Editing Optical amplifier (section)

== History ==
The principle of optical amplification was invented by [[Gordon Gould]] on November 13, 1957.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Taylor|first=Nick|title=Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and the Thirty-Year Patent War|publisher=backinprint.com|year=2007|pages=69}}</ref> He filed US Patent US80453959A on April 6, 1959, titled "Light Amplifiers Employing Collisions to Produce Population Inversions"<ref name=":0">{{Cite patent|number=4704583|title=United States Patent: 4704583 - Light amplifiers employing collisions to produce a population inversion|gdate=November 3, 1987|invent1=Gould|inventor1-first=Gordon|url=https://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.htm&r=9&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&p=1&S1=%22Gould,+Gordon%22&OS=%22Gould,+Gordon%22&RS=%22Gould,+Gordon%22}}</ref> (subsequently amended as a continuation in part and finally issued as {{US Patent|4,746,201A}} on May 4, 1988). The patent covered “the amplification of light by the stimulated emission of photons from ions, atoms or molecules in gaseous, liquid or solid state.”<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=May 24, 1988|title=POLARIZINGAPPARATUS EMPLOYING AN OPTICAL ELEMENT INCLNED AT BREWSTERS ANGLE|url=https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/76/a1/25/497e6cd7222092/US4746201.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/76/a1/25/497e6cd7222092/US4746201.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09|url-status=live}}</ref> In total, Gould obtained 48 patents related to the optical amplifier<ref>{{Cite news|last=Jones|first=Stacy V.|date=1987-11-07|title=Patents; Inventor Adds to His Laser Total|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/07/business/patents-inventor-adds-to-his-laser-total.html|access-date=2021-11-03|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> that covered 80% of the lasers on the market at the time of issuance.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Taylor|first=Nick|title=Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and the Thirty-Year Patent War|publisher=Backprint.com|year=2007|pages=283}}</ref>

Gould co-founded an optical telecommunications equipment firm, [[Optelecom|Optelecom Inc.]], that helped start [[Ciena|Ciena Corp]] with his former head of Light Optics Research, [[David R. Huber|David Huber]] and [[Kevin Kimberlin]]. Huber and Steve Alexander of Ciena invented the dual-stage optical amplifier<ref>{{Cite web|last=USPTO.report|title=Method for producing a tunable erbium fiber laser|url=https://uspto.report/patent/grant/5,159,601|access-date=2021-11-03|website=USPTO.report|language=en}}</ref> ({{US Patent|5,159,601}}) that was a key to the first dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) system, that they released in June 1996.  This marked the start of optical networking.<ref name=":0" /> Its significance was recognized at the time by optical authority, Shoichi Sudo and technology analyst, [[George Gilder]] in 1997, when Sudo wrote that optical amplifiers “will usher in a worldwide revolution called the Information Age”<ref name=":1" /> and Gilder compared the optical amplifier to the  integrated circuit in importance, predicting that it would make possible the Age of Information.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fiber Keeps Its Promise - George Gilder Essay|url=http://www.panix.com/~clp/risks/telecom/fiber-future.html|access-date=2021-11-03|website=www.panix.com}}</ref> Optical amplification WDM systems are the common basis of all local, metro, national, intercontinental and subsea telecommunications networks<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Grobe|first1=Klaus|title=Wavelength Division Multiplexing: A Practical Engineering Guide|last2=Eiselt|first2=Michael|publisher=Wiley|year=2013|pages=2}}</ref> and the technology of choice for the fiber optic backbones of the Internet (e.g. [[Fiber-optic communication|fiber-optic cables]] form a basis of modern-day [[computer network]]ing).