Fiber-optic transmission and networking: the previous 20 and the next 20 years

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Optics Express, this paper reviews the evolution of optical fiber communication systems, and through a look at the previous 20 years attempts to extrapolate. fiber-optic technology needs and potential solution paths over the coming 20 scars, Well aware that 20-year extrapolations arc inherently associated with great uncertainties. We still hope that taking a significantly longer-term View than most texts in this field will provide the reader with a broader perspective and Will encourage the much needed out-of-the-box thinking to solve the very significant technology scaling problems ahead of us. Focusing on the optical transport and switching layer, we cover aspects of large-scale spatial multiplexing, massive opto-electronic arrays and holistic optics-electronics-DSP integration. as well as optical node architectures for switching and multiplexing of spatial and spectral superckuniels. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement.