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Physics in the Whirlwind of Optical Communications

SEP 01, 2000
Accelerating demands for high‐speed communications are driving rapid innovations in lightwave communication, including versatile, high‐bandwidth fibers, sources, amplifiers, and switches.

DOI: 10.1063/1.1325229

Gordon A. Thomas
David A. Ackerman
Paul R. Prucnal
S. Lance Cooper

Technology is providing people all over the world with much better ways of communicating than ever before, and the winds of change have whipped up the desire to exchange more of everything from messages to movies. This demand for more bandwidth in communications is powering a whirlwind of changes in technology. As Dorothy said to her dog in the Land of Oz, “Toto, I have a feeling that we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

More about the Authors

Gordon A. Thomas. New Jersey Institute of Technology.

David A. Ackerman. Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies.

Paul R. Prucnal. Lightwave Communications Laboratory, Princeton University.

S. Lance Cooper. University of Illinois, Urbana‐Champaign.

This Content Appeared In
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Volume 53, Number 9

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