Wavelength-Division Multiplexing
Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) is designed to use the high-data-rate capability of fiber-optic cable. The optical fiber data rate is higher than the data rate of metallic transmission cable. Using a fiber-optic cable for one single line wastes the available bandwidth. Multiplexing allows us to combine several lines into one.
WDM is conceptually the same as FDM, except that the multiplexing and demultiplexing involve optical signals transmitted through fiber-optic channels.
The following figure gives a conceptual view of a WDM multiplexer and demultiplexer. Very narrow bands of light from different sources are combined to make a wider band of light. At the receiver, the signals are separated by the demultiplexer.
In this method, we combine multiple light sources into one single light at the multiplexer and do the reverse at the demultiplexer. The combining and splitting of light sources are easily handled by a prism. Recall from basic physics that a prism bends a beam of light based on the angle of incidence and the frequency. Using this technique, a multiplexer can be made to combine several input beams of light, each containing a narrow band of frequencies, into one output beam of a wider band of frequencies. A demultiplexer can also be made to reverse the process.
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