How Can Integrated Optics for Telecom Become a Big Business

It has been nearly 30 years since the inception of integrated optics, with Shubert and Harris (1) demonstrating planar waveguides in thin dielectric films. Stewart Miller (2) envisioned a “miniature form of laser beam circuitry… [where] photolithographic techniques may permit simultaneous construction of complex circuit patterns.” With integrated optics close on the heels of silicon-based electronics, there was reasonable optimism that the lithographic processing that afforded cost-effective mass production for electronics would do the same for integrated optical circuitry. This vision, while not yet realized, is coming closer to maturation (3-5).