All light now-fibre amplifiers and their impact on telecoms

A large proportion of the UK trunk communications for data and telephony needs are now met by single-mode optical fibre cable systems. Network planners need to increase the capacity of optical systems but this is becoming increasingly difficult. The preferred way to increase the distance over which an optical cable can operate is to place optical amplifiers in the line. The author looks at how optical amplifiers can be improved to make this idea feasible