Brief history of optical fibre communications

Zervas, M.N. and Payne, D.N. (2008) Brief history of optical fibre communications. 10th Anniversary International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON 2008), Athens, Greece. 22 - 26 Jun 2008.

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

Optical communications date back to antiquity and express the constant need of the mankind to exchange information and break geographical, social and economic boundaries. This has culminated in the phenomenal expansion of the internet and the unparallel connectivity provided by the world-wide web.In this presentation, we will briefly summarise the main advances in optical fibres and breakthroughs in amplifier technologies that enabled the fully transparent world-wide optical networks that we all enjoy today. The presentation will also follow the progress in information-carrying capacity of modern optical networks and transmission systems highlighting and discussing the main underlying technologies and state-of-the-art results. It will also attempt to briefly discuss some of the research opportunities and challenges that the development of future optical communication systems is likely to throw at us.

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