Lightwave technology: An update

This issue of the AT&T Technical Journal is dedicated to lightwave technology and photonics. It is an update to the Journal's January/February 1987 issue, entitled ,Lightwave Technology., In the five years that have passed, lightwave technology has revolutionized telecommunications. Its large-scale deployment has been accompanied by proven technical and operational success. At the same time, the tempo of advances has accelerated within the technology, producing rapid, extensive progress. Among the highlights of this issue are six topics not even mentioned in the forecasts of 1987: cable television (CATV) transmission, erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, quantum-well lasers, photonic integrated circuits, soliton propagation in fibers, and free-space digital optics. Although this issue cannot hope to tell the complete story of lightwave technology and photonics, the topics selected illustrate the pace of their progress.