CURRENT STATUS OF LIGHTGUIDE COMPONENT AND DEVICE TECHNOLOGIES IN KOREA

Abstract

We review the current state of lightwave component and device technology in South Korea, particularly focusing on the recent progress in research, development and implementation in conjuction with a government programme. The plan for the communications infrastructure is being conducted in three stages. The first stage consists of installation of optical fibre cables interconnecting all the cities in South Korea as well as digitalization of the telecommunications networks by 1997. The second stage (1997 to 2001) will make available optical fibre network for CATV to apartment complexes and densely populated areas to provide the subscribers with multimedia services of the future. The third stage of the plan will start in 2002, and will offer broader applications of B-ISDN for user networks supporting broadband local loop. Along with these major projects, our current activities in the three major areas of optical fibre components and devices, microoptics and integrated optics, and optical fibre sensors are discussed.