Preface

After the invention of the laser in the 1960s, the appearance of optical fibers enhanced applications that required the transportation of light from one place to another. As is well known, one of the main applications of optical fibers is optical communications, which were initially inefficient. Over time, different groups of scientists and engineers have been working to improve the efficiency of information transmission in optical fibers with materials that reduce absorption to the greatest extent possible. However, a large number of applications have been developed for which light absorption is not a real problem since the distances for sending information can be very short. Therefore, the technological development of optical fibers, for short or long distances, has been applied to a variety of uses in different areas such as the armed forces, industry, medicine, scientific research, and of course in communications, to name a few.

Among the large number of applications that exist in optical fibers are different types of sensors, medical equipment to perform invasive surgeries, devices for industrial applications used in difficult access situations, various toys, decorative lighting, long-distance communications, and optical amplifiers, among others. Because of their great potential in applications and the advantages they offer over other systems, optical fibers will continue to be the subject of scientific research and technological development.
