Chapter 2 Fiber Optics

A Brief History of Fiber Optics

Lesson 4
 Match the questions with the answers:
1. When were the first attempts to communicate
noticed in the past?
2. Were early long distance communication
techniques developed by scientists?
3. What was a larger variant of optical communication
techniques in the late 18th century?
4. What was the speed of transmitting the messages
through optical telegraph?
5. Why was the development of fiber optics
communication delayed till nowadays?
a. Necessary materials for
transmitting information with help
of light weren’t discovered yet.
b. They go back hundreds of
years.
c. It was the electric telegraph.
d. The rate of transmitting of
information was hundred of words per
minute.
e. They were invented by native
Indians.
 Now read the text and correct the information in each
answer in the previous activity
The earliest attempts to communicate via light undoubtedly go
back thousands of years. Early long distance communication
techniques, such as "smoke signals", developed by native North
Americans and the Chinese were, in fact, optical communication
links. A larger scale version of this optical communication
technique was the "optical telegraph" deployed in France and
elsewhere in the late 18th century. The "optical telegraph" was
a series of tall towers that passed along messages at a rate of a
few words per minute by means of large semaphore flags that
could be manipulated to spell out words. However, the
development of fiber optic communication awaited the
discovery of TIR (Total Internal Reflection) and a host of
additional electronic and optical innovations.
 Match the questions with the answer:
a. Who was Jean-Daniel Colladon? 1. He was the first who
b. How old was Jean-Daniel Colladon? demonstrated light
c. What was Jean-Daniel Colladon famous for? refraction in the prism

a. What was the main idea of his 2. The procedure of his

demonstration? initial experiment was to
b. What was the finding of his demonstration? show how the light
c. Where did he demonstrate his experiment? refracts in the water jet.

a. Who gave him help with the experiment? 3. He solved the problem
b. What solution did he find? by collecting and piping
c. Was the problem solved? laser through a tube to
the lecture table.
Now read the text and correct the information in the answer in the
previous activity
Jean-Daniel Colladon, a 38-year-old Swiss professor at University of Geneva, demonstrated light guiding or TIR
for the first time in 1841. He wanted to show the fluid flow through various holes of a tank and the breaking up
of water jets.

However, in the lecture hall the audience could not see the flowing water. He solved the problem by collecting
and piping sunlight through a tube to the lecture table. The light was focused through the water tank and was
made to incident on the edge of the jet at a glancing angle. TIR trapped the light in the liquid forcing it to follow
the curved path until the water jet broke up. Instead of traveling in a straight line, the light followed the
curvature of the water flow.

Colladon later on wrote: "I managed to illuminate the interior of a stream in a dark space. I have discovered
that this strange arrangement offers in results one of the most beautiful, and most curious experiments that one
can perform in a course on Optics." ( Comptes Rendes, 15, 800-802 Oct. 24, 1842). Colladon demonstrated
light guiding in water jets through a number of public performances to the urban intelligentsia of Paris.

Auguste de la Rive, another Geneva Physicist, duplicated Colladon's experiment using electric arc light.
Colladon designed a spectacular device using arc light for Conservatory of Arts and Science of Paris in 1841, Oct.