She's one of the key people crafting that reality. As lead inventor of an optical switch for Agilent Technologies of Palo Alto, Calif., Fouquet has created a new way to direct Internet and telecommunications traffic based on the technology that drives ordinary inkjet printers. These switches won't be able to keep up as more data streams are crammed onto each fiber, creating bottlenecks. In Fouquet's coin-size switch, the signal stays optical.
Light feeds into a web of channels that meet at liquid-filled intersections.
If the signal needs redirecting, an electric current heats the liquid into a gas, creating a bubble that then diverts the light onto a new fiber. Prototypes of the switch have been shipped to customers. Her team switched their first light on a Sunday in April 1997 and called Fouquet with the news. I ran in with my video camera and started taking pictures. Next time, maybe, they can use a Picturephone.