How does Kao's work relate to modern internet speeds?
The future is in the glass, and that glass forms the backbone of much of today’s internet. My contribution was demonstrating that optical fibers could carry light signals with very low loss over significant distances. This low loss is precisely what allows for high bandwidth. Think of it as a wider, clearer highway for information. Instead of the signal fading quickly, it can travel much further before needing amplification. This efficiency is what enables the transmission of vast amounts of data, which is the essence of the high-speed internet we use for everything from streaming video to complex cloud computing. The key is to reduce the loss, allowing for more data.
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