The CE on optical sources and amplification systems focuses on the realization of cost-effective, small footprint and low power consumption optical source subsystems. The functional integration of photonic components can lead to new concepts on CW or pulsed sources with superior performance and characteristics compared to traditional approaches followed in today’s networks. Moreover, an integral part of this center is research of amplification solutions using semiconductor or fiber. The EDFA has revolutionized photonics during the 1990s and has fuelled cost-effective WDM networks. Today, research on amplification is more active than ever with new issues to be solved and agreed upon, including high-functionality amplification systems, ultra-wideband amplifier implementations and higher power and high conversion efficiencies.

Optical core/metro networks have evolved from point-to-point high-capacity links to dynamically re-configurable networks driven by the traffic generated from new bandwidth-hungry applications. This is also confirmed by the successful deployment of mesh-capable Reconfigurable Add-Drop Multiplexers (ROADMs). Next generation optical networks will be capable of dynamically allocating bandwidth, setting-up and tearring-down lightpaths and providing more advanced real-time resources allocation, evolving from static network topologies to “living networks” that change and adopt according to bandwidth requirements. This CE focuses on high-speed, high-performance photonic subsystems found in transmission and switching photonic systems. Specifically, this CE coordinates efforts on the development of photonic subsystems that are vital parts of routers and cross-connects in dynamic WDM network architectures. In addition, a major thrust in the CE is the identification of the role of all-optical technology in future networks. The design and implementation of key network all-optical subsystems realized will stimulate the collective discussion on the potential advantages that can be offered through photonic technology in terms of power consumption, high-speed operation, data format and traffic transparency. These efforts are expected to generate critical knowledge for the device-level integration technology.

Today we are witnessing an unprecedented growth of access networks worldwide with copper and optical technologies as the main technology solutions for providing ample bandwidth to the end-user in the Mb/s region. Photonic technology is already gaining ground over competing copper technology solutions and this is verified by the explosive deployment of passive optical networks (PONs) and point-to-point active Ethernet networks, in USA, Japan, Korea, and more recently in Europe. Broadband penetration rates are continuously increasing and new data connections now translate to fast internet, combined voice and data and even triple play applications with several Mb/s, offered by incumbents, alternative internet service providers (ISPs) or multi-service providers (MSOs) in the US. As such, optical access networks have attracted significant attention for creating components, subsystems and ultimately networks, capable of providing high symmetric bandwidth, on-demand and at low cost. The center of attention is now on the development of next generation of photonic components and their functional integration into subsystems for realizing the building blocks of such networks.