Fibre optics are long thin strands of very pure glass used to transmit digital data. The strands of glass are about the same diameter as a human hair, and are bundled together to form optical cables. These optical cables allow digital data to transmit long distances using light signals.
A single optical fiber is made up of three main parts. The thin glass center is called the core – this is where the light travels. The glass core is surrounded in cladding, which reflects the light back into the core. The buffer coating is a plastic coating that surrounds the cladding and protects the optical fiber from damage and moisture.
Fibre optics are used in a number of industries. They can be used in mechanical imaging, medical imaging, and plumbing, but perhaps most notably they are used in telecommunications and computer networks. In these industries, the fibre optic network provides a number of advantages over previous technologies.
How do fiber optics work?
By allowing light to travel along the optical fibre, fiber optics can transmit billions of bits of data per second. But how does it do this? A light source (usually a laser) at one end of the cable switches on and off rapidly to transmit data to the other end of the cable.
The light travels through the cable by continuously reflecting off the cladding surrounding the optical fiber. In this way, the light travels from one end of the cable to the other, in a process called total internal reflection. Each fiber can carry multiple signals by using different coloured lasers.
While the glass used in fiber optics is very pure, there will always be some impurities. These impurities can degrade the light signal within the optical fiber. The wavelength of the transmitted light can also degrade the signal. To boost the signal and allow the light to reach the end of the cable, an optical regenerator is used.
Transmitting Data
In order to transmit data through fiber optics, a fiber optic relay system is used. This relay system uses a transmitter to produce and encode the light signals at one end, an optical fiber to conduct the light signals over a distance, an optical regenerator to boost the light signal, and an optical receiver to receive and decode the light signals at the other end.
Benefits of Fibre Optics
There are a number of benefits to using fiber optics over older technologies such as copper wiring. Compared to copper wire, optical fibres are:
· Thinner: Allowing more fibres to fit within the same diameter of cabling.
· Cheaper: Over long distances, optical cable can be cheaper than copper wire.
· More efficient: Optical cables are thinner, which allows more cables to be bundled together, allowing for a higher carrying capacity. Because light signals degrade less, lower power transmitters are needed (compared to the high-voltage transmitters needed for copper wires).
· Better quality for users: Copper wires experience higher signal loss than optical cables. Optical cables also transmit light, not electricity, so one cable does not interfere with another, which allows for clearer TV reception and phone conversations.
· Non-flammable: There is no fire hazard, as no electricity is being passed through the cables.
· Lightweight: An optical cable weighs less than a comparable copper cable.
· Flexible: Optical cable is more flexible, which allows it to have a number of uses outside the computer and telecommunications industry.
· More suitable for digital data transfer: Optical cables are well suited to carrying digital signals.
