All the animals in the zoo: the expanding menagerie of optical components

Diverging optical network requirements are driving innovations in optical components in multiple directions. The telecommunications network core needs new components to increase capacity while reducing cost: optics that enable faster line rates, more wavelengths per fiber, and longer spacing between repeaters. Metro networks need components to handle complex traffic patterns. A desire for network reconfigurability in both long-haul and metro segments drives demand for switches, but also for other associated components to condition signals after switching. The next generation of optical transport equipment will rely on new types of optical components to perform functions that do not yet exist in the network