High capacity chirped-pulse wavelength-division multiplexed communication method and apparatus

An optical transmitter apparatus comprising:

• a means for supplying a multifrequency optical signal having a plurality of wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) channels, substantially all light supplied over a given interval being within a single WDM channel;
• a means for power splitting having an input port and a plurality of output ports, for receiving the optical signal from said multifrequency supplying means and splitting same;
• a means for delaying signals emitted from said output ports;
• a means for data encoding modulation, said data encoding modulation means being coupled to said output ports and being operable to sequentially modulate at least some of the WDM channels present on an output signal received from said power splitting means;
• and
• a means for combining the modulated signals into a single, combined signal.

A method of operating a high-capacity, chirped-pulse wavelength-division multiplexed communications apparatus comprising the steps of:

• generating, an optical signal having a plurality of chirped-pulse wavelength division multiplexed channels;
• splitting said optical signal into a plurality of signals;
• delaying, each one of said plurality of signals by a different amount of time;
• modulating each one of said delayed signals;
• and
• combining the modulated signals into a single signal such that individual WDM channels are in temporally spaced relation.