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This is the second book in a two-volume set. Volume IIIA (608 pages) deals primarily with system-related issues. The second volume, IIIB (515 pages) delves into greater detail regarding the design and performance of critical components used in optical fiber telecommunications.Like volume IIIA, volume IIIB consists of chapters written by different authors. Although many of the chapter authors come from Lucent and/or Bell Labs, they do a good job of keeping the book at an academic level that is largely devoid of excess or offensive commercialism. This is a first-rate book that needs to be read and understood by anyone seriously engaged in engineering activities related to optical fiber telecommunications.Each chapter is written in what is an essentially self-contained manner (though many chapters make reference from time to time to other chapters in either of the two volumes - a welcome thing as it brings continuity to the two-volume set). After a nice overview by Kaminow, volume IIIB dives right into what is arguably the single most important optical component to be developed for telecommunications in the 90's: the erbium-doped fiber amplifier. As with most chapters, chapter 2 does not overwhelm the reader with long mathematical derivations. Instead, it places at the engineer's disposal the relevant mathematical equations necessary for important analysis, as well as a wealth of references at the end of the chapter that facilitate further reading and the most quantitative analysis. This chapter covers all the important features of amplifier design, from gain to saturation, noise figure, coupling loss, polarization effects, pumping schemes, components, and various ways in which the amplifier may be used (in-line amplifier, power amplifier, etc.).Chapter three covers transmitter and receiver design for amplified lightwave systems. The material in this chapter is high level. Topics include things like extinction ratio, rise/fall time, chirp, mode partitioning, and polarization mode dispersion. The emphasis is on how specific attributes of the transmitter and receiver interact with other components in the transmission system to affect overall system performance. Thus, the chapter not only discusses what laser chirp is, what causes it, and how to reduce it, it also delves into the system implications of chirp and describes why it is bad, and how to determine how much you can tolerate.Chapters four, five, and six are something of a trilogy. Chapter four introduces the idea of laser sources in general for amplified and WDM lightwave systems. Chapter 5 continues the subject by describing advances in semiconductor laser growth and fabrication technology. Chapter 6 goes into more specific detail regarding vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. Of these three chapters, chapter four is the most generic, and (at least for me) by far the easiest to follow. Chapter four covers subjects like direct modulation of DFB lasers, external modulation, integration of modulator and laser, making DFB lasers with discrete and stable wavelengths for WDM systems, fiber-based lasers using fiber-Bragg gratings (FBGs), tunable lasers, and a smattering on waveguide gratings and DFB array WDM sources.While chapter 4 was easy for me to follow, I found chapters 5 and 6 rather difficult. Both these chapters are very well written, and the authors are clearly quite expert in their fields. The material, however, is sufficiently specific to the details of design that I found myself lacking much of the prerequisite information and knowledge expected by the authors. I think that chapters 5 and 6 will be of most use to people who actually work in or very closely with semiconductor laser growth technology and/or vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. I did come away knowing lots more about these technologies than I did going into the chapters (things like how and why lattice strain is used in the design of semiconductor lasers, for example) but a more basic introduction would have helpful to me.Chapter 7 put me back into more familiar territory with discussions about optical fiber components and devices. Topics include fiber dispersion compensators, fiber gratings, gratings in planar waveguides, and high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers. This chapter tends to be at a high level, with little specific information or mathematical equations.Chapter 8 is really quite interesting. The title is "Silicon Optical Bench Waveguide Technology." Like chapters 5 and 6, chapter 8 gets into more detail about specific design and manufacturability issues. Since I have more background in this area, though, I found the chapter at about the right level for me (it did not leave me feeling as lost as chapters 5 and 6 did). One of the most interesting developments in this chapter (for me, at least) was the section on Fourier filter multiplexers. The chapter also has a relatively good quantitative description (you will need to fill in some of the derivations yourself) of couplers as well as star couplers and waveguide grating routers.Chapter 9 is a good discussion on lithium niobate integrated optics, covering issues of design as well as performance and specification. It also highlights their applications as switches, modulators, and polarization scramblers/controllers as well as wavelength filters. Chapter 10, the last chapter, reviews photonic switching technologies. There is some useful information about switching fabrics, along with generic information about important specifications.Both volumes have a good index and extensive chapter references, making this one of the best general-purpose desk reference volumes I've found for engineers involved in lightwave communications systems.
