Progress of coherent optical fibre communication systems

The recent progress of coherent optical fibre communication systems is reviewed. System constituent technologies, such as coherent optical modulation-demodulation, optical direct amplification for repeaters and single polarization fibre transmission are outlined. Several important optical device technologies, such as frequency stabilization of semiconductor lasers, AM and FM quantum noise and their reduction, and integrated opto-electronic devices, are also described. Finally, on the basis of the current state of the art in these technological areas, the expected system performance and future problems are discussed.