30, 20, and 10 Years Ago in OPN

“In 1985-1986, Southampton University reported a new technique for the fabrication of low-loss rare-earth-doped fibers, leading to a prolific generation of novel fiber laser sources. In particular, the element Erbium … was immediately identified as potentially important for applications in optical communications … Because of their multiple advantages, [Er-doped fiber amplifiers] are likely to have a major impact in future optical communications and even open the vistas of new generations of lightwave communication systems.”