An apparatus for adaptively receiving, compensating, and transmitting data in optical fiber communication networks are provided. A receiver according to this invention includes at least one optical device for compensating distortion in a channel of an optical signal, at least one photodetector circuit for converting the optical signal into an electrical signal, at least one electronic device for further compensating the distortion in the electronic signal, a clock and data recovery circuit for generating a recovered data signal and a clock signal from the electronic signal, and a post-processing circuit.