Submarine cable networks

The wavelength division multiplexing technique enabled to increase drastically the transmission capacity per fiber over trans-Atlantic distances: from 1×5 Gbit/s in 1995, the figure increases up to 42×10 Gbit/s in 2001 and today, transmission systems providing up to 160×10 Gbit/s are under development. This evolution results mainly from the optical amplification bandwidth increase and the reduction of the spectral variation of the fiber chromatic dispersion. In un-repeatered submarine system, the distributed Raman amplification has been a key technology enabling a 160 ×10 Gbit/s transmission over a 380 km single fiber. To cite this article: O. Gautheron, M. Suyama, C. R. Physique 4 (2003).