8-Gbit/s transmission experiment over 68 km of optical fiber using a Ti:LiNbO3external modulator

We describe the performance of an experimental 1.5-μm lightwave transmission system operating at 8 Gbit/s over 68.3 km of single-mode fiber. The dispersion penalty is limited to 1 dB through the use of external modulation and is attributable to the intrinsic information bandwidth.     

2.488 Gb/s-318 km repeaterless transmission using erbium-dopedfiber amplifiers in a direct-detection system

The authors have achieved a 2.488 Gb/s, 318 km repeaterless transmission without any fiber dispersion penalty through a nondispersion-shifted fiber in a direct detection system. The system was loss limited with a T-R power budget of 57 dB. Three key components enabled the authors to achieve this result: (1) a Ti:LiNbO₃ external amplitude modulator enabling a dispersion-free transmission, (2) erbium-doped fiber amplifiers increasing the transmitting power to +16 dBm, and (3) an erbium-doped fiber preamplifier enabling a high-receiver sensitivity of -4.1 dBm for 10^-9 BER. To the author's knowledge, this result is the longest repeaterless transmission span length ever reported for direct detection at this bit rate. From the experimental results and a theoretical model, the authors identified the sources of the receiver sensitivity degradation from the quantum limit (-48.6 dBm) and estimated the practically achievable receiver sensitivity of ~-44 dBm (~-124 photons/bit) for 2.5 Gb/s optical preamplifier detection     

Composition control in proton-exchanged LiNbO3

The amount of hydrogen in Li1?xHxNbO3 layers prepared by proton exchange of LiNbO3 in benzoic acid melts can be limited by adding lithium compounds to the melt. Limiting exchange prevents surface damage, a problem primarily affecting y-cut substrates, and reduces scattering in exchanged guides.     

Optical time-division multiplexed transmission system experiment at 8 Gbit/s

We describe the design and performance of an experimental two-channel optical time-division multiplexed fibre transmission system operating at a wavelength of 1.3 ?m and a bit rate of 8 Gbit/s. Transmission over 8 km of single-mode fibre with low crosstalk and transmission error rates as low as 10?10 is demonstrated.     

Flow in pulmonary veins

Pulmonary venous flow can be evaluated by means of pulsed Doppler echocardiography during a transthoracic or transesophageal echocardiography examination. In most cases a three-peak spectral curve with highest positive wave during ventricular systole, a lower positive wave during ventricular diastole and a small negative wave during the left atrial contraction are recorded. Multiple factors affect the systolic and diastolic components of pulmonary venous flow. Pulmonary venous flow measurement may prove to be an important tool in routine judgment of diastolic left ventricular and atrial function. With regard to clinical importance, the pulmonary venous flow is a useful parameter for left atrial pressure quantification and for differential diagnosis of restrictive cardiomyopathy and constrictive pericarditis.     

A multiwavelength source having precise channel spacing for WDMsystems

We report a wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) source in which a combination of a periodically driven Mach-Zehnder modulator and a nonlinear fiber are used to generate an optical spectrum that consists of several wavelength components precisely spaced by 64 GHz (>0.5 nm). The 13 strongest spectral components are within a 10-dB optical power range and their performance as channel sources in a WDM transmitter have been evaluated. We also propose and demonstrate a technique to generate an optical spectrum in which the separation between the major components is four times the modulator drive frequency     

4-Gb/s PSK homodyne transmission system using phase-lockedsemiconductor lasers

Homodyne detection of 4-Gb/s pilot-carrier binary-phase-shift-keyed (BPSK) optical signals using external-cavity semiconductor lasers synchronized by a linear phase-locked loop is discussed. A 2¹⁵-1 pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) has been transmitted through a short fiber with a receiver sensitivity of -44.2 dBm or 72 photons/bit. After transmission through 167 km of standard single-mode fiber, the sensitivity is -43.6 dBm or 83 photons/bit. A balanced PIN/HEMT transimpedance receiver which has a 3-dB bandwidth from 100 kHz to 10.1 GHz and an average equivalent input noise current of 10.8 pA/√Hz is used     

An RC network analysis of long term Ti:LiNbO3 biasstability

Experimental bias stability data for LiNbO₃ electrooptic modulators spanning intervals from seconds to hundreds of days are analyzed. We find that the unique features of the data may be described through refinements of previous resistor capacitor network models. Network element values deduced from the experimental data provide compelling evidence that the interfaces between constituent materials play a significant role in the long term behavior of devices. The success of the model suggests it may be a valuable tool in the development of devices having low bias drift rates and in establishing test and reliability criteria     

Low-insertion-loss channel waveguides in LiNbO3 fabricated by proton exchange

We describe single-mode proton exchange waveguides in Z-cut LiNbO3 at the 1.32 ?m wavelength having low fibre/waveguide/fibre insertion loss.     

Kidney Response to Chemotherapy-Induced Heart Failure: mRNA Analysis in Normotensive and Ren-2 Transgenic Hypertensive Rats

The aim of the present study was to perform kidney messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) analysis in normotensive, Hannover Sprague–Dawley (HanSD) rats and hypertensive, Ren-2 renin transgenic rats (TGR) after doxorubicin-induced heart failure (HF) with specific focus on genes that are implicated in the pathophysiology of HF-associated cardiorenal syndrome. We found that in both strains renin and angiotensin-converting enzyme mRNA expressions were upregulated indicating that the vasoconstrictor axis of the renin–angiotensin system was activated. We found that pre-proendothelin-1, endothelin-converting enzyme type 1 and endothelin type A receptor mRNA expressions were upregulated in HanSD rats, but not in TGR, suggesting the activation of endothelin system in HanSD rats, but not in TGR. We found that mRNA expression of cytochrome P-450 subfamily 2C23 was downregulated in TGR and not in HanSD rats, suggesting the deficiency in the intrarenal cytochrome P450-dependent pathway of arachidonic acid metabolism in TGR. These results should be the basis for future studies evaluating the pathophysiology of cardiorenal syndrome secondary to chemotherapy-induced HF in order to potentially develop new therapeutic approaches.