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FIBER
OPTICS
Optical
fiber is a critical component in the ongoing communications revolution,
especially with the emergence of the Internet and other high-speed data
applications.
The
cable TV industry, long-distance telephone services and computer networks
are the top three industries using and relying on advances in fiber optics.
Over 300 million kilometers of fiber have been installed worldwide, enough
to circle the globe 1,000 times. A
single optical fiber is able to transmit more information than thousands
of copper wires,
making it cheap and efficient.
Early research
While industry leaders Corning and AT&T; played lead roles, NSF-funded
research insolid-state
physics, ceramics/glass engineering and other areaswas
part of the knowledge base in the late 1960s, when the initial research
and development on optical fibers was done.
Federally funded science and engineering activities played a role, although
somewhat indirect, by helping to train doctoral scientists and engineers
in industrial research and development on optical fibers and related components
such as semiconductor lasers and by supporting basic research at materials
engineering centers.
According to SRI International of Arlington, VA, a private research firm,
NSF limited its organized effort to support optical communications research
to two areas with strong academic bases: integrated electro-optics and
network theory.
Thus, NSF played an important role in supporting research relevant to
the development of the nonfiber components and devices needed in a fiber-optic
communication system. Without these components, advances in the fiber
alone could not have produced the communications systems that we enjoy
today.
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