Appendix E
Software Package
The back cover of the book contains a software package for designing fiber-optic com-
munication system on a compact disk (CD) provided by the Optiwave Corporation
(Website: http://www.optiwave.com)..) This is an especially prepared version of the software
package called “OptiSystem Lite” and marketed commercially by Optiwave under the
name OptiSystem. The CD contains a set of problems for each chapter that are ap-
propriate for the readers of this book. The reader is encouraged to try these numerical
exercises as they will help in understanding the important issues involved in the design
of lightwave systems.
The CD should work on any PC running the Microsoft Windows software. The first
step is to install the software package. The installation procedure should be straight-
forward for most users. Simply insert the CD in the CD-ROM drive, and follow the
instructions. If the installer does not start automatically for some reason, one may have
to click on the ”setup” program in the root directory of the CD. After the installa-
tion, the user simply has to click on the icon named “OptiSysDesign 1.0” to start the
program.
The philosophy behind the computer-aid design of lightwave systems has been dis-
cussed in Section 5.5. Similar to the setup seen in Fig. 5.15, the main window of
the program is used to layout the lightwave system using various components from
the component library. Once the layout is complete, the optical bit stream is propa-
gated through the fiber link by solving the nonlinear Schr ̈odinger (NLS) equation as
discussed in Section 5.5. It is possible to record the temporal and spectral features
of the bit stream at any location along the fiber link by inserting the appropriate data-
visualization components.
The OptiSystem Lite software can be used for solving many problems assigned at
the end of each chapter. Consider, for example, the simple problem of the propagation
of optical pulses inside optical fibers as discussed in Section 2.4. Figure E.1 shows the
layout for solving this problem. The input bit pattern should have the return-to-zero
(RZ) format and be of the form “000010000” so that a single isolated pulse is propa-
gated. The shape of this pulse can be specified directly or calculated in the case of direct
modulation by solving the rate equations associated with semiconductor lasers. In the
case of external modulation, a Mach–Zehnder modulator module should be used. The