 George Alfred Hockham

George Alfred Hockham was an electrical engineer whose work with Charles K. Kao examined optical fibers as communication waveguides. Their 1966 paper analyzed how a dielectric core with a higher refractive index than its surroundings can guide an electromagnetic wave.^[ref]

The work treated guidance together with practical losses, bending and dispersion. A guided field alone does not specify a useful communication link: the signal must survive propagation, and different components must remain distinguishable at the receiver. Their combination of optical and microwave investigations connected the field calculation with the engineering feasibility of the transmission medium.^[ref]