Applications of optical waveguide devices on future optical communication and signal processing

Optical technology is now established as the basis of a future integrated broadband communication network (IBCN). The capacity of an optical system can be increased by the development of transmission and switching facilities of the coherent multicarrier (CMC) technique. This contribution concentrates on the structure and technology of a CMC crossconnect, which may be realized as an integrated optical polymer circuit. The manufacture of passive polymer waveguide devices is presented. Further electro optical polymer devices and erbium doped PMMA applications are discussed.