In 1960, the demonstration of the first laser in 1960 stimulated much interest in the telecommunications industry. Operating at optical frequencies of around 300 THz and capable of being modulated at hundreds of Mbit/s, the laser has much greater information carrying capacity than the lower frequencies encountered on copper and radio-based transmission systems. But how could these new optical sources be used to provide a practical communications system?. © 2020 Institute of Telecommunications Professionals. All rights reserved.