Optical fibers were invented 50 years ago in New York. | Adobe Stock
Optical fibers were invented 50 years ago in New York. | Adobe Stock
Fifty years ago, Corning Inc. invented low-loss optical fiber, an innovation at the heart of modern life, from communication to commerce and industry.
The company’s Wilmington plant has had a vital role throughout the history of fiber optics.
Though the first optical fiber was invented in a Corning, New York, lab, the initial fiber was created at Wilmington, Bernhard Deutsch, vice president and general manager of Corning’s optical fiber and cable business, told Wilmington Biz for its Sept. 18 story.
Corning Inc.’s Wilmington plant – where the first low-loss optical fiber was manufactured – continues to play an essential role in the company’s fiber-optic production and innovation.
| Wikimedia Commons
“Overall, we are optimistic about the continued increase in bandwidth demand; telemedicine, teleworking, other things … So overall Wilmington will play a role in that growth plan,” Deutsche told Wilmington Biz.
In addition to housing one of the world’s largest fiber production facilities, Wilmington is also a research and development site for Corning Inc., he told Wilmington Biz.
“We have other research teams and development teams around the world, but the center of gravity of that is in Wilmington,” Deutsche told Wilmington Biz.
One example of an innovation Deutsche gave Wilmington Biz was the creation of a 200-micron diameter fiber. Decreasing the diameter enables Corning Inc. to increase the total density of fiber in each cable and the signals sent through it.
“So, the density is a clear trend in cable. And we were the first to reduce the diameter of a fiber while maintaining the strength to allow a higher … density in a cable. And that was a world’s first,” he told Wilmington Biz.
As an important business due to the impact of their work on communication, the economic crisis created by restrictions related to COVID-19 did not have a significant impact on the Wilmington plant, Deutsche told Wilmington Biz.
“Overall, demand remains very strong; the bandwidth demand with remote work and telemedicine, telelearning, remote learning,” Deutsche told Wilmington Biz. “I’m also excited that the government has a rural digital opportunity fund; the U.S. government recognizes the need to connect rural areas also with fiber and provides funds for that, that would help rural areas in the United States – farms and less populous areas – to be connected.”
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