Newton, Prisms, and the "Opticks" of Tunable Lasers

This article focuses on how Newton's original prismatic configurations laid the foundations for some of the principles applied today in the optics of tunable lasers.

by F. J. Duarte

Designing Cost-Effective Precision Optical Mounts

A look at what issues an engineer faces in the production of opto-mechanical mounts, including performance, materials, site and the manufacturing process itself.

by Sherwin Cabatic and Kathryn D. Li Dessau

Dispersion Managed Solitons: The Key to Terabit Per Second Optical Fiber Communication Systems

An update on the dispersion managed solitons that can resolve the technical problems that have prevented the use of the soliton transmission format in optical fiber communication systems.

by Wladek Forysiak, Jeroen H. B. Nijhof and Nick J. Doran

Scatterings

Research and Industry News

Jurgen R. Meyer-Arendt: In Memoriam / Lamb Elected Honorary Member of OSA / National Academy of Engineers Elects Three OSA Members to Membership / Possible Power Source Found for Fiber Optic Lasers / Imaging the Far Side of the Sun / Launching Mishap Lays Waste to Astro-E Satellite / Optical Switching: Shakeup in Electronics / Aurora Borealis Mimicked at Subway Station / Optical Sensors to Control Windshield Wipers

Light Touch

A Microscope Without a Lens

A snapshot of early 20^th century American history in the form of an article from The Boy Mechanic: 700 Things for Boys to Do.

Capital View

Eyes on the States

Examining the evolution of the states as active players in promoting science and technology.

Legal Lens

Inventorship

In this month’s column, we take a look at the related issue of how the term “inventor” is defined for purposes of obtaining a patent.

Industry

Corporate Connections

Executive Forum at OFC 2000 / New Corporate Associates / New Forum on Manpower Issues Scheduled for June 2000! / Breakfast Briefing Series Update

OSA Awards

OSA 2000 Awards and Fellows

OSA is proud to announce the award winners selected at the February 2000 meeting of the Board of Directors.

OFC Technical Review

A review of the 25th annual Optical Fiber Communications (OFC) Conference.

CLEO Exhibit Preview

A preview of exhibitors that will attend CLEO 2000.

Electronic Information

A Next Generation Internet Demonstration

A discussion of the demonstrations in the Next Generation Internet (NGI) tent at OFC 2000.

Engineering

Fourier Optics, Part 1

How decomposition into, and subsequent superposition of, plane waves can lead straightforwardly to the near-field (Fresnel) and far-field (Fraunhofer) formulas, elucidate the Fourier transforming properties of a lens, and capture the essence of Abbe’s theory of image formation.

Plasmat Objective for Large-Format Photography

This month’s design is a plasmat type, which is the most common type of lens used in large format.

Recent Research

Post Deadline Papers from OFC 2000

A 10 Gb/S, 160 Gchips/S Ocdma coding/decoding system based on superstructure fiber / Record 1 watt fiber-coupled-power 1,480-Nm diode laser pump for Raman and Erbium-doped fiber Amplification / Ultra-dense terabit capacity WDM transmission in L-band / 10x10 Gb/S cross-phase Modulation suppressor using WDM narrow band Fiber Bragg grating / A flexible metro WDM ring using wavelength-independent subscriber equipment to share bandwidth / 2,410 Km all-optical network field trial with 10 Gb/S DWDM transmission / Field demonstration of distributed Raman amplification with 3.8 Db Q-improvement for 5x120 Km transmission / 10 Gb/S PMD compensation field experiment over 452 Km using principal state transmission method / All-optical time-slot-interchange and wavelength conversion using difference-frequency-generation and FBGS

E-Trade Show Launched!

An introduction to the “virtual tradeshow” meeting technology that was launched at the OFC 2000.

Engineering

Engineering & Laboratory Notes

Normalized Parameter Relating the Spherical Aberration of a Thin Lens to the Diffraction Limit and Fiber Coupling Efficiency / Measurements of ∂n/∂T in Solid-State Dye-Laser Gain Media / An Optical Method to Measure Time Response in Scanning Spectrophotometers

From the President

From the President

A look ahead at CLEO/QELS 2000, and a look back at the highlights of OFC 2000.

Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Reviews of Advances in Lasers and Applications by M.F. Mahmood / Laser Ablation and Desorption Volume 30, Experimental Methods in the Physical Science by David Doerr / Nonlinear Optics in Metals by Ibrahim Abdulhalim