Abstract

High-speed semiconductor lasers are necessary components in new directly modulated fiber-optic communications systems including presently available 1.7-Gb/s systems, 3,4-Gb/s systems under development, 8-Gb/s NRZ research demonstrations over 30 km of fiber, pseudorandom modulation experiments at 8-Gb/s RZ and 10-Gb/s NRZ, and 16-Gb/s NRZ simulations using comb generators. High-speed lasers and detectors are also needed for new fiber-optic microwave signal transmission systems which have very significant advantages over their coaxial cable and waveguide counterparts, namely, low loss, large bandwidth, lightweight and flexible cable, and immunity to interception and electromagnetic interference. New optical components make system bandwidths of 10-20 GHz possible and should allow narrowband systems to operate at carrier frequencies to at least 30 GHz.

© 1987 Optical Society of America