A method has been developed for evaluating the wear durability and adhesion characteristics of ultrathin overcoat films. The relationship between the wear depth and applied load or between the wear depth and number of scanning-scratch cycles is used in AFM nanowear tests. Inherent wear durability, which is independent of adhesion or substrate hardness, can be evaluated from the relationship between wear depth and applied load at relatively low loads, and the adhesion characteristics can be evaluated from the relationship at relatively high loads. Wear durability can be evaluated with a small number of scanning-scratch cycles and adhesion with a large number of cycles.

Repeaterless transmission system design employing remote pumping in a single fiber is clarified. The design is aimed to realize cost effective submarine transmission systems with easy maintenance. Remote pumping in a single fiber can extend repeaterless transmission distance without decreasing the system capacity per cable. It is applicable for high-count-fiber cable such as the 100-fiber submarine cable already developed. A simple but effective system configuration is presented that uses remote pumping from receiver end; both remote-pre erbium-doped fiber (EDF) amplification and backward pumping Raman amplification are employed. Stable transmission can be obtained without optical isolators, therefore the optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) method is supported by this system. Three fiber configurations, which consist of dispersion shifted fiber (DSF), pure silica core fiber (PSCF) and a combination of DSF and PSCF, are examined to compare system performance. Remote-pre EDF is optimized in terms of length and location from receiver end by optical SNR (OSNR) calculations. Maximum signal output power is also determined through a waveform simulation based on the split-step Fourier method, in order to avoid waveform distortion caused by the combined effect of self-phase modulation (SPM) and group velocity dispersion (GVD). Through these calculations and simulations, we confirm the proposed repeaterless transmission system performance of 600Mbit/s-451 km with PSCF, 2. 5 Gbit/s-407 km with DSF + PSCF, and 10 Gbit/s-376 km with DSF+PSCF, which include system margin.

Gold on connector contacts is superior in environmental resistance. However, pores existing gold film are source to trigger the corrosion reaction between gold and base metal. For examination of the contacts, it has been popular to apply "Salt Spray Test" and "Sulfur Dioxide Test. " There are some differences of the corrosion products between two tests. Main metal forming the product in Salt Spray is Copper, and main metal in Sulfur Dioxide is Nickel. To investigate the reason, we tried to employ an electro-chemical method. As a result, it was found that there was the difference between the respective galvanic cell combinations generated through pores.

We discuss the uniqueness of 3-D shape reconstruction of a polyhedron from a single shading image. First, we analytically show that multiple convex (and concave) shape solutions usually exist for a simple polyhedron if interreflections are not considered. Then we propose a new approach to uniquely determine the concave shape solution using interreflections as a constraint. An example, in which two convex and two concave shapes were obtained from a single shaded image for a trihedral corner, has been given by Horn. However, how many solutions exist for a general polyhedron wasn't described. We analytically show that multiple convex (and concave) shape solutions usually exist for a pyramid using a reflectance map, if interreflection distribution is not considered. However, if interreflection distribution is used as a constraint that limits the shape solution for a concave polyhedron, the polyhedral shape can be uniquely determined. Interreflections, which were considered to be deleterious in conventional approaches, are used as a constraint to determine the shape solution in our approach.

Time series prediction is very important technology in a wide variety of fields. The actual time series contains both linear and nonlinear properties. The amplitude of the time series to be predicted is usually continuous value. For these reasons, we combine nonlinear and linear predictors in a cascade form. The nonlinear prediction problem is reduced to a pattern classification. A set of the past samples x(n-1),. . . ,x(n-N) is transformed into the output, which is the prediction of the next coming sample x(n). So, we employ a multi-layer neural network with a sigmoidal hidden layer and a single linear output neuron for the nonlinear prediction. It is called a Nonlinear Sub-Predictor (NSP). The NSP is trained by the supervised learning algorithm using the sample x(n) as a target. However, it is rather difficult to generate the continuous amplitude and to predict linear property. So, we employ a linear predictor after the NSP. An FIR filter is used for this purpose, which is called a Linear Sub-Predictor (LSP). The LSP is trained by the supervised learning algorithm using also x(n) as a target. In order to estimate the minimum size of the proposed predictor, we analyze the nonlinearity of the time series of interest. The prediction is equal to mapping a set of past samples to the next coming sample. The multi-layer neural network is good for this kind of pattern mapping. Still, difficult mappings may exist when several sets of very similar patterns are mapped onto very different samples. The degree of difficulty of the mapping is closely related to the nonlinearity. The necessary number of the past samples used for prediction is determined by this nonlinearity. The difficult mapping requires a large number of the past samples. Computer simulations using the sunspot data and the artificially generated discrete amplitude data have demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed predictor and the nonlinearity analysis.

In this paper, a new variable length code transmission technique utilizing multicode DS/SS is proposed. A common problem associated with the use of variable length codes over wireless channels is loss of synchronization due to bit inversion caused by channel noise. The loss of synchronization produces burst errors in the received source symbols. The proposed system assigns multiple spreading codes to a single user to transmit variable length codes. The number of the spreading codes is equal to the maximum bit length of the codewords. All the bits of the codeword are spread and transmitted at one time by utilizing the assigned multiple spreading codes. Therefore no synchronization of the codeword is required. This paper evaluates the performance of the proposed technique over an AWGN channel and a Rayleigh fading channel. Our results show that the proposed technique improves the symbol error rate (SER) performance by 2-3 dB on the AWGN channel and 10-20 dB on the Rayleigh fading channel as compared with a conventional transmission technique. The source-channel coding suitable for the proposed technique improves the performance by another 15 dB on the Rayleigh fading channel. The proposed transmission technique works even in a low Es/No region.

In this paper, we propose a transformation technique for the multiplications of one variable with multiple constants, which are frequently seen in the various applications of signal processing, image processing, and so forth. The method is based on the exploration of common subexpressions among constants and reduces the number of shifts, additions, and subtractions to implement linear computations with hardware. Our method searches for regularity among elements of a linear transform using matrix decomposition and generates a reduced data-flow graph which preserves the full regularity. We show experimental results obtained using Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and illustrate the effectiveness of the method.

In this paper, we describe the properties of an external cavity modelocked semiconductor laser with a tunability of wavelength, pulse width and repetition rate. This modelocked laser generates optical pulses with pulse widths down to 180 fs and with repetition rates up to 14 GHz in a 120 nm wavelength range near 1. 55 µm or 1. 3 µm. The generated pulses are close to the transform limit and are therefore suitable for very high speed communication systems. In addition to the tunability, this pulse source is a compact and mechanically stable device. We report on two applications of this pulse source in optical time division multiplexing experiments. In the first example the modelocked laser is used as an all-optical clock recovery. In the second example the modelocked laser was used to characterize an interferometric switch by pump-probe experiments.

In this paper we review the stretched-pulse principle and discuss its inherent advantages for ultrashort pulse generation and transmission. An analytic theory of the stretched-pulse fiber laser is presented and shown to be in good agreement with experimental results. An extension of the stretched-pulse theory is applied to both fiber lasers and dispersion-allocated soliton transmission and then compared to numerical results. We also discuss the design and operation of an environmentally stable stretched-pulse fiber laser.

We present a finite-difference time-domain (FD-TD) method with the perfectly matched layers (PMLs) absorbing boundary condition (ABC) based on the multidimensional wave digital filters (MD-WDFs) for discrete-time modelling of Maxwell's equations and show its effectiveness. First we propose modified forms of the Maxwell's equations in the PMLs and its MD-WDFs' representation by using the current-controlled voltage sources. In order to estimate the lower bound of numerical errors which come from the discretization of the Maxwell's equations, we examine the numerical dispersion relation and show the advantage of the FD-TD method based on the MD-WDFs over the Yee algorithm. Simultaneously, we estimate numerical errors in practical problems as a function of grid cell size and show that the MD-WDFs can obtain highly accurate numerical solutions in comparison with the Yee algorithm. Then we analyze several typical dielectric optical waveguide problems such as the tapered waveguide and the grating filter, and confirm that the FD-TD method based on the MD-WDFs can also treat radiation and reflection phenomena, which commonly done using the Yee algorithm.

We study nonlinear pulse propagation in an optical transmission system with dispersion compensation. This is particularly important for designing an ultra-fast long-haul communication system in the next generation. There exists a quasi-stationary pulse solution in such a system whose width and chirp are rapidly oscillating with the period of dispersion compensation. This pulse also has several new features such as enhanced power when compared with the soliton case with a uniform dispersion and a deformation from the sech-shape of soliton. We use the averaging method, and the averaged equation to describe the core of the pulse solution is shown to be the nonlinear Schrodinger equation having a nontrapping quadratic potential. Because of this potential, a pulse propagating in such a system eventually decays into dispersive waves in a way similar to the tunneling effect. However in a practical situation, the tunneling effect is estimated to be small, and the decay may be neglected.

The propagation of solitons in a dispersion managed link can be mainly modeled with the evolution of two parameters γ and C, related to the spectral width and the chirp. Steady propagations are shown to be possible if the average dispersion lies in the anomalous domain. With the same conditions, periodical propagations are both theoretically and experimentally demonstrated. With the help of a perturbation theory, the jitter and the signal to noise ratio are theoretically evaluated. The latter is experimentally shown to be the low power limit of terrestrial systems based on non dispersion shifted fiber. Finally, wavelength and power margins of a single channel 20 Gbit/s soliton transmission over 11 amplifier spans of 102 km show that a 400 Gbit/s Wavelength Division Multiplexed transmission could be envisaged over the same distance.

This paper summarizes our recent efforts in modelocking Ti:sapphire lasers with semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs). We present the shortest optical pulses ever generated directly from a laser. The modelocking build-up time (T BU) of 60 µs is, to our knowledge, the shortest reported for a passively modelocked KLM laser to date.

The reduction of Soliton-soliton interaction to stabilize the soliton pulse propagation in the periodic dispersion-compensated standard fiber system using optical bandpass filter has been investigated by numerical simulation, and experimentally 10 Gbit/s soliton transmission was realized without fine tuning dispersion management over 5700 km, using appropriate optical bandpass filters and polarization scrambler.

The effect of sampling-pulse pedestals, generated by pulse compression, on the temporal resolution in electro-optic (EO) sampling is studied both theoretically and experimentally. Analysis is made on how the pedestals degrade a measurement bandwidth and a temporal waveform. Based on the analysis, a practical guideline on the suppression of pedestals is also given. Gain-switched laser diode (LD) pulses adiabatically soliton-compressed using a dispersion decreasing fiber are used to confirm the theoretical results, and are successfully applied to high-temporal-resolution (>100 GHz) EO sampling measurements.

This paper analyzes pulse characteristics of actively mode-locked fiber lasers by including the group-velocity dispersion and the Kerr nonlinearity of the fiber, both of which have not been taken into account in the conventional theory of mode locking. We show that chirped sech pulses are generated from nonlinear and dispersive fiber lasers. By considering the stability of the laser, we also derive design rules for the generation of ultra-short pulses.

In this papers, we will discuss the different percentages of embedding certain subsystems successfully into a n-cube according to the fault model used. We will discuss two fault models: the first one assumes that, in a faulty node, the computational function of the node is lost while the communication function of the faulty node remains intact, and, in the second, the communication function is also lost. In this paper, 2 types of fault tolerable subsystem embedding schemes will be introduced. The first one embeds a complete binary tree into a n-cube with faulty nodes, and the second embeds two (n-1)-subcubes whose total number of faulty nodes is less than half the number of nodes. These schemes are divided into 4 types based on the above two models. First, we will discuss how different the successful percentages of embedding are for 2 of the different types of embedded binary trees that are based on the above two models. Then, we will analyze the possibility that the component nodes of an embedded binary tree can communicate via the faulty nodes that are located in the embedded binary tree. In the embedding process, each faulty node was replaced with a nonfaulty node that was located on another (n-1)-subcube and at a Hamming distance of 1 from the faulty node. The number of faults that led to the successful percentage of embedding will be presented as an upper bound. Next, we will discuss how different the successful embedding percentages are for the 2 types of irregular (n-1)-subcubes based on the two models; that is, if 2n-2+1 or more of the nonfaulty nodes in both of the (n-1)-subcubes can communicate or not via faulty nodes. Here also, the number of faults that led to a successful embedding percentage will be presented as a critical value.

This paper deals with an orthogonal functional expansion of a non-linear stochastic functional of a stationary binary sequence taking 1 with unequal probability. Several mathematical formulas, such as multivariate orthogonal polynomials, recurrence formula and generating function, are given in explicit form. A formula of an orthogonal functional expansion for a stochastic functional is presented; the completeness of expansion is discussed in Appendix.

The dependence of the output characteristics of a regeneratively and harmonically FM mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser on intracavity dispersion have been investigated by changing the group velocity dispersion (GVD) of the fiber. It is shown that a stable pulse train can be obtained only when the GVD of the cavity is anomalous in the presence of self-phase modulation (SPM). The shortest pulse obtained was 2. 0 ps at a repetition rate of 10 GHz.

If the fiber dispersion of soliton transmission line is optimized, the amplifiers output power becomes almost constant for different amplifier spacing and pulse width. Numerical simulations indicate the optimal dispersion can be determined, as the ratio of amplifier spacing to dispersion length is about 0. 8 for uniform dispersion line.