中英对照光纤通信.doc

光纤通信 光纤通信光纤常被电话公司用于传递电话、互联网，或是有线电视的信号，有时候利用一条光纤就可以同时传递上述的所有信号。与传统的铜线相比，光纤的信号衰减（attenuation）与遭受干扰来源请求（interference）的情形都改善很多，特别是长距离以及大量传输的使用场合中，光纤的优势更为明显。然而，在城市之间利用光纤的通信基础建设（infrastructure）通常施工难度以及材料成本难以控制，完工后的系统维运复杂度与成本也居高不下。因此，早期光纤通信系统多半应用在长途的通信需求中，这样才能让光纤的优势彻底发挥，并且抑制住不断增加的成本。从2000年光通信（optical communication）市场崩溃后，光纤通信的成本也不断下探，目前已经和铜缆为骨干的通信系统不相上下。对于光纤通信产业而言，1990年光放大器（optical amplifier）正式进入商业市场的应用后，很多超长距离的光纤通信才得以真正实现，例如越洋的海底电缆。到了2002年时，越洋海底电缆的总长已经超过25万公里，每秒能携带的数据量超过2.56Tb，而且根据电信业者的统计，这些数据从2002年后仍然不断的大幅成长中。光纤通信的历史自古以来，人类对于长距离通信的需求就不曾稍减。随着时间的前进，从烽火到电报，再到1940年第一条同轴电缆（coaxial cable）正式服役，这些通信系统的复杂度与精细度也不断的进步。但是这些通信方式各有其极限，使用电气信号传递信息虽然快速，但是传输距离会因为电气信号容易衰减而需要大量的中继器（repeater）；微波（microwave）通信虽然可以使用空气做介质，可是也会受到载波频率（carrier frequency）的限制。到了二十世纪中叶，人们才了解使用光来传递信息，能带来很多过去所没有的显著好处。然而，当时并没有同调性高的发光源（coherent light source），也没有适合作为传递光信号的介质，也所以光通信一直只是概念。直到1960年代，激光（laser）的发明才解决了第一项难题。1970年代康宁公司（Corning Glass Works）发展出高品质低衰减的光纤则是解决了第二项问题，此时信号在光纤中传递的衰减量第一次低于光纤通信之父高锟所提出的每公里衰减20分贝（20dB/km）关卡，证明了光纤作为通信介质的可能性。与此同时使用砷化镓（GaAs）作为材料的半导体激光（semiconductor laser）也被发明出来，并且凭借着体积小的优势而大量运用于光纤通信系统中。1976年，第一条速率为44.7Mbit/s的光纤通信系统在美国亚特兰大的地下管道中诞生。经过了五年的研发期，第一个商用的光纤通信系统在1980年问市。这个人类史上第一个光纤通信系统使用波长800纳米（nanometer）的砷化镓激光作为光源，传输的速率（data rate）达到45Mb/s（bits per second），每10公里需要一个中继器增强信号。第二代的商用光纤通信系统也在1980年代初期就发展出来，使用波长1300纳米的磷砷化镓铟（InGaAsp）激光。早期的光纤通信系统虽然受到色散（dispersion）的问题而影响了信号品质，但是1981年单模光纤（single-mode fiber）的发明克服了这个问题。到了1987年时，一个商用光纤通信系统的传输速率已经高达1.7Gb/s，比第一个光纤通信系统的速率快了将近四十倍之谱。同时传输的功率与信号衰减的问题也有显著改善，间隔50公里才需要一个中继器增强信号。1980年代末，EDFA的诞生，堪称光通信历史上的一个里程碑似的事件，它使光纤通信可直接进行光中继，使长距离高速传输成为可能，并促使了DWDM的诞生。第三代的光纤通信系统改用波长1550纳米的激光做光源，而且信号的衰减已经低至每公里0.2分贝（0.2dB/km）。之前使用磷砷化镓铟激光的光纤通信系统常常遭遇到脉波延散（pulse spreading）问题，而科学家则设计出色散迁移光纤（dispersion-shifted fiber）来解决这些问题，这种光纤在传递1550纳米的光波时，色散几乎为零，因其可将激光光的光谱限制在单一纵模（longitudinal mode）。这些技术上的突破使得第三代光纤通信系统的传输速率达到2.5Gb/s，而且中继器的间隔可达到100公里远。第四代光纤通信系统引进了光放大器（optical amplifier），进一步减少中继器的需求。另外，波分复用（wavelength-division multiplexing, WDM）技术则大幅增加传输速率。这两项技术的发展让光纤通信系统的容量以每六个月增加一倍的方式大幅跃进，到了2001年时已经到达10Tb/s的惊人速率，足足是80年代光纤通信系统的200倍之多。近年来，传输速率已经进一步增加到14Tb/s，每隔160公里才需要一个中继器。第五代光纤通信系统发展的重心在于扩展波分复用器的波长操作范围。传统的波长范围，也就是一般俗称的“C band”约是1530纳米至1570纳米之间，新一带的无水光纤（dry fiber）低损耗的波段则延伸到1300纳米至1650纳米间。另外一个发展中的技术是引进光孤子（optical soliton）的概念，利用光纤的非线性效应，让脉波能够抵抗色散而维持原本的波形。1990年至2000年间，光纤通信产业受到互联网泡沫的影响而大幅成长。此外一些新兴的网络应用，如随选视频（video on demand）使得互联网带宽的成长甚至超过摩尔定律（Moores Law）所预期集成电路芯片中晶体管增加的速率。而自互联网泡沫破灭至2006年为止，光纤通信产业通过企业整并壮大规模，以及委外生产的方式降低成本来延续生命。现在的发展前沿就是全光网络了，使光通信完全的代替电信号通讯系统，当然，这还有很长的路要走。fiber-optic communications Optical fiber is used by many telecommunications companies to transmit telephone signals, Internet communication, and cable television signals. Due to much lower attenuation and interference, optical fiber has large advantages over existing copper wire in long-distance and high-demand applications. However, infrastructure development within cities was relatively difficult and time-consuming, and fiber-optic systems were complex and expensive to install and operate. Due to these difficulties, fiber-optic communication systems have primarily been installed in long-distance applications, where they can be used to their full transmission capacity, offsetting the increased cost. Since 2000, the prices for fiber-optic communications have dropped considerably. The price for rolling out fiber to the home has currently become more cost-effective than that of rolling out a copper based network. Prices have dropped to $850 per subscriber in the US and lower in countries like The Netherlands, where digging costs are low.Since 1990, when optical-amplification systems became commercially available, the telecommunications industry has laid a vast network of intercity and transoceanic fiber communication lines. By 2002, an intercontinental network of 250,000 km of submarine communications cablewith a capacity of 2.56 Tb/s was completed, and although specific network capacities are privileged information, telecommunications investment reports indicate that network capacity has increased dramatically since 2004.HistoryIn 1966 Charles K. Kao and George hockom proposed optical fibers at STC Laboratories (STL) at Harlow, England, when they showed that the losses of 1000 dB/km in existing glass (compared to 5-10 db/km in coaxial cable) was due to contaminants, which could potentially be removed.Optical fiber was successfully developed in 1970 by Corning Glass Works, with attenuation low enough for communication purposes (about 20dB/km), and at the same time GaAs semiconductor lasers were developed that were compact and therefore suitable for transmitting light through fiber optic cables for long distances.After a period of research starting from 1975, the first commercial fiber-optic communications system was developed, which operated at a wavelength around 0.8 m and used GaAs semiconductor lasers. This first-generation system operated at a bit rate of 45Mbps with repeater spacing of up to 10km. Soon on 22 April, 1977, General Telephone and Electronics sent the first live telephone traffic through fiber optics at a 6 Mbit/s throughput in Long Beach, California.The second generation of fiber-optic communication was developed for commercial use in the early 1980s, operated at 1.3 m, and used InGaAsP semiconductor lasers. Although these systems were initially limited by dispersion, in 1981 the single-mode fiber was revealed to greatly improve system performance. By 1987, these systems were operating at bit rates of up to 1.7 Gb/s with repeater spacing up to 50km.The first transatlantic telephone cable to use optical fiber was TAT-8, based on Desurvire optimized laser amplification technology. It went into operation in 1988.Third-generation fiber-optic systems operated at 1.55 m and had losses of about 0.2dB/km. They achieved this despite earlier difficulties with pulse-spreading at that wavelength using conventional InGaAsP semiconductor lasers. Scientists overcame this difficulty by using dispersion-shifted fibers designed to have minimal dispersion at 1.55 m or by limiting the laser spectrum to a single longitudinal mode. These developments eventually allowed third-generation systems to operate commercially at 2.5 Gbit/s with repeater spacing in excess of 100km.The fourth generation of fiber-optic communication systems used optical amplification to reduce the need for repeaters and wavelength-division multiplexing to increase data capacity. These two improvements caused a revolution that resulted in the doubling of system capacity every 6 months starting in 1992 until a bit rate of 10 Tb/s was reached by 2001. Recently, bit-rates of up to 14 Tbit/s have been reached over a single 160km line using optical amplifiers.The focus of development for the fifth generation of fiber-optic communications is on extending the wavelength range over which a WDM system can operate. The conventional wavelength window, known as the C band, covers the wavelength range 1.53-1.57 m, and the new dry fiber has a low-loss window promising an extension of that range to 1.30-1.65 m. Other developments include the concept of “optical solitons, “ pulses that preserve their shape by counteracting the effects of dispersion with the nonlinear effectsof the fiber by using pulses of a specifi