Current Developments in Optical Fiber Technology

Innovations in optical fiber technology are revolutionizing world communications. Newly developed fiber amplifiers allow for direct transmission of highspeed signals over transcontinental distances without the need for electronic regeneration. Optical fibers find new applications in data processing. The impact of fiber materials, devices, and systems on communications in the coming decades will create an abundance of primary literature and the need for up-todate reviews. An optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. A fiber optic cable consists of a bundle of glass threads, each of which is capable of transmitting messages modulated onto light waves. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber and find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than wire cables. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with lesser amounts of loss; in addition, fibers are also immune to electromagnetic interference, a problem from which metal wires suffer excessively. Fibers are also used for illumination, and are wrapped in bundles so that they may be used to carry images, thus allowing viewing in confined spaces, as in the case of a fiberscope. Specially designed fibers are also used for a variety of other applications, some of them being fiber optic sensors and fiber lasers. This book entitled Current Developments in Optical Fiber Technology is a compilation of works giving contemporary improvements and advancement in optical fiber technology related to the next generation optical communication, system and network, sensor, laser, measurement, characterization and devices.