Key optoelectronic components for optical networks

The evolution of the information network infrastructure is driven by the rapid growth of Internet, datacom, image and video services in all parts of the public and private networks. This requires the use of very-high-speed TDM (incl. 2.5, 10 and 40 Gb/s, and beyond) in combination with DWDM and advanced optical networking technologies employing optical cross connects (OXCs) and optical add-drop multiplexers (OADMs), with up to 128/160 wavelength channels being used today, and 256 to 512 channels-and possibly more-in the future.