Grating Allows More Channels on One Fiber

With more and more data being transmitted over commercial and domestic networks, there has been a growing demand for capacity on backbone networks.
As a result, Nortel Telecom of Paignton, UK, has released dispersion compensating gratings measuring 2.4 m. The significance of this increase in grating length is that it allows transmission of more dispersion wavelength division multiplexing channels on the same fiber.
The company said the gratings could replace tens of kilometers of dispersion compensating fiber that performs the same function. The gratings consist of a much shorter optical fiber, which has gratings written in the core using ultraviolet laser holography.
The new technology was developed in response to the industry's expansion of the line rates to 10 Gb/s.