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Engineering and the Advancement of Human Welfare 10 Outstanding Achievements 1964-1989 (1989) / Chapter Skim
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Fiber-Optic Communication
Pages 38-41

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From page 38...
... That vision and the invention of lasers spurred research into the tremendous potential of light, which can carry thousands of times more information than either electric signals or radio waves The work led in 1970 to a very transparent glass thread whose appearance quickly opened the door to fiber-optic communication, a technology able to channel the flood of information into the twenty first century. Today's optical fiber is thinner than a human hair.
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From page 39...
... The infrared laser light used in optical telephone cables has a frequency of about 100 minion megahertz, 100 million times higher than a typical AM radio signal and 100 billion times higher than an electric telephone signal. Fiber-optic communication became practical with the development of fibers that carry light pulses a substantial distance F I B E R - O P T I C C O M M U N I C A T I O N The green light of a an argon laser flows through several miles of experimental optical fiber wound around a spool.
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From page 40...
... Long Lines laid more than 3,600 miles of the TAT-8 fiber-optic cable, from the United States to a point off the coast of Europe. From there, British and French ships laid branch cables to their respective countries.
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From page 41...
... At present, copper wires connect homes to central telephone exchanges, where electric signals are converted into light pulses that are channeled into the main lines. Telephone authorities in the United States, Great Britain, Japan, France, Canada, and West Germany have been running optical fibers to homes on an experimental basis since 1980.
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Key Terms

  • radio waves
  • optical fiber
  • electric telephone
  • carry light
  • light pulses

  • main lines
  • laser light
  • electric signals
  • telephone lines
  • telephone calls

  • copper wires
  • copper cable
  • cable laid
  • copper cables
  • relatively secure

  • substantial distance
  • sensing movement
  • laid branch
  • external halo
  • laser flows

  • construction cost
  • challenge closer
  • appearance quickly
  • light signals
  • drilling tools

  • copper telephone
  • telephone exchanges
  • welldefined pulses
  • tap electric
  • million miles


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