City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics

NOTES TO PAGES 171–174 311
invaluable check on fallible memories because it summarizes the Bell Labs program
when it was written in August, 1972.
72. Although he had already suffered one heart attack, Kompfner took on two
professorships, dividing his time between Oxford and Stanford Universities.
73. In Europe, patent applications are published a year after they are filed. In
the United States, they are not published until the application is granted, typically
a few years after filing.
74. John MacChesney, interview, May 1995.
75. John MacChesney, telephone interview, July 17, 1996.
76. Jaeger lecture notes mention a paper that is probably the MacChesney one
listed in n. 77.
77. J. B. MacChesney et al, ‘‘Low-loss silica core-borosilicate clad optical fiber
waveguide,’’ Applied Physics Letters 23 pp. 340–341 (Sep. 15, 1973).
78. J. B. MacChesney et al., ‘‘Preparation of low loss optical fibers using simultaneous
vapor phase deposition and fusion,’’ Proceedings of the International
Congress on Glass (Vol. 6; American Ceramic Society, Cincinatti 1974, pp. 40–
45).
79. Lazay interview.
80. David Hanna, interview, May 22, 1995.
81. D. A. Payne and W. A. Gambling, ‘‘New silica-based low-loss optical fiber,’’
Electronics Letters 10, pp. 289–290 (July 25, 1974).
82. They made fibers with loss under 5 decibels per kilometer by 1974 and
eventually reached 2.5 decibels in the late 1970s, but the process was not adaptable
to making graded-index fibers with high transmission capacity. J. R. Tillman,
‘‘Research,’’ Post Office Electrical Engineer’s Journal 74, pp. 282–297 (Oct. 1981);
Jim Ainslie and Clive Day, interviews, Dec. 1, 1994.
83. Lucy telephone interview.
84. D. L. Bisbee, ‘‘Optical fiber joining technique,’’ Bell System Technical Journal
50, pp. 3153–3158 (Dec. 1971).
85. R. B. Dyott, J. R. Stern, and J. H. Stewart, ‘‘Fusion junctions for glass-fiber
waveguides,’’ Electronics Letters 8, No. 11, pp. 290–292 (June 1, 1972).
86. Y. Kohranzadeh, ‘‘Hot splices of optical waveguide fibers,’’ Applied Optics
15, No. 3, pp. 793–795 (Mar. 1976); D. L. Bisbee, ‘‘Splicing silica fibers with an
electric arc,’’ Applied Optics 15, No. 3, pp. 796–799 (Mar. 1976).
87. Jack S. Cook, ‘‘Communication by optical fiber,’’ Scientific American 229,
No. 5, pp. 28–35 (Nov. 1973).
88. Tingye Li, ‘‘Advances in optical fiber transmission research,’’ Proceedings
of the Symposium on Optical and Acoustical Micro-electronics (Polytechnic Institute
of New York, 1974, pp. 97–108).
89. Richard Smith, interview, June 11, 1997; Ira Jacobs, ‘‘Lightwave system
development.’’
90. Ira Jacobs, interview, Nov. 19, 1996.
91. Ira Jacobs, ‘‘Lightwave system development.’’
92. Jacobs interview.
93. E. F. O’Neill, ed., A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: Vol.
7. Transmission Technology 1925–1975 (AT&T Bell Labs, New York, 1985; see
pp. 665–668).
94. Victor K. McElheny, ‘‘Bell testing a high-density phone system’’ New York
Times, May 15, 1975, p. 86; in 1970 the target date was 1973.