Abstract

Rainbows, mirages and other optical phenomena in the lower atmosphere are beautiful gifts of nature. Through the use of simple ray and a healthy dose of hand waving, they are also relatively simple to explain in terms of optical physics. In part, the information superhighway is made possible by the replacement of copper wires with thin strands of glass known as optical fiber. What happens to light inside the optical fiber has much in common with the natural phenomenon we know as the mirage. The use of colorful images and anecdotal stories can do much to enhance what otherwise might be a boring technical discussion, or even worse, a disastrous non-technical talk before a lay audience. Most audiences could care less about the theoretical Rayleigh scattering limit in dB/km for ultrapure silica glass. These same audiences will remember that at the mid-latitudes it takes more than sunshine and rain to find a rainbow in the sky around lunch time.

© 1997 Optical Society of America