Introduction and History of Optical Transmission

Optical transmission systems and networks are key elements of the worldwide communications infrastructure. Optical fibers span the globe across land and oceans, underpinning the digital economy and data services that play an increasing role in the daily lives of billions of people. In this section of the Handbook of Radio and Optical Networks Convergence, we focus on optical communications and the technologies that carry more than 99% of transmitted data worldwide. In this introductory chapter, we give a brief overview of the evolution of optical transmission systems and the current technologies under active research for the systems of the future. Finally, we outline the chapters in this section of the handbook and introduce the authors sharing their knowledge on topics ranging from the information theory of the fiber channel to real-world networking technologies and current research for the technologies of the optical network of tomorrow.