History

"Light is the only physical phenomenon that makes it possible to tell the entire history of physics, and if you look at the history of sciences, light was the focus of the greatest controversies."
Light, wave or particle? Shedding light on the photon, a brief historical look at its ontology and the light’s photonic technologies.

Optics, long viewed exclusively as the set of phenomena perceived by the eye, have undergone major upheavals in the wake of basic discoveries made throughout the 20th century, such as the photon, lasers, fibre optics. In the process, it has become a scientific and applications sector which, along with other fields like mechanics, electronics, information technology and photonics, leads to major advances in terms of economic performance and costs.

Optics-photonics is a field that is generating considerable renewed interest, in light of new applications, most of which arise from opto-eletronics.

In fact, modern optical instrumentation technologies and the considerable research currently being conducted in this field seek to replace electronic components with optical components, offering a wide range of revolutionary possibilities. These could lead to much larger memories and a significant increase in data processing speed. A case in point: recent applications of the effects of magneto-optics, which had long been known.

Before 1960

Greek Antiquity, circa 400 B.C. Aristophane
Describes the reflection of the sun’s rays.

384-332 B.C.. Aristote
States that vision happens when particles emitted from an object enter the eye.

1604 Kepler
States that light is a flux extending to infinity, through straight lines called rays.

Late 19th century James Maxwell
Classic theory of light as electromagnetic energy travelling in transverse waves at a constant speed in a vacuum: the famous speed of light, i.e. 300,000 km per second.

1921 Einstein
Shows that light consists of photons, or quanta of light.

Light energy is "granular". This "grain of energy" was dubbed "photon" in 1926. Quantum physics then associated a granular nature with electromagnetic waves. A new particle was born, an immaterial, weightless particle.

1953 Charles Towne
Designs the first MASER device (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), which will lead to LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation).

1957 Gordon Gould
Invents the first gas laser.

After 1960

1960 Theodore Mainman
Designs the first laser.

1961-62 Emmett Leith & Juris Upatnieks
Design a new process for the recording and reconstruction of a wavefront, which becomes known as holography.

1968 Université Laval
Establishes its Laboratoire d'optique et d'hyperfréquence.

1970 Robert D. Maurer & group (Corning)
Design and produce the first industrial fiber optics.

1970 Leo Esaki (IBM)
Invents the laser diode.

1971 Agilent
Develops a laser interferometer capable of measuring to millionths of an inch, "the jewel in Agilent’s crown", and still the tool of choice in microchip manufacturing.

1976 MPB Technologies Inc. is incorporated

1985 Southampton University
Doping of standard silica fibre with erbium, demonstrating optical amplification.

1988 Deployment of TAT-9, first submarine system to use active switches to route traffic
MPB contracted to design, develop and manufacture Undersea Branching Multiplexers (UBM) and associated terminal equipment.

1989 Emmanuel Desurvire & group
Invents a semiconductor pump laser amplifier.

1989 Université Laval
Establishes Centre d'optique, photonique et laser.

1990 Yablonovitch
Designs the first photonic crystal.

1991 MPBC
Introduces the first commercially available Er3+ Erbium Fiber Laser (EFL) and the world’s smallest excimer laser.

1995 Emmanuel Desurvire & group
Install the first transatlantic cable with an EDFA chain.

1997 ITF is established

1999 Agilent is incorporated

1999 O-M6
Begins production of cables, fibers and fiber optic assemblies.

1999 MPBC
Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) facility established in Montreal.

2000 MPBC
Introduces Super Raman which provides up to 2.5 dB extra margin improvement.