In 1972, Gary Starkweather (inventor of the laser printer) rigged up a laser-based data link with 35 megapixels/second bandwidth because Xerox Parc was split across two buildings: one with the controller and one with the marking engine for his printer. See page 42 of http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102702465 .
Great example in the long, varied history of communication devices going back to the ancients, but really picking up speed in the Renaissance. For more example of interesting optical communication devices I recommend Deep Time of the Media by Zielinski (it includes lots of pictures too!):http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/deep-time-media
I also had this as a kit when I was a kid - it was one of the experiments one could perform with the home-built laser I constructed. I built the receiver, gave it to my little sister, and off she went over the dunes .. we confirmed the experiment, and she subsequently lost the receiver in the dunes. Always wished I'd been the one to go out that day ..
There was another experiment where you could shine the laser on a window, and pick up its reflection and using that, listen in on the room. It required a more complicated circuit to be built, so I never did it, but its fascinating that such technologies were, in the 70's and 80's, available to inquiring teenage minds.
