Question

what are the active and passve elements in optical networking?

Answer 1

Answer:

Optics has been behind various enabling technologies to cope with the ever-increasing bandwidth demands at internet backbone level. Dense-wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) allows concurrent transmissions of many channels of wide bandwidth data through a single fiber. The success of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA) pushes the data regeneration distance longer and longer. The emerging massively parallel optical switches are revolutionizing all-optical communication networks. We are witnessing an era of renaissance of optics due to the communication infrastructure upgrade frenzy. High speed optics, once so prohibitively expensive that only long-haul communications was feasible, is being applied to ever-shorter distances, penetrating from metro-area to access and intra-computer interconnect networks. Bulk free-space optics is being miniaturized and integrated to serve critical missions to keep the pace of bandwidth booms. At the same time, the pace of developing wider bandwidth and more cost-effective solutions to sustain the explosive growth of bandwidth presents huge challenges and opportunities for optical scientists and engineers.