Guided Optical Structures in the Military Environment

Abstract : A new technology has arisen and is expending quickly: single-mode structures in the form of optical fibres and planar waveguides operating at long wavelength, 1.3 micron and beyond, with minimum attenuation and dispersion. Fibres with attenuation below 0.5 dB/km, and bandwidths in the hundreds of GHz- Km have opened up long distance, repreaterless transmission on land and underwater. In addition, the single-mode structure has bred a new class of passive devices: sensors capable of detecting sound, magnetic field, motion, temperature, humidity and many other characteristics, all of them approaching the theoretical detection limit. New active components are developing: single mode, high efficiency, long-life laser chips operating at room temperature, electro-optic switches and components capable of generating new frequencies through Raman scattering and other nonlinear phenomena. This symposium brought together experts in optical structures and theory from military, industry and academia who discussed current advances in optical technology.