Upgrading installed systems to multigigabit bit-rates by means of dispersion compensation

Most of the installed fibre in optical networks is of conventional type with high chromatic dispersion around 1550 nm, where erbium doped optical fibre amplifiers do operate. Thus dispersion compensation will be required to upgrade the capacity of installed fibre links to 10 Gbit/s and beyond. The paper gives a survey of the various dispersion compensation methods investigated so far, based on linear and nonlinear behaviour of fibres and/or optical devices. These techniques are compared and related issues discussed.