Advances in optical fiber fabrication using vapor phase processing techniques

Progress in fabrication rate and materials has made possible improved fiber designs and enhanced optical properties.

by Alan J. Morrow

Radar and electronic warfare applications of multigigahertz optical components and systems

Recent advances in wideband components for use in optical fiber systems have been very impressive. Laser diodes have shown 3 dB modulation band-widths near 20 GHz at room temperature and external modulators with similar high-frequency performance have been reported. Bandwidths as high as 100 GHz have been achieved in semiconductor photodiodes. Performance of these components at such high frequencies opens a new realm of possibilities for the use of optics in military systems.

by Henry F. Taylor

NBS: Meeting industry standards?

This month we leave the usual optical standards reporting per se and review a document of wider yet related interest. In October 1986, Congress charged the director of the National Bureau of Standards to prepare a report outlining the Bureau's support of industry and other government agencies in the area of "process and quality control and calibration programs".

by Robert E. Parks

Contemplating an invention? Frederic Ives would say Go for it!

A picture isn't worth a thousand words if it looks fuzzy, and Ives used optics to attack that printing problem.

by Elaine Carol Main

Deamplification of quantum noise and quantum nondemolition detection in optical fibers

To understand how lower noise levels are possible and how low noise light might be produced, one must build a new model of quantum noise.

by Marc D. Levenson and Robert M. Shelby