Which Lasers Are Suitable for Fiber Optic Communication?

[CL39]

Homework Statement

Which of the following can / cannot be used for fiber optic communication.
What is the general rule / cut-off (in terms of wavelength) for deciding ?
Thank you.

Choices (Laser type/wavelength, nm)

Argon fluoride (UV) 193
Krypton fluoride (UV) 248
Xenon chloride (UV) 308
Nitrogen (UV) 337
Argon (blue) 488
Argon (green) 514
Helium neon (green) 543
Helium neon (red) 633
Rhodamine 6G dye (tunable) 570-650
Ruby (CrAlO3) (red) 694
Nd:Yag (NIR) 1064
Carbon dioxide (FIR) 10600

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

 

[mgb_phys]

Depends on the fibre!
Most coms fibres run at 1.55um, Si02 has very good transmission and very low dispersion around this band.

In theory you could use most of those lasers although you might have difficulty getting low enough OH fibre to use the UV ones.

 

[PhillipKP]

Like mgb_phys said, it depends on the fiber.

UV does not transmit well through glass.

That is why you can't get a sunburn sitting in your car, but you can feel hot because IR does pass through glass.

Each fiber has an optimal bandwidth (range of frequencies), consult the catalouge if in doubt.