Optical communication or optical telecommunication (sometimes known as optical transmission), is communication at a distance using light to carry information. Optical communication can be performed visually or by using electronic devices. The earliest basic forms of optical communication date back several millennia, while the earliest electrical device created to do so was the photophone, invented in 1880.

Modern communication relies on optical networking systems using optical fiber, optical amplifiers, lasers, switches, routers, and other related technologies. Free-space optical communication use lasers to transmit signals in space, while terrestrial forms are naturally limited by geography and weather.

An optical communication system uses a transmitter, which encodes a message into an optical signal, a channel, which carries the signal to its destination, and a receiver, which reproduces the message from the received optical signal. When electronic equipment is not employed the 'receiver' is a person visually observing and interpreting a signal, which may be either simple (such as the presence of a beacon fire) or complex (such as lights using color codes or flashed in a Morse code sequence). Modern optical communication processes also may include optical encoding, optical data processing, optical modulation, and optical decoding.

Visual forms Visual techniques such as smoke signals, beacon fires, hydraulic telegraphs, ship flags and semaphore lines were the earliest forms of optical communication.Chapter 2: Semaphore Signalling Communications: an international history of the formative years R. W. Burns, 2004Telegraph Vol 10, Encyclopædia Britannica, 6th Edition, 1824 pp. 645-651 Hydraulic telegraph semaphores date back to the 4th century BCE Greece. Distress flares are still used by mariners in emergencies, while lighthouses and navigation lights are used to communicate navigation hazards.

The heliograph uses a mirror to reflect sunlight to a distant observer.Harris, J.D. Wire At War – Signals communication in the South African War 1899–1902. Retrieved on 1 June 2008. Note a discussion on the heliograph use during the Boer War. When a signaler tilts the mirror to reflect sunlight, the distant observer sees flashes of light that can be used to transmit a prearranged signaling code. Naval ships often use signal lamps and Morse code in a similar way.

Aircraft pilots often use visual approach slope indicator (VASI) projected light systems to land safely, especially at night. Military aircraft landing on an aircraft carrier use a similar system to land correctly on a carrier deck. The coloured light system communicates the aircraft's height relative to a standard landing glideslope. As well, airport control towers still use Aldis lamps to transmit instructions to aircraft whose radios have failed.

Semaphore line

A 'semaphore telegraph', also called a 'semaphore line', 'optical telegraph', 'shutter telegraph chain', 'Chappe telegraph', or 'Napoleonic semaphore', is a system used for conveying information by means of visual signals, using towers with pivoting arms or shutters, also known as blades or paddles. Information is encoded by the position of the mechanical elements; it is read when the shutter is in a fixed position.Telegraph, Volume 17 of The Edinburgh encyclopaedia, pp. 664–667, 1832 David Brewster, ed.

Semaphore lines were a precursor of the electrical telegraph. They were far faster than post riders for conveying a message over long distances, but far more expensive and less private than the electrical telegraph lines which would later replace them. The maximum distance that a pair of semaphore telegraph stations can bridge is limited by geography, weather and the availability of light; thus, in practical use, most optical telegraphs used lines of relay stations to bridge longer distances. Each relay station would also require its complement of skilled operator-observers to convey messages back and forth across the line.

The modern design of semaphores was first foreseen by the British polymath Robert Hooke, who first gave a vivid and comprehensive outline of visual telegraphy in a 1684 submission to the Royal Society. His proposal (which was motivated by military concerns following the Battle of Vienna the preceding year) was not put into practice during his lifetime.Calvert, J.B. The Origin of the Railway Semaphore, Boston University, 15 April 2000, Revised 4 May 2007.McVeigh, Daniel P. An Early History of the Telephone: 1664-1865, Part 2 , Columbia University in The City of New York, Institute For Learning Technologies, 2000.

The first operational optical semaphore line arrived in 1792, created by the French engineer Claude Chappe and his brothers, who succeeded in covering France with a network of 556 stations stretching a total distance of . It was used for military and national communications until the 1850s.

Many national services adopted signaling systems different from the Chappe system. For example, Britain and Sweden adopted systems of shuttered panels (in contradiction to the Chappe brothers' contention that angled rods are more visible). In Spain, the engineer Agustín de Betancourt developed his own system which was adopted by that state. This system was considered by many experts in Europe better than Chappe's, even in France.

These systems were popular in the late 18th to early 19th century but could not compete with the electrical telegraph, and went completely out of service by 1880.

Semaphore signal flags

Semaphore flags are the system for conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands. Information is encoded by the position of the flags, objects or arms; it is read when they are in a fixed position.

Semaphores were adopted and widely used (with hand-held flags replacing the mechanical arms of shutter semaphores) in the maritime world in the 19th century. They are still used during underway replenishment at sea and are acceptable for emergency communication in daylight or, using lighted wands instead of flags, at night.

The newer flag semaphore system uses two short poles with square flags, which a signaler holds in different positions to convey letters of the alphabet and numbers. The transmitter holds one pole in each hand, and extends each arm in one of eight possible directions. Except for in the rest position, the flags cannot overlap. The flags are colored differently based on whether the signals are sent by sea or by land. At sea, the flags are colored red and yellow (the Oscar flags), while on land, they are white and blue (the Papa flags). Flags are not required, they just make the characters more obvious.

Signal lamps

Signal lamps (such as Aldis lamps), are visual signaling devices for optical communication (typically using Morse code). Modern signal lamps are a focused lamp which can produce a pulse of light. In large versions this pulse is achieved by opening and closing shutters mounted in front of the lamp, either via a manually operated pressure switch or, in later versions, automatically.

With hand held lamps, a concave mirror is tilted by a trigger to focus the light into pulses. The lamps are usually equipped with some form of optical sight, and are most commonly deployed on naval vessels and also used in airport control towers with coded aviation light signals.

Aviation light signals are used in the case of a radio failure, an aircraft not equipped with a radio, or in the case of a hearing-impaired pilot. Air traffic controllers have long used signal light guns to direct such aircraft. The light gun's lamp has a focused bright beam capable of emitting three different colors: red, white and green. These colors may be flashing or steady, and provide different instructions to aircraft in flight or on the ground (for example, "cleared to land" or "cleared for takeoff"). Pilots can acknowledge the instructions by wiggling their plane's wings, moving their ailerons if they are on the ground, or by flashing their landing or navigation lights during night time. Only 12 simple standardized instructions are directed at aircraft using signal light guns as the system is not utilized with Morse code.

Heliograph

A heliograph ( helios, meaning "sun", and graphein, meaning "write") is a wireless solar telegraph that signals by flashes of sunlight (generally using Morse code) reflected by a mirror. The flashes are produced by momentarily pivoting the mirror, or by interrupting the beam with a shutter.

The heliograph was a simple but effective instrument for instantaneous optical communication over long distances during the late 19th and early 20th century. Its main uses were in military, surveys and forest protection work. They were standard issue in the British and Australian armies until the 1960s, and were used by the Pakistani army as late as 1975.

Electronic forms In the present day a variety of electronic systems optically transmit and receive information carried by pulses of light. Fiber-optic communication cables are employed to carry electronic data and telephone traffic. Free-space optical communications are also used every day in various applications.

Optical fiber

In 1964, the electrical engineer Charles Kuen Kao proposed developing broadband telecommunication systems based on optical fiber. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009 for his vision and his contributions to the development of optical communication systems. Optical fiber is now the most common type of channel for optical communications. The transmitters in optical fiber links are generally light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or laser diodes. Infrared light is used more commonly than visible light, because optical fibers transmit infrared wavelengths with less attenuation and dispersion. The signal encoding is typically simple intensity modulation, although historically optical phase and frequency modulation have been demonstrated in the lab. The need for periodic signal regeneration was largely superseded by the introduction of the erbium-doped fiber amplifier, which extended link distances at significantly lower cost. The commercial introduction of dense wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) in 1996 by Ciena Corp was the real start of optical networking. WDM is now the common basis of nearly every high-capacity optical system in the world.

The first optical communication systems were designed and delivered to the U.S. Army and Chevron by Optelecom, Inc., the venture co-founded by Gordon Gould, the inventor of the optical amplifier and the laser.

While massive efforts were spent worldwide to mature optical silica fibers for telecommunication, Yasuhiro Koike decided to launch graded-index polymer optical fiber (GIPOF). The core diameter of GIPOF is much larger than those of silica fibers, facilitating easier handling and interconnections. GIPOF is suitable for high capacity short distance telecommunication systems and optical interconnects.

Optical routing Fiberoptic telecommunications systems require switching centers to direct information from a transmitter to the appropriate receiver. Traditionally, this routing is performed using electronic components. Towards the end of the twentieth century, the idea emerged to implement these functions, either wholly or partially, using photonic technologies. A key concept in this context is the optical cross-connect. It enables optical signals to be switched and routed directly, without conversion into an electrical format. This facilitates faster and more energy-efficient networks.

Photophone