Next-generation internet, the future of telecom and a revolutionary fiber design at upcoming optics luncheon

Speakers will present some of the newest and most interesting topics in the science of fiber optics at a press luncheon to take place at OFC 2001--the 2001 Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibit--in Anaheim, California.

The luncheon will occur on Tuesday, March 20 at 11:30 AM in the Pulse Room in the Anaheim Hilton, right across the street from the Anaheim Convention Center. The list of speakers and their topics can be found below. Reporters wishing to attend should fill out the reply form at the end of this release or contact Rory McGee (rmcgee@aip.org, 301-209-3088)

OFC 2001 PRESS LUNCHEON
Anaheim, California
Tuesday, March 20
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

TRENDS AND UNCERTAINTIES IN THE FUTURE OF TELECOM
Robert Lucky
Vice President, Telecordia Technologies, New Jersey
rlucky@research.telcordia.com

A keynote speaker at this year's plenary session (Monday, March 19, 8:30-11 AM), Lucky will discuss the impact of changing technologies on networks, companies and economies. In addition to inventing the adaptive equalizer (a technique for correcting distortion in telephone signals--used in all high-speed data transmission today), Lucky writes a bimonthly article for Spectrum magazine on his observations about the engineering profession.

PUTTING THE PEDAL TO THE MEDAL ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY
Mari Maeda
Project Manager, Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA)
703-696-2255, mmaeda@darpa.mil

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA) developed the basic Internet infrastructure that fundamentally changed the way the world works, plays, and shops. But the growing importance of electronic communication often leads to virtual traffic jams on the information highway. DARPA is again taking the initiative in cyberspace as it helps to assemble and test the Supernet, the next generation Internet, with components capable of data transmission at gigabits per second--thousands of times faster than the current Internet data rates. DARPA Project Manager Mari Maeda will present an overview of the research and technology vital for building the Supernet and describe a few of the potential applications that will benefit from high speed communications.

A REVOLUTIONARY OPTICAL FIBER DESIGN
Phillip Russell, University of Bath, England
011-44-1225-826946, p.s.j.russell@bath.ac.uk,

One might think that there's not much new under the sun in the basic design of optical fibers, the solid glass threads that guide light for such applications as telecommunications, laser surgery, and laser machining. But a new optical fiber design, known as the holey fiber, is expanding possible applications not only for optical fibers, but for light itself. With the holey fiber, one can transmit significantly greater powers of light without destroying the fiber, and send optical signals through with less distortion than ever before. This can potentially enable more powerful laser surgery inside the body, more effective laser machining, and a host of increased applications for optical telecommunications. Philip Russell of the University of Bath, who announced the first working holey optical fiber at an OFC postdeadline session several years ago, will discuss this topic. He will describe how the fibers have enabled his lab and Lucent Technologies to develop a powerful "white light laser"--a light source with the brightness of a laser, but with a range of colors, or "bandwidth," of white light. Such a laser has potential applications as a tiny measuring device on future space probes, and for medical imaging using safe non-ionizing light.

BRAGG TAPS
Sheryl Woodward, AT&T Labs
732-420-9054, sheri@research.att.com

In the ever-changing field of optical networks, wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) is a very flexible means of transmitting data. Now researchers at AT&T Labs are striving to make a good thing even better with a new device called a Bragg Tap. In conventional networks, optical information is transmitted from one "node," or connection point, to another. At each node, data at specific carrier wavelengths are added to or removed from the network. The Bragg Tap, on the other hand, allows a node to peel off a tiny portion of a signal rather than extracting it altogether. The invention makes possible the broadcast of a signal to multiple nodes with one wavelength, while simultaneously permitting point-to-point data transmission at other wavelengths. Sheryl Woodward of AT&T will discuss a demonstration of broadcasting over a WDM network and outline the benefits of high-speed, one-way connections to multiple locations with this powerful and cost-effective technology.

PRESS LUNCHEON REPLY FORM
OFC 2001, March 17-22, 2001
Please return this form to Rory McGee at rmcgee@aip.org or by fax at 301-209-0846

___Please sign me up for the OFC press luncheon.

___Please send me the general press release for the meeting.

___I cannot attend but please send me additional materials as they become available.

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