Application of Nonlinear Integrable Systems to Optical Data Processing, Transmission and Detection.

The present application is for the three-year support of one research associate to undertake theoretical research on fundamentally new nonlinear technologies in optical signal processing and detection based on remarkable properties of the so-called integrable nonlinear systems that we plan to practically implement in optical fibre waveguides. Current optical communication systems use binary modulation and transmission/coding schemes matched to binary modulation. As optical fibre systems rapidly approach the limits of binary modulation and direct detection, alternative optical data coding, processing, transmission and detection techniques will play increasing roles in a more efficient use of a fibre's information capacity. The project will take advantage of the existing experimental and theoretical research being performed in the Photonics Research Group. Though the fundamentally new approaches will be addressed, the practical engineering design considerations will be an important part of the proposed research. We believe that the proposed multidisciplinary research programme based on a synergy of methods from very different fields of science, has a right balance between an adventure and the research quality to make an important contribution into development of future generation of communication networks, systems and devices operating beyond the limits of current systems and increasing information data-rates by orders of magnitude.