Optical fiber devices

Maximizing the capacity of the fiber as a transmitting medium is the major challenge met by network operators. Solitonic propagation as well as wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) are among the solutions presently proposed to increase the flow of information propagating in these networks. This progress is made possible thanks to the development of such essential components as the erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and frequency stabilized laser sources. However, other components to perform all the functions (routing, filtering, dispersion compensation, etc.) are not less essential. Different approaches to design and realize the corresponding components are commonly used. The advantage of the all-fiber approach over its competitors (micro- and integrated optics) lies undoubtedly in the fact that all-fiber components are readily integrated to the network without significant splicing loss. In addition, their polarization sensitivity (which would induce loss and dispersion) is intrinsically much smaller than that of their integrated optic counterparts.