An optical fiber (or fibre in British English) is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber and find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data transfer rates) than electrical cables. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss; in addition, fibers are immune to electromagnetic interference, a problem from which metal wires suffer. Fibers are also used for illumination and imaging, and are often wrapped in bundles so they may be used to carry light into, or images out of confined spaces, as in the case of a fiberscope. Specially designed fibers are also used for a variety of other applications, some of them being fiber optic sensors and fiber lasers.Optical fibers typically include a core surrounded by a transparent cladding material with a lower index of refraction. Light is kept in the core by the phenomenon of total internal reflection which causes the fiber to act as a waveguide. Fibers that support many propagation paths or transverse modes are called multi-mode fibers, while those that support a single mode are called single-mode fibers (SMF). Multi-mode fibers generally have a wider core diameter and are used for short-distance communication links and for applications where high power must be transmitted. Single-mode fibers are used for most communication links longer than 1,000 meters (3,300 ft).Being able to join optical fibers with low loss is important in fiber optic communication. This is more complex than joining electrical wire or cable and involves careful cleaving of the fibers, precise alignment of the fiber cores, and the coupling of these aligned cores. For applications that demand a permanent connection a fusion splice is common. In this technique, an electric arc is used to melt the ends of the fibers together. Another common technique is a mechanical splice, where the ends of the fibers are held in contact by mechanical force. Temporary or semi-permanent connections are made by means of specialized optical fiber connectors.The field of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of optical fibers is known as fiber optics. The term was coined by Indian-American physicist Narinder Singh Kapany, who is widely acknowledged as the father of fiber optics.
The geometric configuration that I am adopting is the following, I hope you understand.
The optical fiber is positioned relative to the bottom surface at a height ##a## and an angle ##\alpha## with respect to the y-axis in the yz-plane with x = 0. ##b## is the distance between the origin and...
Hello PF,
I need some guide points to help me formulate a project idea on the topic of optical fibers.
Namely, the professor suggested I should look for topics on modeling of optical fibers, analysis of different optical fibers, characteristics etc. and to work in a simulator, or perform a...
Hi,
If I understood it correctly, the coefficient of attenuation for a single optical fiber, is alpha = (10/L)*log(P(0)/P(L)). Assuming if I knew the properties of the optical fiber and the amount of optical fiber in the bundle, then the total attenuation for the bundle is approximately number...
Hello
Is it possible to direct sunlight into the optical fiber by magnifying glass and a prism like the image below?
if yes , what shape of prism should i use to do this?
Thank you
I am ignorant about laser physics, but i have this idea of collimating monochromatic light with an optical fiber/cable that is cone shaped: at inlet the cone has a wide diameter (several hundred microns - like an ordinary optical fiber, which might be used as a light source), on the other end it...
Hi. I know how optical fibers work but where is the information in the light signal passing through it? Which characteristics of the electric field carry it? I begun to think about it because I was intrigued if they took into account things like the Goos-Hänchen shift or angular deviations in...
Homework Statement
A high-speed optical data communication system is composed of a transmitter, an unamplified transmission fiber link, and a receiver. The optical transmitter generates a 10-Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signal using a 1550-nm laser diode (linewidth=2 MHz) followed by a...
Hi everyone!
This is my first post. I hope I am posting in the right place -- if not, please let me know.
I am also hoping my question will not sound too absurd; I am no physicist, just someone who would like to use complex technology to create an art installation, and I'm having a hard time...