The article gives an introduction to the field of Guided Wave Optics. After an introduction that mentions the modern origins of guided wave optics and introduces the most common guided wave component, the optical fiber, attention turns to a low level discussion of guidance in optical fibers. Fiber systems are based on active fiber components that are discussed in Section Active Fiber Compatible Components of the article before turing to telecommunications in Section Telecommunications Technology. The newest area of guided wave application is that of data communications that is discussed in Section Data Communications previous to Summary section.
