About Book:

           Optical fiber communications has undergone tremendous changes since the first edition of this book in 1983.  Especially exciting was the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics received by Charles K. C. Kao for his pioneering insight into using glass fibers as a medium for data transmission and for his enthusiastic international follow-ups in promoting the further development of low-loss optical fibers.  The first ultrapure fiber was fabricated in 1970, only four years after Kao’s prediction.  This breakthrough led to a series of technology developments related to optical fibers.  Initially, the technology focused on simple transmission links but then quickly moved to increasingly sophisticated networks.  Along the way, many new components and communication techniques were tried.  Some of these were highly successful, some faded away perhaps because of their implementation complexity, and others, which were ahead of their time, are reappearing after being in hibernation for a while.  Modern high-capacity telecommunication networks based on optical fiber technology now have become an integral and indispensable part of society.  Applications for these sophisticated networks range from simple web browsing and e-mail exchanges to critical health-care diagnosis, grid and cloud computing, and complex business transactions.  Due to the importance of these networks to everyday life, users have come to expect the communication services to always be available and to function properly.  Meeting such a stringent demand requires careful engineering in all technological aspects ranging from component development to system design and installation to network operation and maintenance.

To address the attainment and implementation of these skills, this expanded fifth edition presents the fundamental principles for understanding and applying a wide range of optical fiber technologies to modern communication networks.  The sequence of topics takes the reader systematically from the underlying principles of components and their interactions with other devices in an optical fiber link, through descriptions of the architectures and performance characteristics of complex optical links and networks, to essential measurement and test procedures required during network installation and maintenance.  By mastering these fundamental topics the reader will be prepared not only to contribute to disciplines such as current device, communication link, or equipment designs, but also to understand quickly any further technology developments for future enhanced networks.