Photosensitivity in optical fiber waveguides: from discovery tocommercialization

摘要

The photosensitivity of germanium-doped-core optical fibers wasndiscovered more than twenty years ago. The discovery provided a meansnfor photoimprinting gratings in the core of optical fibers, andneventually photosensitivity became an important technology fornfiber-optic communications. The paper recounts briefly the story of thenphotosensitivity of optical fiber waveguides and the significantndevelopments that occurred on the journey from its discovery to itsncommercialization as is often the case with many inventions, thendiscovery was serendipitous. Furthermore, several technical andnnontechnical developments were necessary before the discovery could benexploited commercially. In the case of photosensitivity, the time spannfrom discovery to commercialization was relatively long-about 15 years