Fibre Cables

An optical fiber (or fibre) is a glass or plastic fiber designed to guide light along its length by total internal reflection. Fiber optics is the branch of applied science and engineering concerned with such optical fibers. more...

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Optical fibers are widely used in fiber-optic communication, which permits digital data transmission over longer distances and at higher data rates than electronic communication. They are also used to form sensors, and in a variety of other applications.

The operating principle of optical fibers applies to a number of variants including multi-mode optical fibers, single-mode optical fibers, graded-index optical fibers, and step-index optical fibers. Because of the physics of the optical fiber, special methods of splicing fibers and of connecting them to other equipment are needed. A variety of methods are used to manufacture optical fibers, and the fibers are also built into different kinds of cables depending on how they will be used.

The light-guiding principle behind optical fibers was first demonstrated in Victorian times, but modern optical fibers were only developed beginning in the 1950s. Optical fibers became practical for use in communications in the late 1970s, and since then several technical advances have been made to extend the reach and speed capability of optical fibers, and lower the cost of fiber communications systems.

Applications

Optical fiber communication

The optical fiber can be used as a medium for telecommunication and networking because it is flexible and can be bundled as cables. Although fibers can be made out of transparent plastic, glass, or a combination of the two, the fibers used in long-distance telecommunications applications are always glass, because of the lower optical attenuation. Both multi-mode and single-mode fibers are used in communications, with multi-mode fiber used mostly for short distances (up to 500 m), and single-mode fiber used for longer distance links. Because of the tighter tolerances required to couple light into and between single-mode fibers, single-mode transmitters, receivers, amplifiers and other components are generally more expensive than multi-mode components.

Fiber optic sensors

Optical fibers can be used as sensors to measure strain, temperature, pressure and other parameters. The small size and the fact that no electrical power is needed at the remote location gives the fiber optic sensor advantages to conventional electrical sensor in certain applications.

Optical fibers are used as hydrophones for seismic or SONAR applications. Hydrophone systems with more than 100 sensors per fiber cable have been developed. Hydrophone sensor systems are used by the oil industry as well as a few countries' navies. Both bottom mounted hydrophone arrays and towed streamer systems are in use. The German company Sennheiser developed a microphone working with a laser and optical fibers.

Read more at Wikipedia.org