The dramatic reduction in transmission loss of optical fibers coupled with very important developments in the area of light sources and detectors have resulted in phenomenal growth of the fiber optic industry during the last 35 years or so. Indeed, the birth of optical fiber communication systems coincided with the fabrication of low-loss optical fibers and the operation of room-temperature semiconductor lasers in 1970. Since then, scientific and technological growth in this field has been phenomenal. Although the major applications of optical fibers have been in the area of telecommunications, many new areas, such as fiber optic sensors, fiber optic devices and components, and integrated optics, have witnessed.
