Norman Hascoe Distinguished Lecture Series

The first several years of the new millennium have been full of excitement in optical communications, though not always welcome excitement. After the market collapse in 2000, technology seemed to stagnate or in some areas even regress. But the last few years have seen a resurgence of interest in these systems, and technology is advancing again. This talk will support the statement that there is a renaissance in optical communications, and will examine the technologies that are emerging to support it.

Robert W. Tkach is Director of the Transmission Systems Research department at Bell Laboratories, Alcatel-Lucent, Crawford Hill Location. His research has involved dispersion management, optical amplification, optical networking, and high-speed DWDM transmission systems. Prior to joining Bell Laboratories, he has been: Chief Technical Officer of Celion Networks, Division Manager of the Lightwave Networks Research Division at AT&T Labs, and a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He has received the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award from the Research and Development Council of New Jersey and is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, the IEEE, and AT&T.