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Total internal reflection inside glass strands carries gigabits of internet data per second. The figure is taken from Nobel Prize Committee, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

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Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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Mondo Knows Facts

Fibre optic cables transmit data using pulses of laser light

Total internal reflection inside glass strands carries gigabits of internet data per second

In 1966, Nobel laureate Charles Kao demonstrated that ultra-pure glass fibres could carry light signals over long distances with minimal signal loss. Modern fibre optic networks use semiconductor lasers to transmit binary pulses of infrared light inside flexible glass cores. This infrastructure forms the backbone of global high-speed internet cables beneath ocean floors.

New high-speed fibre optic data link to ALMA (fibre alma begin) — ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) · CC BY 4.0 · licence · source

Where this comes from

Nobel Prize Committee

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Tags: fibre-optics, internet, light

Fibre optic cables transmit data using pulses of laser light: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Total internal reflection inside glass strands carries gigabits of internet data per second. The figure is taken from Nobel Prize Committee, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a technology fact?: Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.