Ultrafast technology in telecommunications

Ultrafast optical technologies have produced pulses as short as 4.5 fs, and optical pulses continue to get shorter and shorter. But, in the meantime, telecommunications has continued to evolve to higher and higher bit rates and capacities. Most recently, optical data has been transmitted at 1.28 Tb/s over a distance of 70 km, leaving only 800 fs between the bits, and ultrafast optical sources have been demonstrated in novel WDM systems as well. We review some of the fundamental features of ultrashort optical pulses, and discuss what impact it has had and may have in the future of telecommunications. This paper is intended to be a high-level view and is based on a recent invited talk.