Lightwave Telecommunication

MAY 01, 1985

High‐speed semiconductor lasers transmit billions of bits of data per second to sensitive solid‐state detectors through ultra‐low‐loss glass fibers more than a hundred kilometers long.

DOI: 10.1063/1.880971

Tingye Li

In less than 20 years, the transmission of information by optical fibers has advanced from a mere theoretical proposal to a pervasive commercial reality. The rapid progress that has led to important applications (figure 1) has been marked by innovative breakthroughs as well as steady advances in all areas of lightwave technology. The demonstration of the laser in 1960 sparked intense interest in light as a medium for transmitting information. At that time, scientists began extensive research on optical devices, techniques and subsystems for processing signals, and on a variety of transmission media such as line‐of‐sight atmospheric paths and beam waveguides with periodic focusing elements. During the early 1960s, work on optical fibers as waveguides was mainly theoretical, as the available glass fibers exhibited transmission losses around 1000 decibels per kilometer—about two orders of magnitude too large for use in telecommunications.

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More about the Authors

Tingye Li. AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, New Jersey.