>> In order to evaluate this as a proposed idea, a physicist would consider:
>> 1.  The loss of manufactured optical waveguides did indeed hit an
>> unexplained 'floor' in the early 1980s, about 0.16 db/kilometers of loss.2.
>> The manufacturers and users of such fibers have had a very powerful
>> motivation to figure out how to lower their loss to well below 0.16
>> db/kilometers, for nearly 40 years.3.  Nothing has yet been found, or it
>> would have been employed.4.  Photons do indeed possess an oscillating
>> magnetic field.5.  A nucleus of an isotope with 'spin' does indeed behave
>> as magnetic dipole.6.  Such a nucleus should be mechanically affected by
>> the passage of light.7.  Energy should be transferred from that light to
>> the nucleus, and thus the atom, as the light passes.8.  Removing most or
>> all atoms with an electromagnetic 'spin' should remove this loss mechanism,
>> in proportion to the amount of such isotopes remaining.
>> Do you have any other ideas as to how that loss is manifested?