpm)
Figure 4. Material dispersion of silica (SiOz), borosilicate(13mol%
B203*87mol%Si02), and germanium borosilicate (10mol%Ge02-4
mol%B2O3.86mol%Si02) glasses commonly used for making low-
loss fibers. The ordinate is measured in ps/km of pulse delay spread
per nanometer of source spectral width. (Data taken from Ref. 16.)
conceivable that future fiber cables may have a total transmis-
sion loss less than 3 dB/km in the longer wavelength region of
1.1-1.5 pm, making them well suited for high-capacity, long-
haul applications.
IV. DISPERSION AND BANDWIDTH
Theinformation-carryingcapacity of optical-fiber wave-
guides is limited by signal distortion in theform of pulse
(delay)spreading. Pulse spreadingwithina single mode,or
intramodal dispersion, occurs when the group velocity of the
mode ug varies withthe wavelength X. Thusintramodal
dispersion is a chromatic effectwhich increases withthe
spectral width of the optical signal source. In particular,u,(h)
is a function of the refractive index n ( h ) and of thedimensions
of the waveguide relative to X. To first order, pulse spreading
due to material effectsis proportional t o ( X/c)d2n/dh2,which
is often referred to as material disperison. In single-mode fibers
material dispersion usually dominates over the dispersion
associated with waveguide dimensional effects.
Pure silica exhibits zeromaterialdispersionnear X =
1.27 pm.15 Dispersion in borosilicate (B203*Si02)and
germanium borosilicate (Ge02 *B2O3- S O 2 ) glasses used for
low-loss fibers has been measured in the bulk and found to be
not too ,different from that of pure silica, as shown in Fig. 4.l
Zero material dispersion near 1.3 pm has been verified experi-
mentally in several doped-silica fibers by pulse-delay measure-
ments using Raman radiation from asingle-mode silica fiber
pumped by a Nd : YAG 1aser.l’ It is fortuitous and indeed
fortunate that these fibers also exhibit their lowest loss in the
vicinity of 1.3 pm.Naturally, intense research interest is
presently focused on optical sources and detectors that will
work efficiently near this wavelength.
Significant pulse spreading can occur in multimode fibers
even if monochromatic sources are used. This spreading occurs
because the group velocities of the various modes differ from
oneanother, causing group delay spread,or
intermodal
dispersion. Intermodal dispersion is usually measured in terms
of urn,the root-mean-squarevalue of the delay spread per unit
length of the fiber (assuming equal excitation ofall modes). A
LI: FIBER COMMUNICATION-STATE O F THE ART
multimode fiber of uniform (step) index profile has an inter-
modal dispersion given by 20, = n o A / a c , where no is the
refractive index of thecore, A ( 4 1 ) is the relative index
difference betweenthe core andthe cladding, and c is the
velocity of light in vacuum. Grading the index profile in the
core tends to equalize group velocities and reduce intermodal
dispersion. For the class of graded index profiles defined by
n(r) = no [l - A(r/a)g] where a is the radius of the core and
r < a, intermodal dispersion is minimized when g is approxi-
mately two.18 In particular, if the variation of A with respect
to the wavelength is neglected, oneobtainsminimum pulse
spreading given by 2 urn = noA2/ lOfic, when g is gopt=
2(1 - .2A).19
1 Theminimumintermodal dispersion is
therefore a factor of lO/A below that of a step-index fiber of
the same A. To achieve this large improvement, e.g., a factor
of lo3 for A = 0.01, the
index profile must be controlled
very precisely during fabrication, as is implied by the sharply
peaked curve of the bandwidth improvement factor in Fig. 5.
Actually, because refractiveindices ofdifferent materials
vary differently with X , the varition of A with respect to X is
not zero, and therefore dA/dX cannot be neglected in deter-
mining gopt.The correctedgo,, ,assuming a linear relationship
between n anddopantconcentrations, isgiven by gopt =
2[1 - P - A(2 -P)(3 -2P)/(5-4P)] ,whereP=(X/A)dA/dX
is called profile dispersion;lg Hence, thepeak of the bandwidth
improvement curve in Fig. 5 shifts with wavelength, although
the shape remains approximately the same. Because of profile
dispersion and because .ofthe critical dependence of the
bandwidth on g, a fiber that is optimized for operation at one
wavelength may have a smaller bandwidthatanother. This
effect is material-dependentand is more pronouncedfor
certain material combinations than others.16*20 It is possible
to reduceprofiledispersion by specifying independently the
concentration profiles of the componentsof a multicomponent
glass in order to obtain a relatively flat dependence of gopt
on X.21.
In a study of dispersion in multimode borosilicate and ger-
manium borosilicate fibers of variously graded index profiles,
maximum bandwidths were observed to occur for g = 1.78
and g = 2.03, respectively, which agree well with the values
predicted from bulk-sample measurements.l 6 p 2 The observed
maximum bandwidth improvement factors were 100 for the
borosilicate fiber and 50 for the germanium borosilicate fiber,
both values being more than one order of magnitude below the
theoreticalmaxima;further
improvement wouldrequire
extremely tight control of the index profiles duringfabrication.
A phenomenon which has been predicted and observed t o
reduce pulse spreading is mode m i ~ i n g . Index ~ ~ . variations
~ ~
orperturbations of the fiber geometry,with longitudinal
periodicities equal to the beat wavelengths of the propagating
modes, will cause power in a pulse to transfer among modes
and to arrive at the output end with a group delay that is
averaged over all modes. When the mode-mixing effect domi-
nates, pulse spreading will not increase with fiber length L but
will increase with a, where LC is a coupling length over
which mode mixing has resulted in a steady-state distribution
of energy amongthe modes. Unfortunately,mode mixing
introducesadditional loss because power also transfers to
949
2- 1
1 2 3 4
9
Figure 5 . Bandwidth improvement factor versus g for a multimode
fiber of graded-index profile described by n(r) = no[ 1 - A(r/u)g],
with A = 0.01, The improvement factor is the ratio of the rms value
of the pulse delay spread for the step-indexfiber,o,(step), to
that for the graded-index fiber, o,(graded).
radiation modes.25 Thus the very desirable reduction in pulse
spreading is accompaniedinevitably by an added loss which
may not be tolerable in many situations.
In order to illustrate the foregoing discussion on dispersion,
pulse spreading at three wavelengths of interest are compared
in Fig. 6 for three fibers: (i) a multimode fiber with step index
profile, Ge02-B203-Si02 glass, and A = 0.01; (ii) a multi-
mode fiber with a non-optimally graded index profile (assumed
bandwidthimprovementfactor of 100 is close tothe best
value observed to date),Ge02.B203*Si02 glass, and A =
0.01 ; (iii) a single-mode fiber with B2O3 *Si02 glass, and A =
0.001. Material dispersion data for the above glasses are taken
from reference 16. Both pulse delay spread and source spectral
width are expressed as twice their root-mean-square values,
2 O, and 2 o,, respectively.
As illustrated in thefigure, the bandwidth of the step-index
multimode fiber is completely dominated by
intermodal
dispersionin the range of the source spectralwidthshown.
The operation of the graded-index fiber is governed by inter-
modal dispersion if lasers are used (2 a, <2 nm)and by material
dispersion if LEDs are used (e.g., for AlGaAs LEDs operating
at A = 0.85 pm, 20, z 35 nm; for InGaAsP LEDs operating at
X = 1.25 pm, 2 a, z 90 nm, as indicated in the figure by the
two dots). Pulse spreading in single-mode fibers is determined
largely by materialdispersion and isless than 10 ps/km for
laser sources operating near X = 1.3 pm.
Pulse spreading at thewavelength where material dispersion
vanishes is governed by higher-order effects andis proportional
to the square of the sourcespectral width.26 This ultimate
limit is shown as the dashedline of slope two in the lower
right-hand corner in Fig. 6 for fused silica at X = 1.27 pm.This
effect imposesa fundamental limit ontheduration of the
shortest pulse that can be transmitted throughsilica fibers.
In order to relate dispersion to transmission bandwidth of
950 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. COM-26, NO. 7,JULY 1978

12mm OD

PoLyoLEP'N SHEAlH SHIA

In GRADED CONNECTOR

(a)
MEMBERSSTRENGTH OUTER MEMBER STRENGTH INNER

0.01
0.1 1 10 100
SOURCE SPECTRAL WIDTH (nm)

Figure 6. Pulsedelay spread (20,) andbandwidth(data rate X fiber

length) versus sourcespectralwidth (2aJ for(i)multimodefiber (b)
of step-index profile, Ge02.B203*SiO2 glass, A = 0.01, (ii)multi- Figure 7. Structures of optical-fibercables:(a)stacked-ribboncon-
modefiber of graded-indexprofile, Ge02.B203*Si02 glass, A = struction (Ref. 29), (b) circular construction (Ref. 30).
0.01, bandwidthimprovementfactor = 100, and (iii) single-mode
fiber, B203-Si02 glass, A = 0.001. The dashed line represents the
lower limit to pulse spreading in silica fibers.
also be guarded from incurring additional radiation loss caused
by excessive curvatures during usage and by microbends intro-
the fiber it is necessary to consider how pulse spreading duced duringthe cable-manufacturing process. To avoid
degrades system performance.In pulse-code-modulation
a microbending loss the fibers are first coated withapliant
communicationsystem, pulse spreading causes intersymbol material before being jacketed and packaged in a cable. The
interference which increases the error probability (when the excess loss of such cabled fibers can be made very small ( < I
signal is regenerated) above that set by the signal level and the dB/km), as has been demonstrated in several experimental
receiver noise. T h s degradation can be removed by first cables with overall losses of 4-6 dB/km.l* The structures of
increasing the level ofthe received optical signal atthe some cables that have been developed and are being tested in
detector,andthen passing the(distorted) electrical signal field experiments are shown in Fig. 7.29.30
through a filter w h c h equalizes the response of the fiber. The Since core diameters of multimode fibers are about 50 pm,
required increase in signal power, for an error probability of the fibers must be accurately aligned (within 5 pm) in order to
lop9, is approximately 1 dB when 20,L is about one-half the keep splicing losses small (within 0.5 dB). Some of thepractical
time slot T assigned to each pulse; that is, when 20,L = T/2 splicing techniques that have been explored include the use of
where 1/T is thedatarate.27 Using this1-dB signal power V-grooved substrates, circular snug tubes,and squareloose
penalty as the criterion, it is possible to define a transmission tubes for single fibers, and multigrooved substrates for mass-
bandwidth in terms of the allowable data rate for a given fiber splicing of multifiber ribbon^.^ Permanentconnections are
length L . This data-rate-times-length product (DR-L)is given made by bonding with epoxy, or heating andfusing by means
as theright-handordinate inFig. 6. The figure shows that of an electric arc. Typical splicing losses are about 0.5 dB or
material dispersion limits the DR-L product of a multimode less. Figure 8 shows a single layer of a permanent cable splice
graded-index fiber to about 140 Mbits*km/s if an AlGaAs LED used for joining the ribbon-typefiber cable of Fig. 7(a).
(at X = 0.85 pm) is used, and to about 600 Mbits*km/s if an Fiber connectors are neededwherever detachable connec-
InGaAsP LED (at X = 1.25 pm) is used. This improvement of tions must be made, e.g., between optical transmitters/receivers
bandwidth hasbeen confirmed in an experimental data link and fiber cable ends, or between fiber patch cords and fiber
operating with AlGaAs and InGaAsP LEDs at 137 Mbits/s.28 distributionframes;theymustbe rugged,abrasionresistant
Figure 6 also shows that a single-mode fiber operating with a and able to maintain the stringent alignment tolerance that is
laser of 20, = 1 nm at X = 1.25 pm has a potential bandwidth required for low loss aftermany repeated connectionsand
of 2.5 Gbits/s with a repeater span of 100 km! disconnections. Figure 9 shows aprecisiontransfer-rnoided
single-fiber connector developed to meetthe above require-
V. CABLES, SPLICES, AND CONNECTORS . ~ ~average transmission loss is about 0.4 dB with
m e n t ~ The
index match. Other single-fiber connectors involve the use of
In order to protect the glass fibers from possible breakage doubleeccentric adjustable sleeves, precision ferrules with
due to rough handlingandpotential degradation due to jewel bearings, alignment plungers with sleeve chucks, etc., all
deleteriousenvironmental effects,
theymustbe
suitably of which require precision machined parts and rather complex
packaged in a cable for use in the field. The cabled fibers must fabrication procedures.
LI: FIBER COMMUNICATION-STATE OF THE ART 951

LIGHT

Figure 10. Cross-sectional drawing of a small-area, high-brightness,

/. Burrus-type light-emitting diode made of GaAs-Al,Gal-,As double-
Figure 8. Single layer of a permanent cable splice using a multigrooved heterostructure material.
chip and epoxy for joining ribbon-type fiber cables(Ref. 31).

3 NUT 2, B LCL: L

\ p Go As(Active

(Substrate)

\ /
4 PLUG 1 SNAP CleavedEndMirror
RING
Figure 11. Sketch of a stripe-geometry AlGaAs double-heterostructure
Figure 9. Precision single-fiber connector made with silica-filled epoxy injection laser. The high-resistivity regions produced by proton
by transfer-molding process (Ref. 32). bombardment are indicated by cross-hatching.

below thefundamental for a modulationdepth of about

VI. OPTICAL CARRIER SOURCES-LEDs AND LASERS
It is possible to reducenonlinear distortionto very
For operation near h = 0.85 pm AlCaAs LEDs and lasers low levels (-60 to -80 dB) by using compensation methods
are now commercially available and have been used in many such as compiemefltary-distortion, feedback,or feedforward
laboratory experiments and field tests. Based on temperature- t e c h n i q ~ e s . ~ ~
accelerated-agingtests on a large number of these devices, a The stripe-geometry AlGaAs injection laser, shown in
mean life of lo6 hourshas been projected for continuous Fig. 11, offers the advantages of narrower emission spectral
operation at room t e m p e r a t ~ r e . ~Although
,~~ this reliability width (<2 nm versus -35 nm for LEDs), larger modulation
is sufficient formany applications, furtherimprovement is bandwidth (-500 MHz versus -50 MHz), and greater coupled
required for long-haulapplications such as undersea cable power into a multimode fiber (-1 mW versus -100 P W ) . ~
systems. Researchwork on AlGaAs devices now centers Theyare,therefore,more suitable for application in digital
around investigations of various techniquesfor achieving systems operating with moderate-to-large transmissionrates
single-frequency and single-mode operation, higher modulation over distances of kilometers. Because laser threshold depends
bandwidth, lower threshold, greater temperature stability, etc., critically on temperature and somewhat on age, it is necessary
and for integrating devices of different functions on a single to stabilize the laser output against variations due to these
semiconductor ~ h i p . 3 ~ causes. Feedback stabilizationhasbeen successfully imple-
The high-brightnessBurrus-type LED, shown in Fig. 10, mented in a laser driver-bias subsystem for a 45-h4bit/s optical
is best suited for application in systems operating with low-to- repeater tested in a field experiment.3’
medium bandwidths ( G O M H z ) . ~Presently available AlGaAs The modulation capability of present day stripe-geometry
LEDs can easily couple about 100 pW of optical power into a injection lasers above 100 Mbits/s is impaired by their tendency
multimode fiber of A = 0.0 1, and be directly modulated by to exhibit relaxation oscillations and self- pulsation^.^^
varying the drive current atrates to about 50 MHz. Higher Furthermore, many devices also show strong nonlinearity or
modulation rates are possible in devices with highly-doped “kinks” in their light-output-versus-current characteristic^.^^
active layers, but there is a tradeoff between outputpower and Single-transverse-mode, kink-free, and sometimes single-longi-
modulation bandwidth. 3 5 For analog modulation, the linearity tudinal-mode operation has been otained in devices employing
between output power and drive current is important. Meas- passive waveguides for lateral confinement,such as buried-
urements of nonlinear distortion in AlGaAs LEDs have shown heterostructure, lateral-injection, channeled-substrate-planar,
that the total harmonic distortion is in the range of 30-40 dB and strip-buried-heterostructurelasers.39 - 4 2 There is evidence
952 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. COM-26, NO. 7 , JULY 1978

that pulsation andrelaxationeffects are also reduced with

single-mode operation. The potential use of single-mode lasers "-'.I"l
is in high-capacity, long-haul systems, where reliability (which p+'i -1-
is yetto be established for these devices) is an important P I N PHOTODIODE

p?yqr=i";;;;;
consideration.
The attractive features of lower loss and minimum material
disperison in optical fibers near h = 1.3 pm have stimulated
intense interest in research on materials for devices that will __
u
work efficiently and reliably near t h s wavelength. A material ELECTRIC
FIELD
system that showspromise is the InCaAsP quaternary alloy.
AVALANCHE
Stripe-geometry lasers and Burrus-type LEDs made with this PHOTODIODE
material have been operated continuously at room temperature Figure 12. Sketchesshowingtheconstruction of front-illuminated
~ , ~to~test their modulation
for thousands of h o ~ r s . In~ order siliconphotodiodes for applicationinthe 0.8-0.9 pm wavelength
region.
capabilities, the LED has been operated in a 137-Mbit/s data
linkandthe laser has been modulated witha 1.1-Gbit/s
pseudo-random pulse train, both emitting in the wavelength Silicon avalanche photodiodes developed forcommunica-
region of 1.2 to 1.3 pm.28,45 Other material systems under tions applications are of the form of n+-p-n-p+ "reach-through''
investigationinclude InAsP,InCaAs, GaAsSb. A desirable structure shown in Fig. 12. In practice, guard rings, channel
feature of these and other semiconductor alloys is that their stopsand field plates are addedto eliminate breakdowns
bandgaps andhencetheir. wavelengths of emission depend around the periphery of theshallow n+-p junction andt o keep
onthecompositions of theirconstituents.It is therefore surface leakage currents These reach-through structures,
possible to fabricate devices using a single material system to so-called because the electric field reaches through from the
cover a wide spectral range and to use them as sources for n+ to the p+ region, combine the desired .properties of high
wavelength-multiplexing, i.e., transmitting a number of chan- quantum efficiency and high speed with low excess noise.49
nels at different wavelengths via a single fiber. A practical siliconavalanche photodiode withhigh performance
A different type of laser that is also a candidate as a source i n d good reliability developed for operation near h = 0.82 pm
at longer wavelengths is the solid-state neodymium laser which exhibits a quantum efficiency greater than 90 percent and a
hasemission lines at 1.06and1.3pm. A Nd : YAG single- response time of approximately 1 1128.~~ The device operates
crystal fiber laser pumped by a single Burrus-typeLEDhas with a bias voltage between 100 and 400 V and photocurrent
been operated continuously at room t e m p e r a t ~ r e .A~ ~short- gain between 8 and 200. The excess noise factor is about five
coming of the Nd laser is that it cannot be modulateddirectly (times the shot noise limit) at a photocurrent gain of 100. The
and therefore requires an external modulator. dark
current
room
at temperature is in the low A
range.
VII. DETECTORS-PIN AND AVALANCHE PHOTODIODES Besides the requirement of a relatively high bias voltage, an
Silicon photodiodes having sufficiently high sensitivity and additional drawback of the avalanche photodiode when
fast response are presently available for application in the0.8 - operated to give high gain is that the gain varies considerably
0.9 pm wavelength region.47 Figure 12 shows the construction with temperature. In apractical receiver, compensationfor
of typical silicon PIN and avalanche photodiodes.The PIN temperature variationcan be incorporated in the automatic-
photodiode(without gain) is well suitedfor short-distance gaincontrol feedback
applications where receiver sensitivity is not as critical. The Detectors for operation at longer wavelengths ( h 2 1.3 pm)
avalanche photodiode(withinternal gain) increases receiver will have to use materials with narrower bandgaps, as silicon
sensitivity bymultiplyingthe primary signal photocunent becomes increasingly transparent for X > 1 pm. Germanium is
internally before itencountersthethermal noise associated a good candidate, and germanium avalanche photodiodes have
with the input circuit of the following amplifier. Because the been fabricated with gain-bandwidth products of -60 G H z . ~ '
multiplication process is random in nature some excess noise is However, their dark
currents are higher A) and
their
introduced,andthis noise increases as a function of gain. excess noise contributions are larger (excess noise factor -
Hence,for a given operatingcondition,there is an optimal current gain) than those of comparable silicon devices. Several
value of gain that maximizes the sensitivity. In general, the ternary and quaternary semiconductor alloys, such as InGaAs,
optimal gain depends on the bandwidth and the noise char- GaAsSb, and InGaAsP, are under active investigation as other
. ~ ~ a silicon potential longer-wavelength detector materials.
acteristics of the detector and the~ r e a m p l i f i e r For
photodiode followed by a bipolar transistor amplifieroperating
at approximately 100 Mbits/s, the optimal gain is about 100, VIII. REPEATER SYSTEMS
and the resulting increase of receiver sensitivity (over n o gain)
is about 15 dB.Fieldeffecttransistor amplifiers give better The modulation format for optical-fibertransmissioncan
performance at lower bit rates; therefore, the required optimal be either analog or digital. Analog modulation of LEDs has the
gain is not as large. For example, at 1 Mbit/s the optimal gain appeal of simplicity and economy, but thelarge signal-to-noise
is about 20, and the sensitivity increase is about 10 dB (see ratios required of analog systems limit its use to relatively low-
Fig. 15). bandwidth, short-distance applications. Bandwidth expansion
 LI: FIBER COMMUNICATION-STATE OF THE ART 953
+*,,s
'*i,c ,
,-RECEIVER -,,-DECIDER 7 r T R A N S M l T T E R 7"

SOURCE
CONTROL

Figure 13. Block diagram of a 45-Mbit/s optical repeater (Ref. 51).

FIBER OPTICS TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

FIBERGUIDE
DSX DISTRIBUTION
TERMINAL
CROSS4ONNECl
FIBERGUIDE BAY FRAME
t
1 11 \
\'.b
\

\+
"@OV

I1 1
TRANSMIlTING \%+
RfGENfRlTOR
10 ' ' ' I ' 'I I ' ' "

INltROFFICE
1 10 100 I000
FIBERCABLE DATA RATE (Mb/s)
Figure 15. Performance of optical repeaters. Receiver sensitivity
RCVG
REGENERATOR (ordinate) is represented by the averagenumber of primarysignal
SPLICE
photoelectrons per bit interval required to achieve an error probabil-
I I -I .I I I ity of 10-9 in the regenerator. The two (dotted) bands represent
theory based on current (silicon) device parameters (Ref. 27). The
large dots represent best experimental resultsachieved to date.
LINE
RECENERATOR '
to determineperformance values in terms of the average
Figure 14. Block diagram of an optical-fiber transmission system optical power (at h = 0.85 pm) required at the receiver. As can
(Ref. 52).
be seen,,agreement between experiment and theory is rather
good. The ultimate receiver sensitivity, limited by the funda-
techniques can be used to achieve improved noise immunity mentalquantum noise inherent in thedetected signal, is
and hence longer repeater spans. Digital modulation is highly represented by 1 1 average signal photoelectrons per bit; the
immune to noise and is therefore ideally suited to fiber trans- best performance achieved with devices available today at h =
mission where themedium has a uniform loss over a large 0.85 pm is -200 photoelectrons,orabout 12 dB from the
bandwidth. ultimate limit. Future devices with lower noise could bring the
Aside fromoptical carriersources anddetectors, digital performance closer tothequantum noise limit,butthe
repeaters for optical-fiber transmission systems are very similar required effort undoubtedly would become increasingly
tothoseforconventional copper-wiresystems. Figure 13 difficult as this limit is approached. Current research efforts in
shows a block diagram of a 45-Mbit/s optical repeater testedin repeater systems are directed toward pushing the frontiers of
a field e ~ p e r i m e n t The
. ~ ~ manner in which the various pieces high-capacitysystemsandbroadening the base of different
of repeater subsystems and terminal equipment might inter- areas of application.
face with the conventional digital facility and the optical-fiber
cable is shown in Fig. 14.52 IX. SYSTEMS EXPERIMENTS AND FIELD TRIALS
Optical repeater-system experiments conducted during the
last few years have produced results covering a wide range Variousoptical repeaters and terminals involving LEDs,
ofdata rates. Figure 15 summarizes thestateofthe art of lasers, photodetectors, amplifiers, and digital electronics have
theory and experiment of the performance of optical digital been built and tested in laboratories with fiber links at trans-
r e ~ e a t e r s . ~ ~ The
, ~ ordinate
'?~~ is the average numberof mission rates up to 800 Mbits/s.14 Their performances were
primary photoelectrons generated in the photodetector by the evaluated and found t o agree well with theoretical predictions.
received optical signal in an interval T = l/(bit rate) required During 1976 a field 'experiment involving optical-fiber
t o achieve a lop9 error probability; it is proportional to the cables in undergroundducts, cable splices, fiber connectors,
optical energy per bit (pulse). The abscissa is the bit rate. The and optical repeaters operating at 45 Mbits/s was conducted to
two bands represent calculated results based on current device obtain information on the performance and reliability of an
parameters for silicon fieldeffect transistors (FET) andsilicon integrated system under simulated field conditions. Overall
bipolar transistors that are used in the preamplifiers immedi- results from this first major field experiment were extremely
ately following the detector^.^' Theupperband is for PIN e n ~ o u r a g i n g . Subsequently,
~~.~~ trial systems that carry com-
photodiodedetectors, while the lower band is for silicon merical traffic have beeninstalled andtested in standard
avalanche photodiodes with optimal gain (ranging from about telephone company ducts, manholes, and centraloffices in the
20 at 1 Mbit/s to about 100 at 100 Mbits/s). The large dots UnitedStates,Europeand J a ~ a n . 1 ~Other
9 ~ ~ field trials
represent experimental results. The dashed diagonal lines help include systems for cable television, electric power companies,
954 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. COM-26, NO. I, JULY 1978
special military uses, anddata links for various applica-
t i o n ~ . ~ *Concurrently,
,~~ vital economic studies are being
pursued to ferret out applications that are not only technically
sound but also economically viable. Future development will
probablyfindoptical fibers in telephone subscriber loops,
undersea cables, and other information-transmissionsystems.
X. CONCLUSIONS
Optical-fiber transmission is emerging as a major innovation 21. I. P. Kaminowand H. M. Presby, “ProfileSynthesis in Multi-
in telecommunications. Its technical feasibility is being demon-
stratedinmany on-goingfield experimentsand trials. The
impact of this new technology upon the communicationsfield
will depend on the economic viability of fiber systems com-
pared to conventionaland alternativesystemsinvarious
applications.
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549-550, October 1976.
13. M. Kawachi, A. Kawana, and T. Miyashita, “Low-Loss Single-
Mode Fibre at the Material-Dispersion-Free Wavelength of
1.27 pm,” Elect. Lett., vol. 13, pp. 4 4 2 3 4 3 , July, 1977.
14. See, for example, papers in (i) Tech. Digest, Topical Meeting on
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(11) Proc. Third EuropeanConference on OpticalCommunica-
tion, Munich, September, 1977; and (iii) Tech.Digest,Inter-
national Conference on IntegratedOpticsandOpticalFiber
Communications, Tokyo, July, 1977.
15. I. H. Malitson, “InterspecimenComparisonof the Refractive
Index of Fused Silica,” J. Opt. SOC.Am., vol. 55, pp. 1205-1209,
October, 1965.
16. J. W.Fleming, “Material and Mode Dispersion in Ge02sB203 *Si02 40. W. Susaki,T. Tanaka, H. Kan, and M. Ishii, “New Structures of
Glasses,” J. A m . Ceram. SOC., vol. 59, pp. 503-507, Novembgr-
December, 1976; and, “Material Dispersion in Lightguide Glass,”
Elect. Lett., vol. 14, p. 326, May 1978.
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Zero Material Dispersion Wavelength Region for Optical Fibers,”
Appl. Opt., vol. 16, pp. 3136-3139, December, 1977.
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Core Fibers,” BSTJ, vol. 52, pp. 1563-1578, November, 1973.
19. R. Olshansky and D.B. Keck, “Pulse Broadening in Graded-Index
Optical Fibers,” Appl. Opt., vol. 15, pp. 483491, February, 1976.
20. H. M. Presby and I. P. Kaminow, “Binary Silica OpticalFibers:
Refractive Indexand Profiie Dispersion Measurements,” Appl.
Opt., vol. 15, pp. 3029-3036, December, 1976; and L. G. Cohen,
I. P. Kaminow, H.W. Astle, and L. W. Stulz, “Profile Dispersion
Effects on Transmission Bandwidths in Graded-IndexOptical
Fibers,” IEEE J. Quant.Elect., vol. QE-14, pp. 3 7 4 1 , January,
1978.
component Glass OpticalFibers,” Appl. Opt., vol. 16, pp. 108-
112, January, 1977.
22. L. G. Cohen, F. V. DiMarcello, J. W. Fleming, W. G. French, J.
R. Simpson, and E. Weiszmann, “Pulse Dispersion Properties
of Fibers with Various Material Constituents,” BSTJ, vol. 57,
pp. 1653-1662, May-June 1978.
23. S. D. Personick, “Time Dispersion in Dielectric Waveguide,” BSTJ,
vol. 50, pp. 843-859, March, 1971.
24. D. Marcuse and H. M. Presby, “Mode Coupling in an Optical Fiber
with CoreDistortions,” BSTJ, vol. 54, pp. 3-15, January, 1975;
and L. G. Cohen and S. D. Personick,“LengthDependenceof
Pulse Dispersion in a Long Multimode Optical Fiber,” Appl. Opt.,
vol. 14, pp. 1357-1360, June, 1975.
25. D. Marcuse, “Pulse Propagation in MultimodeDielectric Wave-
guides,”BSTJ, vol. 51, pp. 1199-1232, July-August, 1972.
26. F. P. Kapron,“Maximum Information Capacityof Fibreaptic
Waveguides,” Elect. Lett., vol. 13, pp. 96-97, February, 1977.
27. S. D. Personick, “Receiver Design for Digital Fiber Optic Com-
munication Systems-Part I and 11,” BSTJ, vol. 52, pp. 843-886,
July-August, 1973.
28. W. M. Muska, Tingye Li, T. P. Lee, and A. G. Dentai, “Material-
Dispersion-Limited Operation of High-Bit-Rate Optical-Fibre Data
Links Using L.E.D.s,” Elect.
Lett., vol. 13, pp. 6 0 5 6 0 7 ,
September, 1977.
29. M. J. Buckler, M. R. Santana,and M. J. Saunders, “Light-guide
Cable Manufacture and Performance,” BSTJ, vol. 57, pp. 1745-
1747, July-August, 1978.
Comm., vol. 52, pp. 49-53,1977.
31. C . M. Miller, “Optical Fiber Splicing,” Tech.Digest,Topical
Meeting on Optical Fiber Transmission II, Williamsburg, February,
1977, paper WA3.
32. P. K. Runge, L. Curtis, and W. C. Young, “Precision Transfer
Molded Single FiberOpticConnectorand EncapsulatedCon-
nectorizing Devices,” Tech.Digest,TopicalMeeting on Optical
Fiber Transmission II, Williamsburg, February, 1977, paper WA4.
Yamaoka,“Degradationof High-Radiance GallA1,As LEDs,”
Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 31, pp. 627-629, November, 1977.
34. See, for example, relevant papers in Tech. Digest, TopicalMeeting
on Integrated and Guided Wave Optics, Salt Lake City, January,
1978.
35. T. P. Lee and A. G. Dentai, “Power and Modulation Bandwidth of
GaAs-AlGaAs High-Radiance LEDs forOpticalCommunication
Systems,” IEEE, J. Quant. Elect., vol. QE-14, pp. 150-159, March,
1978.
36. J. Strausand 0.1. Szentesi, “Linearized Transmitter forOptical
Communications,” Proc. IEEE, Int.Symp. on Circuits and Sys-
tems, Phoenix, AZ, April 1977, pp 288-292.
Transmitter for Lightwave Transmission Systems,” BSTJ, vol. 57,
pp. 1823-1836, July-AuguSt, 1978.
38. T. L. Paoli, “Changes in the Optical Properties of CW (A1Ga)As
Junction Laser During Accelerated Aging,” IEEE J. Quant. Elect.,
vol. QE-13, pp. 351-359, May, 1977.
39. T. Tsukada, “GaAs-A1l,GaxAs Buried-Heterostructure Injection
Lasers,”J. Appl. Phys., vol. 45, pp. 48994906, November, 1974.
GaAlAs Lateral-Injection Laser for Low-Threshold and Single-
Mode Operation,” IEEE, J. Quant.Elect., vol. QE-13, pp. 587-
591, August, 1977.
and M. Maeda, “Transverse Mode Stabilized Al,Gal-,As Injection
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL.NO.
COM-26, 7 , JULY 1978 955

Lasers with Channeled-Substrate-Planar Structure,” IEEE J. Regenerator for Lightwave Transmission,” BSTJ, vol. 57, pp.
Quant. Elect., vol. QE-14, pp. 89-94, February, 1978. 1837-1856, July-AuguSt, 1978.
42. W. T. Tsang, R. A. Logan, and M. Ilegems, “High-Power 52. IraJacobs, “Lightwave Communications Passes Its FirstTest,”
Fundamental-Transverse-Mode Strip Buried Heterostructure Lasers Bell Labs Record, vol. 54, pp. 290-297, December, 1976.
with Linear Light-CurrentCharacteristics,” Appl.phys.Left., 53. Tingye Li, “Optical Transmission Research Moves Ahead,” Bell
vol. 32, pp. 311-313, March, 1978. Labs Record, vol. 53, pp. 333-339, September, 1975.
43. C.C. Shen, J. J. Hsieh, and T. A. Lind,” 1500-h Co uous CW 54. Ira Jacobs, “Introduction to theAtlantaSystem Experiments,
Operation ofDouble Heterostructure GaInAsP/InP Lasers,” Appl. Technology and Results,” BSTJ, vol. 57, pp. 1717-1721, July-
Phys. Lett., vol. 30, pp. 353-354, April, 1977. August, 1978.
44. A. G. Dentai,T. P. Lee, and C.A. Burrus, “Small-Area, High- 55. See, for example, Papers in Record,NationalTelecommunications
Radiance C. W. InGaAsP L.E.D.s Emittingat 1.2 to 1.3 pm,” Conference, Los Angeles, December, 1977.
Elect. Lett., vol. 13, pp. 484-485, August, 1977.
45. S. M. Abbott, W. M. Muska, T. P. Lee, A. G . Dentai, and C.A.
Burrus, “l.l-Gb/s Pseudo-Random
PulseCode-Modulation
1.27-pm Wavelength CW lnGaAsP/InP DH Lasers,” Elect. Lett.,
of $2. *
vol. 14, p. 348, May 1978.
46. Stone
J. and A.
C. Burrus, “Nd:YAG Single Crystal
Fiber Laser: Tingye Li (S155-M’58-F’72) was born in Nan-
Structure
and
Output PowerRoom-Temperature
aof CW LED- king, China, on July 1931.
7, He received the
Pumped Device,” Fiber and Integrated Optics, vol. 2, no. 2, B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from
the
1978. Johannesburg, Witwatersrand, University of
47. H. Melchior, “Detectors for Lightwave Communication,” Physics South Africa, in 1953, andthe M.S. and Ph.D.
Today, vol. 30, pp. 32-39, November, 1977. degrees in electrical engineering from North-
48. A. R.Hartman, H. Melchior, D.P. Schinke, and T. E. Seidel, western University, Evanston, Illinois, in 1955
“Planar Epitaxial Silicon Avalanche Photodiode,” BSTJ, vol. and 1958, respectively.
57, pp. 1797-1807, July-Aupst, 1978. He joined Bell Holmdel,
Laboratories,
49. P. P. Webb, R. J. McIntyre, and J. Conradi,“Properties of New Jersey, in 1957, where he has been engaged
Avalanche Photodiodes,” RCA Review, vol. 35, pp. 234-278, June, in research work in the fieldsof microwaves,
1974. lasers and optical communications. He is currently head of the Trans-
50. R. G . Smith, C.A. Brackett, and H. W. Reinbold,“Optical mission and Circuits Research Department, concernedwith research on
Detector Package,” BSTJ, vol. 57, pp. 1809-1822, July-August, optical transmission media and circuitry for optical communication.
1978. Dr. Li is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and a member
51. T. L. Maione, D.D. Sell, and D.H. Wolaver, “Practical 45 Mb/s of Sigma Xi, Eta Kappa Nu, Phi Tau Phi and AAAS.

An Optical Fiber Video System

TSUNEO NAKAHARA, MEMBER, IEEE, HIROYUKI KUMAMARU, AND SEIICHI TAKEUCHI
(Invited Paper)

Abstract-A general discussion is made of opticalfiber video systems
from the viewpoint of system design concepts, transmission schemes,
etc. Among possible analog CATV systems, the Higashi-lkoma F’roject is
reviewed as an optical fiber video system application.
The essential components and basic technologies required for optical
fiber video systems arereviewed.
System performance is reviewed by considering some of the typical
field trial conditions.
1. INTRODUCTION
order to appreciate the tremendous potentials that the optical
fiber cable systems can provide, especially in the area of optical
fiber video systems.Apractical design of optical fiber cable
systems requires basic components and technologies. Some of
these basic components have been developed and are already
commercially available. On theotherhand, there are some
other components that are still in the process of development
or further improvement.
In spite of that, several field trials of optical cable com-
munication systems have been initiated or are being prepared

T HE outstanding features of optical fiber cables assure us

that there are many fields of applications for optical fiber
cables. These fields of optical fiber cable applications can be
for experimental evaluation.
The Hi-OVIS* project is probably representative of analog
video CATV systems in terms of scale and system complexity.
representedby three basic systems, analog CATV systems,
digital communication media and high reliability control
11. GENERAL DISCUSSION OF OPTICAL FIBER
circuits.
VIDEO SYSTEM
Each field of applicationutilizes one or more features of
optical fiber cables. Therefore,it would be appropriate to If optical fiber cables are used as the transmission medium,
apprehend the outstanding features of optical fiber cables in the design concept of a video signal transmission system is sub-
stantially different from that used with conventionalcopper
cables. A typical video signal transmission system consists of
Manuscript received March 29, 1978.
The authors arewith the R&D Group, SumitomoElectric Industries,
Ltd., Osaka, Japan. * Refer to section 111.
0090-6778/78/0700-0955$00.75 0 1978IEEE