How does Prokhorov's laser work relate to modern fiber optics?
The laser is the engine of modern fiber-optic communications. My work on stimulated emission and resonators directly enabled the coherent light sources that drive these systems. In the 1960s, I studied the interaction of laser light with matter, including nonlinear effects like frequency doubling, which are now used in wavelength-division multiplexing. The open resonator concept I developed is analogous to the laser diodes used in transmitters today. Furthermore, my research on high-power lasers contributed to the development of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, which boost signals without conversion to electricity. Without the maser and laser, the internet as we know it would not exist. The laser is a solution in search of a problem, and fiber optics became one of its greatest applications. I always believed that fundamental physics, pursued rigorously, yields practical dividends—and this is a prime example.
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