OFS: Laboratories - History of Innovation

History of Innovation

The corporate culture of OFS today is rooted in the historic achievements of AT&T, Bell Labs and Lucent Technologies. For 12 decades, brilliant inventors and engineers from these companies poured their creativity and ingenuity into the OFS heritage.


Mission
History of Innovation
Patents & Awards

The history of OFS Laboratories dates back to the early days of optical fiber communication, and through its corporate heritage, to the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell. Starting with the invention of MCVD (modified chemical vapor deposition), the entire technology for preform fabrication, fiber draw and fiber design and characterization were developed within the Bell Labs research group and moved into manufacturing in Norcross, Georgia, U.S.A. The origins of fiber manufacture - and the very foundation of OFS - can be traced directly back to the group.

Today, OFS Laboratories is staffed with many former Bell Labs scientists and engineers. The current staff participated directly in many of the exceptional innovations mentioned below - and some served under mentors who pioneered fiber optics decades ago.

When Furukawa acquired OFS from Lucent Technologies, scientists brought more than their Bell Labs heritage to OFS Laboratories. They also brought a substantial base of intellectual property representing the full gamut of optical technologies. We continue to build on that asset and now hold more than 600 domestic and foreign patents. Many of these patents have had a substantial impact on worldwide applications of optical technologies.

Lighting the way to optical communications

Innovations from OFS Laboratories and our corporate ancestors

2010	Development of first flexible buffer tube ADSS cable for improved handling
2010	Development of first gel-free ADSS (PowerGuide™ ShortSpan DT Cable)
2008	First ultra bend-insensitive solid fiber (EZ-Bend™ Optical Technology)
2008	First MDU distribution solution (V-Linx™ Spool & Play Solution)
2007	First bend-insensitive medical/surgical fibers
2007	First radial fiber routing (ORBITAL™ Fiber Distribution Cabinet)
2006	First bend optimized ZWP fiber
2006	Development of first drop ADSS cable (PowerGuide TTH Cable)
2005	First low water peak (LWP) nonzero dispersion fiber (NZDF) fibers
2005	Development of first ribbon ADSS Cable (PowerGuide AccuTube® Cable)
2003	First ultra-low PMD fiber
2002	First fully compensated, raman-ready, long and ultra-long haul fiber
2002	First full-spectrum zero water peak (ZWP) fiber
2002	Single jacket ADSS Cable (PowerGuide ShortSpan Cable) developed for short span light duty applications
2001	First dispersion slope compensation modules
2001	UltraWave™ Fiber: First ocean-matched fibers
2001	First fully-compensated, Raman-ready, long- and ultra-long fiber
2000	LaserWave™ Fiber: First 10 Gbs multimode fiber
1999	TrueWave® SRS Fiber: First low-slope ocean fiber
1999	First demonstration of ultra-dense WDM transmission of 1,022 channels on a single fiber
1998	TrueWave® XL Fiber: First large area NZDF ocean fiber
1998	First optical channel monitor
1998	TrueWave® RS Fiber: First NZDF for C&L bands
1998	AllWave® Fiber: First zero water peak fiber
1996	First 24-fiber ribbon cable (DuctSaver?+ Cable)
1996	1585 WDM fiber: First ocean WDM fiber
1995	First LC connector to make connecting fiber as easy as plugging in a telephone
1994	1561 dispersion shifted fiber (DSF): First ocean high-speed fiber
1993	First fiber designed for long-haul dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM)
1993	TrueWave® Fiber: First non-zero dispersion fiber (NZDF)
1993	First Raman laser, which overcomes the adverse effects of frequency shifts in individual light streams
1993	First attenuator and filter fibers for optical devices
1992	First commercial Erbium doped fiber
1987	First optical amplifier, initiating the DWDM revolution
1984	First demonstration of laser transmission rates above one gigabit per second
1982	Invention of plasma enhanced MCVD, enabling precise deposit of materials needed in a fiber's core
1980	Fiber for the first long-haul backbone (Boston-to-Washington, D.C.)
1979	Discovery of optical solitons
1974	Invention of the modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) process for fabricating silica optical fibers
1970	Invention of the distributed feedback (DFB) laser
1969	First paper describing integrated optical service with planar waveguides formed by photolithography
1960	Invention of the Helium-neon laser, the first continuous wave laser
1958	Milestone paper on the principles of amplifying light -leading to the invention of the laser, the first light source powerful enough to transmit information.
1940s	Development of radar and microwave adsorption spectroscopy
1930s	Development of theories and components for millimeter waveguide transmission

OFS History

The corporate culture of OFS today is rooted in the historic achievements of Western Electric, AT&T, Bell Labs and Lucent Technologies. For 12 decades, brilliant inventors and engineers from these companies poured their creativity and ingenuity into the OFS heritage.

The story begins in 1880

After inventing the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell built what he believed was his greatest invention - the photophone. Patented in 1889, the world's first optical transmission system could transmit voices over short distances using sunlight and a crude assortment of mirrors and electric gadgetry.

However, the corporation Bell co-founded - the Bell Telephone Company - remained focused on commercializing the telephone. Although Albert Einstein foresaw laser technology in 1917, the field of optical communications languished for decades.

How can light turn corners?

During the 1950s, scientists around the world were closing in on the mysteries of lightwave communications - a technology with a stunning array of applications still emerging today. Two problems bedeviled them: How to get lightwaves to go around corners, and how to create a reliable transmission path immune to adverse weather conditions.

At Bell Labs, engineers knew that transparent rods of glass or plastic could be stretched into long, flexible optical fibers. These "waveguides" could solve the weather interference and line-of-sight problems. The real challenge, though, was to design a waveguide system that could carry lightwaves as economically as copper transmits electrons.

The leap to lasers

A major breakthrough came in 1958, when two researchers associated with Bell Labs published a paper on the principles of amplifying light. Even before their patent was issued in 1960, the paper triggered a gold rush of innovations related to the laser, the first light source powerful enough to transmit information. Looking back at that era, Scientific American noted, "Patent piled on patent [as] Bell Labs and others churned out a stream of innovations that continues unabated today."

Taking fiber to the marketplace

AT&T, Bell Labs and Lucent didn't stop at the patent office - they pioneered the application of fiber optic technology to real-world situations. A few examples of these milestones:

1977:	field testing of the first commercial use of optical fiber, in a Chicago telephone system
1980:	construction of "the Northeast Corridor," a Bell-designed lightwave route from Boston to Washington, D.C.
1987:	manufacture of fiber for the first trans-Atlantic fiber optic cable
1988:	manufacture of fiber for the first trans-Pacific fiber optic cable
1999:	demonstration of ultra-dense WDM transmission of 1,022 channels on a single fiber

OFS takes the reins

In the tradition of our predecessors, OFS and OFS Laboratories will continue to shape the future of optical communications and fiber optic technology. We don't know what the next 120 years will bring, but we know this: We'll still be making waves.

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