Silica Glass Fiber
1977 - Installation of first fiber-optic telephone link 2.4 km long under downtown Chicago
SiO2 125 µm diameter glass fiber with Ge-doped core used to guide laser light
250 µm diameter acrylate coating to protect glass
Single Mode (SM) for very high performance
Multi-Mode (MM) for low-cost short links
Bare glass fiber is priced at $0.10 - $0.25 / m
Connectorization price is $10 - $25 each end (FC, SC, ST)