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The Third Phase: Optical Fibre, Cables and Systems

The third phase of optical fibre systems began operating at 1,550 nm to take advantage of lower fibre losses at that wavelength but was delayed by large fibre dispersion. This was overcome by developing dispersion-shifted fibres or single-mode lasers, allowing bit rates up to 4 Gbit/s over 100 km by 1985 and commercial systems at 2.5 Gbit/s by 1992. The best performance used dispersion-shifted fibres and single-mode lasers. The fourth phase began using optical amplification including erbium-doped fibre amplifiers every 70-80 km, enabling transmission of up to 5 Gbit/s over 14,300 km by 1991 and commercial transatlantic cables by 1996.

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37 views1 page

The Third Phase: Optical Fibre, Cables and Systems

The third phase of optical fibre systems began operating at 1,550 nm to take advantage of lower fibre losses at that wavelength but was delayed by large fibre dispersion. This was overcome by developing dispersion-shifted fibres or single-mode lasers, allowing bit rates up to 4 Gbit/s over 100 km by 1985 and commercial systems at 2.5 Gbit/s by 1992. The best performance used dispersion-shifted fibres and single-mode lasers. The fourth phase began using optical amplification including erbium-doped fibre amplifiers every 70-80 km, enabling transmission of up to 5 Gbit/s over 14,300 km by 1991 and commercial transatlantic cables by 1996.

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Optical fibre, cables and systems

The third phase


The repeater spacing of the second phase lightwave systems was limited by the fibre losses at the operating
wavelength of 1 300 nm (typically 0.5 dB/km). Losses of silica fibres become minimum near 1 550 nm.
Indeed, a 0.2 dB/km loss was realized in 1979 in this spectral region.
However the introduction of third phase lightwave systems operating at 1 550 nm over single-mode fibre
was considerably delayed by the large fibre dispersion near 1 550 nm. Conventional InGaAsP semiconductor
lasers could not be used because of pulse spreading occurring as a result of simultaneous oscillation of
several longitudinal modes. The dispersion problem can be overcome either by using dispersion-shifted
fibres designed to have minimum dispersion near 1 550 nm or by limiting the laser spectrum to a single
longitudinal mode. Both approaches were followed during the 1980s. By 1985, laboratory experiments
indicated the possibility of transmitting information at bit rates of up to 4 Gbit/s over distances in excess of
100 km. Third generation lightwave systems operating at 2.5 Gbit/s became available commercially in 1992.
Such systems were capable of operating at a bit rate of up to 10 Gbit/s. The best performance is achieved
using dispersion-shifted fibres in combination with lasers oscillating in a single longitudinal mode.
Also, this phase of lightwave systems was specified in some Recommendations. Recommendation
ITU-T G.653 specifies the characteristics of a dispersion-shifted single-mode optical fibre. Recommendations ITU-T G.652, ITU-T G.955 (ex-G.956) and ITU-T G.957 were revised / extended in order to include
optical systems operating at 1 550 nm. Recommendation ITU-T G.974 specified the characteristics of the
optical systems to be used for the submarine applications.

The fourth phase


A drawback of third phase 1 550 nm systems is that the signal must be regenerated periodically by using
electronic repeaters spaced apart typically by 70-80 km. This situation changed with the advent of fibre
amplifiers in 1989.
The fourth phase of lightwave systems makes use of optical amplification for increasing the repeater
spacing and of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) for increasing the aggregate bit rate. The advent of
the WDM technique started a revolution that resulted in doubling the system capacity every 6 months. In
most WDM systems fibre losses are compensated periodically using erbium-doped fibre amplifiers typically
spaced 70-80 km apart. Such amplifiers, operating in C-band (1 530-1 565 nm), were developed after 1985
and became available commercially by 1990. A 1991 experiment showed the possibility of data transmission
over 21 000 km at 2.5 Gbit/s and over 14 300 km at 5 Gbit/s, using a recirculating-loop configuration. This
performance indicated that an amplifier-based, all-optical, submarine transmission system was feasible for
intercontinental communication. By 1996, not only transmission over 11 600 km at a bit rate of 5 Gbit/s had
been demonstrated by using actual submarine cables, but commercial transatlantic and transpacific cable
systems also became available. Since then, a large number of submarine lightwave systems have been
deployed worldwide.
In order to specify the characteristics of optical fibres and systems operating with optical amplifiers and the
WDM technique, many new Recommendations were developed in ITU-T. Recommendation ITU-T G.655
specifies a non-zero dispersion-shifted single-mode optical fibre. Recommendations ITU-T G.694.1 and
ITU-T G.694.2 specify the spectral grids for DWDM and CWDM applications. Some Recommendations
specify the characteristics of optical systems devoted to particular DWDM applications: Recommendations
ITU-T G.959.1 (inter-domain applications without line OA), G.698.1 (metro access applications without
line OA), ITU-T G.698.2 (metro core / regional applications with line OA), ITU-T G.696.1 (backbone
applications with line OA), ITU-T G.973 (submarine applications without line OA), and ITU-T G.977
(submarine applications with line OA). Recommendation ITU-T G.695 specifies CWDM systems for access /
metro access applications.

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