Abstract

Optical fiber local area networks(LANs) are used to provide high-speed communication among a large number of stations.¹ Maximizing the number of possible stations is a major design goal, and this is typically limited by the available optical power. The efficiency of power injection in busses like that shown in Fig. 1 is limited by the principle of reciprocity, which demands that the fraction of local transmitter power injected into the bus at each station be equal to the fraction of the bus power removed for the local receiver.^2,3 This is clearly sub-optimal, since the number of nodes is maximized when the former coupling coefficient is unity and the latter is a few percent.

© 1985 Optical Society of America