Prospects of photonic devices for telecommunications networks

In discussing feasible performance and economical features of the forthcoming network, we have to base our discussion on photonic devices. In fact, expected new applications, functions, and improvements in photonic systems often rely on photonic devices. Development of photonic devices is crucial in developing important applications, such as high-throughput telecommunications networks with optical cross connect/add-drop multiplexing functions, transmission systems exceeding one Tbit/s with TDM and WDM configurations, low-cost subscriber systems with high accessibility, and flexible office- and home-use network systems. Such photonic devices must: achieve the required high performance at a low cost.