Extracting key information from Academic Press's range of prestigious titles in optical communications, this reference gives the R&D optical fiber communications engineer a quick and easy-to-grasp understanding of the current state of the art in optical communications technology, together with some of the underlying theory, covering a broad of topics: optical waveguides, optical fibers, optical transmitters and receivers, fiber optic data communication, optical networks, and optical theory. With this reference, the engineer will be up-to-speed on the latest developments in no-time. - Provides an overview of current state-of-the-art in optical communications technology, enabling the reader to get up to speed with the latest technological developments and establish their value for product development - Brings together material from a number of authoritative sources, giving both breadth and depth of content and providing a single source of key knowledge and information which saves time in seeking information from scattered sources - Explores latest technologies and their implementation, allowing the engineer to compare and contrast approaches and solutions - Provides just enough introductory material for readers to grasp the underpinning physics, giving the engineer an accessible introduction to the underlying theory for a proper understanding