City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics

NOTES TO PAGES 110–119 299
25. Karbowiak ‘‘Optical waveguides’’ (see note p. 103).
26. Charles K. Kao, ‘‘Historical notes on optical fiber communications,’’ unpublished
manuscript, p. 13.
27. Kao interview.
28. Hockham interview.
29. He attributed the estimate to a Mme. A. Winter, evidently a glass specialist.
Kao, ‘‘Historical notes’’ (p. 11).
30. Robert D. Maurer, ‘‘Light scattering by glasses,’’ Journal of Chemical Physics
25, p. 1206 (1956).
31. Kao, ‘‘Historical notes’’ (p. 13).
32. Ibid. (p. 16).
33. Murray Ramsay, interview, Dec. 2, 1994; Ramsay, letter to author, Jan.
12, 1997.
34. Kao, ‘‘Historical notes’’ (p. 16).
35. K. C. Kao and G. A. Hockham, ‘‘Dielectric-fibre surface waveguides for optical
frequencies,’’ Proceedings IEE 113 pp. 1151–1158, July 1966.
36. Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, ‘‘STL develops techniques
aimed at communication by guided light,’’ press release dated Jan. 27, 1966.
37. ‘‘Optical waveguides: single-mode propagation in optical fibers and films,’’
Wireless World 72, p. 194 (Apr. 1966).
38. ITT Communications also put out a press release, and the editor evidently
did not know ITT owned STL, so he thought that two companies had developed
the same, technology separately. ‘‘Two British firms build tiny optical waveguides,’’
Laser Focus 1, Apr. 1966, pp. 3–4.
39. Searches by author.
40. Stewart E. Miller, ‘‘Communication by laser,’’ Scientific American 214, No.
1, pp. 19–27 (Jan. 1966).
41. Alain Werts, ‘‘Propagation de la lumiere coherente dans les fibres optiques,’’
L’Onde Electronique 46, pp. 967–980 (Sept. 1966), cites a paper by Kao,
‘‘Dielectric fiber surface waveguides for optical frequencies,’’ evidently an internal
STL paper or a preprint. Kao used the same title for both his Delft paper and the
paper in Proceedings of the IEE.
42. Werts telephone interview.
43. Werts, ‘‘Propagation de la lumiere.’’ The Journal does not indicate a submission
date, but it probably was much later than the Kao and Hockham paper.
One reason the paper has been largely forgotten was its publication in French.
44. Spitz telephone interview.
Chapter 10
1. Charles K. Kao, interview, Apr. 9, 1995.
2. The light source he spoke of was the semiconductor laser. Charles K. Kao,
telephone interview, July 14, 1994.
3. Richard B. Dyott, telephone interview, Jan. 11, 1994.
4. Richard B. Dyott, ‘‘Some memories of the early years with optical fibers at
the British Post Office: a personal account,’’ IEE Proceedings 133 J, No. 3, pp. 199–
201 (June 1986); also telephone interview, June 23, 1994.
5. Jack Tillman, telephone interview, Feb. 9, 1995.
6. John Bray, telephone interview, June 22, 1994.
7. Prestel was the archetypal videotex system, which used electronic adapters