City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics

156 CITY OF LIGHT
Nick Holonyak, Jr., a diode laser pioneer who had learned Russian from his
coal-miner father. 40 It was a rare window of scientific cooperation during the
Cold War. Alferov stopped in Philadelphia in April 1971 to receive an award
from the Franklin Institute for his laser work. When he returned home, Soviet
officials restricted his travel to the West for the next three years. 41 With limited
resources, the Russians had gone about as far as they could.
‘‘A Pocket Laser’’
Bell Labs had more ambitious plans when heralding its new laser at an August
31 press conference. Bell management probably didn’t know about the
Russian claims, but they must have heard about Corning’s low-loss fiber.
Maurer already had told Stew Miller, and Bell executives understood public
relations. Announcing the laser breakthrough would turn the press spotlight
to Bell achievements and away from its fiber-optic shortfall. The New York
Times duly reported ‘‘a low-cost, pocket-size, reliable and versatile infrared
laser—the first such device that may be practical for use in communications
systems.’’ Rudy Kompfner told the Times: ‘‘This is the laser we’ve been waiting
for, although it will be a few more years before we can actually use it in a
communications system.’’ An unidentified Bell Labs spokesman predicted lasers
would play a major role in communications, ‘‘when picture phones become
common, when high-speed computer conversations are more widespread,
and when communication needs in general expand beyond current
carrying capacity.’’ 42
Interestingly, Kompfner was more cautious with the technical press. He
told Laser Focus that he did not expect the new diode lasers to be used in
practical communications for many years, probably well into the 1980s. Some
system specialists at Holmdel were less enthusiastic in private, saying diode
lasers might be interesting in 20 years. 43 In fact, as Kompfner well knew, the
room-temperature diode laser was a symbolic breakthrough, not a practical
device. Panish and Hayashi did well to make one laser that lasted a couple
of hours; AT&T wanted light sources that lasted for many years routinely,
and those clearly were far away.
Competitors were close behind. Kressel soon had room-temperature lasers
at RCA. So did Standard Telecommunication Labs. 44 In Japan, the Nippon
Electric Co. duplicated the Bell Labs feat in October, making lasers with
slightly lower threshold currents. 45 NEC gained another key player a year
later, when Hayashi returned to Japan, lured by a tempting job offer and
worried his daughters were becoming too American. 46
The Reliability Problem
The key issue with lasers was reliability. Developers measured lifetimes in
seconds, minutes or—at best—hours. Shifting to a stripe geometry did not