Innovation: A Bell Labs Legacy

At Bell Labs, innovations and breakthroughs occur when our scientists and engineers collaborate on solving customer problems. This approach spawned the transistor and countless other innovations.

The following highlight some of these accomplishments:

1999 Highest Power Mid-IF QC laser -- A new, experimental quantum-cascade (QC) laser has more than a thousand times the output power of any commercial semiconductor laser operating in the mid-infrared wavelength region.

1999 WaveStar^(TM) 40G Express -- The first commercial system capable of delivering 40 Gb/s of capacity with a single laser over a single wavelength on a single fiber-optic cable -- four times faster than today's commercially available single-laser systems.

1999 Multi-Channel Optical Wireless System -- The first to use four wavelengths, or colors, of light to transmit a total of 10 gigabits (billion bits) of information through 4.4 kilometers, or 2.7 miles, of free space (air) each second.

1999 Seesaw' Switch -- The first practical micro-electro-mechanical optical (MEMS) switch from research, promising optical wavelength add/drop multiplexers, provisioning switches, optically reconfigurable communications networks, power limiters, variable attenuators and wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) signal equalizers.

1999 WaveStar^(TM) AllMetro^(TM) -- Optical networking equipment from Bell Labs is the first to offer systems of varying sizes (up to four, eight, 20 and 40 wavelengths), and lets service providers add and drop wavelengths based on network traffic demands.

1999 OptiSPEED^(TM) Plus -- Supports distances of 600 meters for Ethernet networks operating at speeds of a billion bits per second for both short wavelength (1000BASE-SX) and long wavelength (1000BASE-LX) Ethernet applications.

1999 Lucent V. 3.0 TTS Engine -- Lets users develop applications that deliver clear, precise speech in English, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, French, and German.

1999 Unraveling the mysteries of water -- An international physics collaboration including Bell Labs confirms the controversial notion--first advanced in the 1930s by famous chemist and Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling--that the weak "hydrogen" bonds in water partially get their identity from stronger "covalent" bonds in the water molecule.

1998 Nobel Prize in Physics -- Horst Stormer of Bell Labs, and two former Bell Labs researchers, Robert Laughlin and Daniel Tsui, win the Prize for their discovery of the fractional quantum Hall effect, a new state of matter created when electrons come together to form quasi-particlaes with frantional electrical charges.

1998 National Medal of Technology -- Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson of Bell Labs have been awarded the medal for their invention of the UNIX* operating system and the C programming language.

1998 Record Output Power From Optical Fiber Lasers - With an output of 8-21 Watts, these ultra-high-power single-mode fiber lasers could be used to boost communications signals.

1998 Advanced Wireless Steerable Beam Antenna - System that uses narrow electronically steerable radio beams together with advanced modem techniques to provide high speed wireless access for both voice and data applications.

1998 PacketStar^(TM) - A portfolio of Internet Protocol (IP) products for service providers that promise to revolutionize the way data, voice and video are handled in today's evolving public networks.

1998 PathStar^(TM) Access Server - A revolutionary new class of product designed specifically to enable network operators to offer low-cost, reliable local and long-distance voice and data services over IP networks including the Internet.

1998 Plastic Transistor - Design and manufacture of first plastic transistor, which could be used in such products as flexible computer screens, credit card-sized smart cards, or intelligent luggage tags. The manufacturing process makes plastic transistors far less costly to produce than current silicon transistors.

1998 Bow-Tie Laser - These experimental microlasers-so small that hundreds would fit on the head of a pin-emit laser light in a bow-tie pattern of highly directional beams at more than 1,000 times the power of conventional, disk-shaped microlasers.

1998 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Chip Set - A chip set that can download data at 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps), about 30 times faster than today's analog modems, line conditions permitting. Lucent's new DSL technology, called WildWire^(TM), will be as convenient to install in PCs as analog modems.

1998 MEMS (MicroElectrical Mechanical Systems) - Bell Labs researchers have built microscopic "trampolines" to help measure a material's magnetic properties when placed in a strong magnetic field. The novel technique will provide researchers with a powerful method to study new materials for wireless devices, integrated circuits and many other applications.

1998 TrueWave® RS Fiber - Next-generation optical fiber that gives long distance providers increased capacity and a future-proof solution for emerging high-speed DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) systems.

1998 AllWave^(TM) Fiber - Optical fiber which harnesses a previously untapped region in the spectrum to provide 50 percent more usable wavelengths than today's conventional fiber.

1998 Lucent Digital Radio - Developing technology that will allow AM and FM stations to broadcast near-CD quality music.

1998 WaveStar^(TM) OLS 400G - New optical networking system that can be configured to handle up to eight fibers to give communications providers a maximum capacity of 3.2 terabits-the equivalent of 90,000 volumes of an encyclopedia per second.

1998 DSP 1609 - A chip that sets a new standard for digital signal processor (DSP) performance at an extremely low price.

1997 High Resolution Map of Dark Cosmic Matter - Images showing for the first time how much dark matter is tied to galaxies, and how much is smoothly distributed across galactic clusters.

1997 Lucent Managed Firewall - Among the industry's most secure, expandable and easy-to-use hardware and software platforms for protecting data networks.

1997 World's Widest-Bandwidth Optical Amplifier - Using experimental fiber-optic technology, signals were transmitted at a rate of 10 gigabits (10 billion bits) per second over each of 100 wavelengths of light for a distance of nearly 250 miles/400 kilometers.

1997 World's Smallest Practical Transistor - At only 60 nanometers, or 182 atoms wide, the world's smallest "complete" metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistors are paving the way for powerful new integrated circuits that pack many billions of components on a single silicon chip.

1997 DSP 16000 - New family of digital signal processor (DSP) computer chips designed to lower the cost of telecommunications gear by reducing power consumption.

1997 Wireless Local Area Networks - Bell Labs announces a new technology that enables wireless local area networks (LANs) to handle five times as much data as today's highest capacity systems.

1997 Optical Amplifier Networking - A record-breaking 100-channel optical amplifier is demonstrated, with the potential to revolutionize optical networking technology.

1997 Veridicom - A business venture that delivers advanced software and hardware components that verify a person's identity through fingerprints when face-to-face recognition is not possible.

1996 MultiMedia Communications eXchange (MMCX) - Software that is the first standard-compliant mixed-media call server on the market. For the user, this combines a simple, intuitive meeting room metaphor with point-and-click controls for calling features, audio and video capabilities, application sharing, and file transfers.

1996 Data Visualization - Software for mining information from vast corporate databases and thwarting fraudulent use of cellular phones and credit cards.

1996 elemedia^(TM) - Breakthrough software technology that delivers telephone-quality voice and CD-quality music to customers using the Internet.

1996 Gallium Oxide Interface - Using Molecular Beam Expitaxial techniques, a 30-year problem solved of fabricating GaAs metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (GaAs MOSFETs) is demonstrated.

1996 Terabit Lightwave System - Switching technology providing simultaneous, high-speed data transmission using ATM technology.

1996 Inferno^(TM) - Software that provides "dial-tone for information services," letting customers access network-based information services using any kind of terminal over any kind of network.

1996 Scalpel^(TM) Electron Beam Lithography - Chip manufacturing system that prints microchip features just 250 atoms wide-four times smaller than can be achieved with current chip manufacturing techniques.

1996 Wavelength Division Multiplexer - Using interleaved colors of light, this system transmits at 20 gigabits per second, the equivalent of almost 5,000 novels in one second-about eight times as much as most long-distance fiber-optic systems.

1994 Quantum Cascade Laser - The world's first room-temperature and high-temperature semi-conductor laser operating in the mid- and long-wavelength infrared regions, the range in which heat, medical and environmental sensors work. The 1996 version is nearly 25 times more powerful than its predecessor, invented in 1994.

1993 Personal Video System - Bell Labs unveils the Personal Video System Model 70, enabling people to see one another in the corner of their computer screens while discussing business, sharing software, and revising documents.

1992 Graphic Chip Set - A graphic chip set for personal computers and workstations that provides photographic-image quality based on true-color resolution generated by nearly 17 million hues.

1992 Real-time Language Translation - The Voice English/Spanish Translator recognizes the language being spoken, translates to the other, and "speaks" the translated sentences less than a second later using a text-to-speech synthesis system.

1992 Magneto-Optic Data Storage - Using a near field scanning optical microscopy technique developed at Bell Labs, researchers demonstrate a revolutionary magneto-optic storage technique that offers data densities of 45 billion bits per square inch.

1992 Lightwave Signal Record - Bell Labs and a Japanese telecommunications firm laboratory test an in-line 9000 kilometer optically amplified fiber-optic system with no errors at a transmission rate of five billion bits a second.

1992 Fault-Tolerant Software - Two general-purpose software components that provide
automatic on-line retry, they enable other software programs to tolerate faults without shutting down processing.

1992 Fullerene Compound - Bell Labs researchers report a novel compound of C60 (carbon) and potassium that becomes superconducting at a transition temperature 50 percent higher than any other molecular superconductor.

1991 Microlaser - Using a "whispering gallery" mode named after the sound effect noted in some European cathedrals, Bell Labs researchers build and operate the world's smallest semiconductor lasers.

1991 Lead-free Copper Alloys - These materials may eliminate a major source of lead in drinking water.

1990 Speech-Driven Robot - A tool for research in speech recognition and machine intelligence, the robot understands and responds to conversational English.

1990 Free-Space Optical Switching - An Atlanta demonstration shows a working example of the basic optical hardware required for photonic switching fabrics.

1989 High-Definition Digital Television - Bell Labs develops video compression algorithms that point the way toward next-generation television featuring a sharper picture and improved audio.

1988 Transatlantic Fiber-Optic Cable - Installation of the first transatlantic fiber-optic cable linking North America and Europe is completed. The 3,148-mile cable can handle
40,000 telephone calls simultaneously.

1988 ATOMS Computer - The Optimized Material Simulator is a special-purpose computer
that simulates the behavior of materials at the atomic level faster than any on the market at that time.

1988 Ballistic Transistor - Bell Labs researchers demonstrate a new multi-layered bipolar transistor that can switch on and off 140 billion times a second, 12 times faster than existing versions used in supercomputers.

1988 Solitons - These unique light pulses are sent through optical fiber a record-breaking
4000 kilometers without electronic regeneration.

1988 Digital Cellular - Tested in Chicago, the cellular technology offers better sound quality, greater channel capacity and lower cost compared to analog systems.

1987 Smart Card - No bigger than a credit card, it contains microprocessors and memory chips, giving it capabilities similar to a personal computer.

1986 Neural Networks - These computer chips mimic the way brain cells may retrieve stored information and solve problems.

1986 SEEDs - Self Electro-optic Effect Devices, these cascadable switches are turned on and off by light beams in much the same way that electronic transistors are turned on and off by electrical changes.

1984 Karmarkar Algorithm - Developed by mathematician Narendra Karmarkar, this revolutionary "linear programming" algorithm enables computers to economically solve incredibly complex problems containing thousands of interacting variables.

1983 C++ Computing Language - Designed for the UNIX® system environment, it represents an enhancement of the C programming language and enables programmers to improve the quality of code produced, thus making reusable code easier to write.

1977 Lightwave Communications System - Installed under the streets of Chicago, the first full-service fiber-optic system begins operation.

1977 Chromindur Alloy - New synthetic metal reduces the need for scarce, costly cobalt in high-strength magnets for telephone devices.

1976 Molecular Beam Epitaxy - With ultra precision, the process enables semiconductor
chips to be made one atomic layer at a time, opening the door to vast improvements in chip manufacturing.

1973 Ultra Transparent Fiber - A new production approach, the modified chemical vapor deposition technique, fuels the fiber optics revolution in which voice, data and video are carried on hair-thin glass fibers.

1969 Charge-Coupled Devices - These devices, which foreshadow breakthroughs in imaging, today are used in video cameras common around the world.

1969 UNIX® System - An elegant time-share software system for minicomputers that can be used for text editing, general computing, switching system operations and trouble reporting. It later becomes the foundation for the Internet.

1969 Traffic Service Position System - Replacing traditional cord switchboards, the system automates many operator functions for the first time.

1966 Magnetic Bubble Devices - The invention offers a new and unique approach to data storage.

1965 1 ESS® Switch - First electronically controlled central office switch.

1964 Touch-Tone Telephone - Using push buttons instead of a rotary dial, this instrument greatly speeds and ushers in a new generation of custom calling features all controlled by software in communications networks.

1964 Picturephone Service - The first transcontinental Picturephone call is made between New York and California.

1962 Foil Electret Microphone - This advancement improves hands-free conversations.

1962 T1 Transmission - The first digitally multiplexed transmission of voice signals.

1962 Telstar - Bell Labs develops the first orbiting international communications satellite.

1960 Epitaxial Film Transistors - The devices are formed by a new patented process that greatly improves the performance and lowers the cost of semiconductors.

1958 Laser - Conceived by Bell Labs, lasers-light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation-have revolutionized not only the communications industry, but also materials processing, optical scanning, medicine, energy research and surveying.

1954 Oxide Masking - This technique enables planar transistors to be fabricated.

1954 Solar Cell - The device converts the sun's energy to electricity.

1951 Zone Refining - The process opens the door to producing ultrapure materials essential to making semiconductors.

1951 Direct Distance Dialing - The service enables customers to dial long-distance calls within the United States without operator assistance.

1951 Ion Implantation - The technique paves the way for high-speed charged particles, or ions, to introduce traces of another material in a semiconductor.

1948 Information Theory - A vital tool, it underpins the design of modern communication systems.

1947 Transistor - Developed as a replacement for vacuum tubes and mechanical relays, the tiny device later revolutionizes the entire electronics world.

1942 Horn-Reflector Antenna - An antenna that led to advanced versions of itself which were used in satellite communications and in research on the birth of the universe.

1941 Visible Speech - Spectrograph reveals speech patterns for the first time.

1938 Radio Altimeter - In the first public display of the device, radio signals are bounced off the ground, showing pilots the altitude of an aircraft.

1937 Electrical Digital Computer - Produced by George Stibitz, the first digital computer uses telephone switches and electro-mechanical relays.

1936 Speech Synthesis - The first speech synthesis machine that recreates human speech is publicly demonstrated.

1933 Radio Astronomy - Research by Karl Jansky into the sources of static in overseas radio signals gives birth to the science of radio astronomy.

1929 Artificial Larynx - This device makes speech possible for people whose larynxes have been surgically removed.

1927 Negative Feedback Amplifier - Because it reduces distortion in communication signals, this device advances the development of long-distance telephony, radio and high-fidelity amplifiers.

1927 Wave Nature of Matter - The idea that matter behaves like waves is a fundamental discovery yielding a new tool for analyzing surfaces, leading to improved vacuum tube operation.

1927 Live Television Transmission - In the first public demonstration of long-distance television transmission in the United States, live images of Herbert Hoover are sent by telephone lines from Washington, D.C., to New York City.

1926 Sound Motion Pictures - Warner Brothers presents the first full-length motion picture with synchronized sound accompaniment, using equipment developed at Bell Labs.

1926 Transatlantic Radiotelephone Service - The first public test of radiotelephone service between New York and London marks the beginning of communication across the Atlantic.

1924 Facsimile Service - Bell System engineers publicly demonstrate the ability to transmit pictures over telephone wires.

1920s High Fidelity Recording - Bell System pioneers electrical recording, improved frequency response, lower distortion, the orthophonic phonograph and the long-playing record.