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Physical Review Letters

Capacity Limits of Information Transport in Fiber-Optic Networks

René-Jean Essiambre, G.J. Foschini, Gerhard G. Kramer, Peter J. Winzer

Published Oct 13, 2008• 247 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The instantaneous optical Kerr effect in optical fibers is a nonlinear phenomenon that can impose limits on the ability of fiber-optic communication systems to transport information. We present here a conservative estimate of the "fiber channel" capacity in an optically routed network. We show that the fiber capacity per unit bandwidth for a given distance significantly exceeds current record experimental demonstrations.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.101.163901

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The instantaneous optical Kerr effect in optical fibers is a nonlinear phenomenon that can impose limits on the ability of fiber-optic communication systems to transport information. We present here a conservative estimate of the "fiber channel" capacity in an optically routed network. We show that the fiber capacity per unit bandwidth for a given distance significantly exceeds current record experimental demonstrations.
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We discuss the near future impact that recent developments of quantum technologies can have in the field of fiber optic communication systems. The ability to generate, manipulate, transmit, and detect a single or very few photon(s) may open new routes that can trigger a completely new generation of communication systems. We show that quantum technologies can address two of the more challenging problems communication engineers face nowadays: capacity and security. Indeed, by radically decreasing the number of photons used to encode each bit of information, we can more efficiently explore the full capacity to carry information of optical fibers. Moreover, by encoding information in individual or very few photons, we can take advantage of the quantum laws to add new functionalities to communication systems. Secrecy is the more obvious one, but a completely new set of functionalities can be added at the physical layer considering the peculiarities of quantum laws that rule transmission and detection.
All-optical data processing continues to attract significant interest as a way to overcome the electronic signal processing bottleneck of fiber telecommunication networks. Nonlinear optical devices such as limiters and saturable absorbers rely on intensity-dependent attenuation of light. However, making such devices using intensity-dependent multiphoton dissipation processes is an issue as these make complete absorption and transmission impossible. Here, we show that nonlinear phase retardation in an optical fiber can control the dissipation of coherent light waves interacting on a thin plasmonic absorber from total absorption to perfect transmission. The fiber’s instantaneous Kerr nonlinearity and the femtosecond coherent absorption time scale make this approach ultrafast. We report proof-of-principle demonstrations of all-optical intensity discrimination, power limiting, pulse restoration, pulse splitting, and signal transfer between carrier wavelengths within a fiber circuit. Our results indicate that nonlinear control of coherent absorption can imitate and outperform saturable and multiphoton absorption in terms of bandwidth and contrast.
Fiber optic systems are important telecommunication infrastructure for world-wide broadband networks. Wide bandwidth signal transmission with low delay is a key requirement in present day applications. Optical fibers provide enormous and unsurpassed transmission bandwidth with negligible latency, and are now the transmission medium of choice for long distance and high data rate transmission in telecommunication networks. This paper gives an overview of fiber optic communication systems including their key technologies, and also discusses their technological trend towards the next generation