Xref: utzoo comp.arch:17399 sci.electronics:13170 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!udel!berryh From: berryh@udel.edu (John Berryhill) Newsgroups: comp.arch,sci.electronics Subject: Re: Electro-optic bus Message-ID: <25939@nigel.udel.EDU> Date: 28 Jul 90 08:11:19 GMT References: <1965@trlluna.trl.oz> Sender: usenet@ee.udel.EDU Reply-To: berryh@udel.edu (John Berryhill) Followup-To: sci.electronics Organization: University of Delaware Lines: 20 Furthermore, using lasers on an electro-optic bus is like using a chainsaw to cut butter. Not only is it possible to fabricate LED's that work up to 1 GHz, but they are MUCH more reliable. You use lasers when you need much higher bandwidth, higher power, and lower dispersion. Lasers ought to be used to multiplex lots of signals and send them long distances over a single fiber. When you are going to be using a bunch of fibers to send multiple channels over short distances, use LEDS instead (preferably the ones I've designed for this very application :-) ). BTW, don't let optical coupling efficiencies bother you all that much. Coupling efficiencies are typically measured with fibers longer than the distances that we're talking about here. There are plenty of modes that decay exponentially, but provide significant power over just a few feet. -- John Berryhill 143 King William, Newark DE 19711