Optical Fibre as a Transmission Medium

Abstract

Since ancient times, the necessity to use the light as a way of communication in the signalling transmission emerged, but all the attempts failed because the distance transmission was not allowed. In 1962, the semiconductor laser was invented as a transmitting source of light — known as optical fibre — and its offered advantages overcome the existing uncertainty. The light propagation, through an optical fibre, is based in the principle of total internal reflection. With these reflections, the transmission of the signal can be obtained through the fibre hundred miles away. This article is the first part on the history of optical fibre; the rest will be published in the next numbers of this magazine.