Covers optical fibre systems and offers technical grounding in the field. Traditional optical fibre systems are discussed in the text, including transmission media, light sources, semiconductor lasers, light detectors, couplers, splices and connectors. The text also presents insight into state-of-the-art devices and systems and their key components, including optical amplifiers, quantum-well lasers and optoelectronics integrated circuits. A building-block approach is taken to provide an understanding of system design. Optical fibre system performance problems are analyzed and solutions are explored, including techniques to reduce fibre dispersion, techniques to minimize the impact of optical fibre nonlinearities, and the critical role of optical amplifiers.