This is a main reason why polymers have not been used commercially. Experts differ on where the new device might fit in to the world's communications system. It's extremely clever chemistry. Whatever role the new modulator may play in the global fiber-optic net, numerous experts agreed, it certainly will not reduce the time it takes to download a file to a home computer. Data in a Flash A device made from a new plastic composite could speed up fiber-optic transmissions by increasing the rate at which electrical signals cause light beams to blink from dark to light.
Laser emits beam of light.
Fiber-optic cable splits wave into parallel beams. The modulator creates pulses of light and darkness at a blazing speed. News Jobs AP Shopping Archives Entertain.