| Early
Fiber-Optic Technology Development |
| 1960 |
| 1970 |
| 1980 |
| 1990 |
| 2000 |
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|
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| 1958: |
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| Schawlow |
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| &
Townes |
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| (Bell
Labs) |
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| invent
laser |
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|
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|
|
| 1960’s: |
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| Corning
invents, |
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| perfects
silica |
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| optical fiber |
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|
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|
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| 1970’s, 80’s: |
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| Faster,
higher-performance |
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| lasers,
modulators, optical |
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| amplifiers,
and detectors |
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|
|
|
|
| 1962: |
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| Semiconductor |
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| laser invented |
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| by GE, IBM,
MIT |
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|
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|
|
| 1990: |
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| Cox et al.
demonstrate first |
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| analog
fiber-optic link with |
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| intrinsic RF gain |
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| ? ? ? ? ? ! |
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| 8 |