optical link

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An optical link is a telecommunications link that consists of a single end-to-end optical circuit. A cable of optical fibers, possibly concatenated into a dark fiber link, is the simplest form of an optical link.{{Cite book |last=III |first=Charles H. Cox |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5qbHrM_8P9gC&dq=%22Optical+link%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA3 |title=Analog Optical Links: Theory and Practice |date=2 November 2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-02778-6 |pages=1–2 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Koike |first=Yasuhiro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OT2sBgAAQBAJ |title=Fundamentals of Plastic Optical Fibers |date=16 February 2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-3-527-41006-4 |page=119 |language=en}}

Other forms of optical link can include single-"colour" links over a wavelength-division multiplexing infrastructure, and/or links that use optical amplifiers to compensate for attenuation over long distances.{{Cite book |last=Hemmati |first=Hamid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cj52X7jK5OgC&dq=%22Optical+link%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA100 |title=Deep Space Optical Communications |date=5 June 2006 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-04240-3 |page=91 |language=en}}

Other forms of optical links include free-space optical telecommunication links.

In the rail transport sector, optical links are used in two forms depending on whether the feeding station is a main station or not. Thus main stations are called 'long halls', and all remaining stations are said to be 'short halls'.