Advances in Optical Communications: from Integrated Photonics to Optical Systems and Networks

In this Chapter, we give an overview of the current status and expected medium-long term (5-10 years from now) evolution of optical fixed access networks, which have seen an enormous growth in deployment rate in Europe in the last decade, with an annual Compounded Average Growth Rate (CAGR) that is steadily above 10% in most EU Countries. Up to now (mid 2023), this growth in commercial volumes was mostly led by the extensive deployment of Fiber-to-the-Home (FttH and its FTTx variants). In the future, it is expected that optical access networks, while continuing their growth in FttH market penetration, will also become more and more the fundamental transport technology of 5G and next generation 6G mobile wireless networks, and in general of new network edge applications.