Optical amplifiers and fibers for multiwavelength systems

In the past, increasing the data rate (TDM) has been the method of choice to reach higher fiber capacities, but now systems that use multiple wavelength channels (WDM) at both 2.4 and 10 Gb/s are being considered. This change has been driven by a number of factors the most critical of which has been the introduction of the Er-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA).