A tutorial introduction to fiber optics, which explains fundamental concepts of fiber optics, components and systems with minimal math. With more than 100,000 copies in print, Understanding Fiber Optics has been widely used in the classroom, for self study, and in corporate training since the first edition was published in 1987. This is a reprint of the 5th edition, originally published by Pearson Education and now available at low cost from Laser Light Press.

Prologue: May 16, 1960, Malibu, California. 1. The Laser Race. 2. Microwaves Are the First Step. 3. Leaping a Few Orders of Magnitude: The Optical Maser. 4. The Outsider's Invention: The Laser. 5. Bell Labs Takes the Early Lead. 6. Stimulating the Emission of Money. 7. A Spreading Interest in the Laser Idea. 8. A Pause to Compare Notes. 9. A Dark Horse Joins the Race. 10. "Everybody knew it was going to happen within months"--Bell Labs Feels Safely in the Lead. 11. A Crash Program at "Pipsqueak Inc.". 12. The Siren Call of the Laser. 13. The Critical Question of Efficiency

This text presents the history of the development of fibre optic technology, explaining the scientific challenges that needed to be overcome, the range of applications and future potential for this fundamental communications technology.

Describes the wonders of light and optics, exploring such developments as lasers, fiber optics, and holography.

Describes the various factors that change the shape of coastlines including storms, natural erosion, and rising sea levels. Also discusses the future implications of these changes on coastal and low-lying centers of population and what can be done to protect the coastlines and slow the process of change.

The expanded fourth edition of the book that offers an essential introduction to laser technology and the newest developments in the field The revised and updated fourth edition of Understanding Lasers offers an essential guide and introduction that explores how lasers work, what they do, and how they are applied in the real world. The author—a Fellow of The Optical Society—reviews the key concepts of physics and optics that are essential for understanding lasers and explains how lasers operate. The book also contains information on the optical accessories used with lasers. Written in non-technical terms, the book gives an overview of the wide-variety laser types and configurations. Understanding Lasers covers fiber, solid-state, excimer, helium-neon, carbon dioxide, free-electron lasers, and more. In addition, the book also explains concepts such as the difference between laser oscillation and amplification, the importance of laser gain, and tunable lasers. The updated fourth edition highlights the most recent research and development in the field. This important resource: Includes a new chapter on fiber lasers and amplifiers Reviews new topics on physics of optical fibers and fiber lasers, disk lasers, and Ytterbium lasers Contains new sections on Laser Geometry and Implications, Diode Laser Structures, Optimal Parametric Sources, and 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Puts the focus on research and emerging developments in areas such as spectroscopy, slow light, laser cooling, and extremely precise measurements Contains appendices, glossary, and index that help make this book a useful reference Written for engineering and physics students, engineers, scientists, and technicians, the fourth edition of Understanding Lasers contains the basic concepts of lasers and the most recent advances in the technology.

The whole story of laser weapons with a focus on its many interesting characters and sometimes bizarre schemes The laser--a milestone invention of the mid-twentieth century--quickly captured the imagination of the Pentagon as the key to the ultimate weapon. Veteran science writer Jeff Hecht tells the inside story of the adventures and misadventures of scientists and military strategists as they exerted Herculean though often futile efforts to adapt the laser for military uses. From the 1950s' sci-fi vision of the death ray, through the Reagan administration's Star Wars missile defense system, to more promising developments today, Hecht provides an entertaining history. As the author illustrates, there has always been a great deal of enthusiasm and false starts surrounding lasers. He describes a giant laser that filled a Boeing 747, lasers powered like rocket engines, plans for an orbiting fleet of robotic laser battle stations to destroy nuclear missiles, claims that nuclear bombs could produce intense X-ray laser beams, and a scheme to bounce laser beams off giant orbiting relay mirrors. Those far-out ideas remain science fiction. Meanwhile, in civilian sectors, the laser is already being successfully used in fiber optic cables, scanners, medical devices, and industrial cutting tools. Now those laser cutting tools are leading to a new generation of laser weapons that just might stop insurgent rockets. Replete with interesting characters, bizarre schemes, and wonderful inventions, this is a well-told tale about the evolution of technology and the reaches of human ambition.

Describes the wonders of light and optics, exploring such developments as lasers, fiber optics, and holography.

An instruction manual for use with the fifth edition of Understanding Fiber Optics by Jeff Hecht. This book includes an overview for instructors, answers to quizzes and "questions to think about" published in the book, worked-out solutions to selected problems with equations, and additional material to supplement the book. This is the original manual prepared and published in 2006 along with the fifth edition of Understanding Fiber Optics, with only minimal updates.

Jeff Hecht details the intriguing story of laser-technology development throughory. The revised edition of Laser Pioneers describes a race for innovativee of thenatingers, process of invention.