Gigabit single-mode fiber transmission using 1.3-µm edge-emitting LEDs for broad-band subscriber loops

This paper describes gigabit single-mode fiber transmission using 1.3-μm edge-emitting LED´s for broad-band subscriber loops, focusing on a method of calculation for maximum transmission distance and 1.2-Gbit/s and 600-Mbit/s transmission experiments. Gigabit single-mode fiber transmission is necessary for subscriber loops, especially in broad-band ISDN and optical CATV systems. Edgeemitting LED´s are excellent light sources because of their high power launched into the fiber compared with surface-emitting LED´s, and currently lower cost and higher reliability than laser diodes. The maximum transmission distance is carefully estimated by taking into account the wavelength dependence for both chromatic dispersion and loss of the single-mode fiber, and the possibility of gigabit transmission near the dispersion free wavelength 1.3 μm, is confirmed. Encouraged by the above results, we demonstrate 1.2-Gbi,t/s 10-km and 600-Mbit/s 20-km transmission experiments using a newly developed 1.3-μm edge-emitting LED and a new driver circuit with a simple response compensation circuit. These results show the proposed calculation method and the LED response compensation circuit to be powerful tools for the realization of low-cost gigabit single-mode fiber transmission using edge-emitting LED´s.