Are We Running Out of Light? The Physics of the Approaching “Capacity Crunch” in Fiber Optics
The modern world runs on light. Every video call, streamed movie, cloud backup, financial transaction, and AI query travels as pulses of laser light through hair-thin glass fibers buried under cities and oceans. For decades, engineers have squeezed more and more data into these optical highways, sustaining the explosive growth of the internet. But a pressing question looms over the telecommunications industry: Are we running out of light? Or more precisely, are we approaching a fundamental “capacity crunch” in fiber optic communication?