opticallink

Opticallink is a term for a communications link that transmits data by light. In practice it usually means a fiber-optic link, where data is encoded onto a light signal and guided through fiber. The concept also covers free-space optical links and photonic integrated implementations.

A typical opticallink includes a transmitter, a transmission medium, and a receiver. The transmitter converts electrical data into light using a laser diode or LED and modulates the signal. The medium is typically single-mode or multimode fiber, or a line-of-sight path in free space. The receiver uses a photodetector to recover electrical signals and may include amplification, clock recovery, and equalization.

Optical links frequently employ multiplexing to boost capacity, such as wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) and advanced modulation in coherent systems. Components and standards span optical transceivers (SFP, QSFP, CFP) and ITU-T recommendations governing fiber links.

Common applications include long-haul telecommunications, data-center interconnects, metropolitan networks, and high-performance computing environments. Free-space variants are used in some terrestrial and space links but are more sensitive to weather and alignment.

Advantages include high bandwidth, low electromagnetic interference, and good power efficiency over distance. Challenges include installation costs for fiber, physical fragility in some settings, and sensitivity to dispersion, attenuation, and alignment in certain configurations.