Book excerpt: What telecommunications professionals need to know about nonlinear optical communication systems This book responds to the need for a coherent approach to nonlinear optical communication systems. It gives telecommunications researchers and engineers a handle on the unique problems presented by the proliferation of optical technologies in telecommunications in recent years and provides problem-solving strategies for various network functions and operations. The product of a collaborative effort by four well-known researchers in telecommunications transmission systems, this volume covers design basics, network performance, and state-of-the-art system analysis tools and is supplemented with hundreds of illustrations as well as appendices containing the necessary mathematical derivations. It details: Design principles of the network transmission layer with optical technologies and fiber nonlinearities in place. Performance evaluation for a variety of optical transmission systems operating under nonlinear propagation regimes. Local area networks, regional networks, and geographical networks—their potential transmission capacity and possible problems. Examples of effective design from the most promising nonlinear optical transmission systems. The methodology for design and analysis of a generic system