What is fibre optics?

Answer 1

Fibre optic cables are single strands of glass fibre, the glass carefully chosen to have a very small loss of intensity. The diameter of the fibre is still greater than the wavelength of light so the signal could bounce around inside the fibre in a rather uncontrolled way, so fibres are constructed with a graded refractive index (across the radius) which helps confine the light to a single mode. Lower refractive index on the outside.

There is a use however for ungraded fibres, normally thicker, for carrying high energy power. Needed in some applications.

Because of the lower refractive index of the outer part of the fibre, the transmission speed of the light through the fibre is less than the speed of light.

The actual light used in these applications is laser light and this is modulated with the information signal. Because of the very high frequency of the laser light, the modulation frequency can be quite high, thus giving a high rate of data transfer. Modulation will be a few tens of GHz, but THz frequencies are in sight, with appropriate lasers of course.

Fibre optic cables are immune to electromagnetic interference. They are normally coated with a protective coating coloured to indicate the type of cable. Several fibres may be bundled together, but even so, are still quite small compared to other equivalents. And use simple materials in plentiful supply.

One unusual application of fibre optics is in spy cameras which, since the elements in the target room need have no metal, and the camera mechanics may be rather remote, these are more immune to bug sweeping. Similar short range applications include monitoring of machine parts, and the use in medicine to see inside blood vessels for example.

Answer 2

An optical fiber is a very thin strand of plastic or glass that is used to transmit messages via light. These strands are bundled together in a protective sheath or cover and the whole assembly is often referred to as fiber optic cable or just fiber. It was originally developed for endoscopes in the 1950s to help doctors see inside the human body without having to cut it open first.

Fiber-optic cables carry information between two places using entirely optical (light-based) technology. Suppose you wanted to send information from your computer to a friend's house down the street using fiber optics. You could hook your computer up to a laser, which would convert electrical information from the computer into a series of light pulses.

Multi-mode cables can send information only over relatively short distances and used to link computer networks together.

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Answer 3

The optical fibre is a thin fibre used to conduct light. It can also be used to transmit information as in telephone calls, Internet and Cable Television.

Answer 4

Most commonly used to transmit data for fibre internet. For ISPs in Canada check out IVC telecom