Optical Fibres
By Jaydan
Fibre optics are wires made of pure strands of glass or plastic spliced together (weaved together). These wires are as thin as strands of hair so their can be millions of them in a fibre optic cable. The wires are in bundles called optical cables and are used to transmit digital information over long distances. Fibre optics can be used for telecommunication, networking, decorations, endoscopy and much more because they are flexible, carry much more information than copper wires, can be used quickly by computers, the digital hardware is much smaller and it is easier to send information over long distances. Fibre Optic wires work by transmitting light signals through the core of the wire using total internal reflection …show more content…
The core of an optical fibre is the centre of the cable where the thin glass strands that transmit the light are. This can be made out of plastic or really pure glass depending on the quality of the wire. The glass that the light will travel through can’t have any impurities in it because this will cause dispersion and attenuation for the light traveling down the wire which would decrease the signal strength. The light travels down the core through the process of total http://cablesondemandblog.com/wordpress1/fiber-optic-cables-on-demand/ internal reflection however this can only occur if the optical fibre has a cladding. The cladding of an optical fibre can be made out of any material that has a lower refractive index than the core but is usually made out of plastic or glass. This is because the cladding is used to reflect the light back into the core without losing any energy as well as preventing light leakage. The cladding is then surrounded by a buffer coat which is usually made out of plastic and is used to protect the optical fibre from damage and moisture. There can be hundreds or thousands of these optical fibres arranged together which is called an optical cable. The fibre optic cable will also be surrounded by one final layer of protection called the jacket. The jacket can be made out of a number of materials including LSFH polymer, Polybutylene terephthalate and Polyethylene and is a final …show more content…
“Attenuation is the reduction in power of the light signal as it is transmitted” meaning that if attenuation is occurring the further the light travels the lower the signal strength will get. Attenuation can occur through many ways including absorption when some light is absorbed by the wire or dispersion when the light disperses in the wire. Fibre optics have been designed to limit absorption because the cladding that surrounds the core of the cable can’t absorb any of the light energy due to total internal reflection. Multimode fibre optics are much more likely to have attenuation due to dispersion than single mode fibre optics and this is because they have a much larger core. Dispersion is when the light signals traveling down the wire are going at different speeds to each other so arrive at different times meaning the signal can’t be picked up. The larger core of the multimode fibre optic means that more than one light beam can travel at once. Because the light enters at different angles some beams may go straight through and some may spend a long time reflecting. This can be prevented by using a graded-index fibre because these fibres are multimode fibres “whose core has a refractive index that decreases with increasing radial distance from the optical axis of the
By Jaydan
Fibre optics are wires made of pure strands of glass or plastic spliced together (weaved together). These wires are as thin as strands of hair so their can be millions of them in a fibre optic cable. The wires are in bundles called optical cables and are used to transmit digital information over long distances. Fibre optics can be used for telecommunication, networking, decorations, endoscopy and much more because they are flexible, carry much more information than copper wires, can be used quickly by computers, the digital hardware is much smaller and it is easier to send information over long distances. Fibre Optic wires work by transmitting light signals through the core of the wire using total internal reflection …show more content…
The core of an optical fibre is the centre of the cable where the thin glass strands that transmit the light are. This can be made out of plastic or really pure glass depending on the quality of the wire. The glass that the light will travel through can’t have any impurities in it because this will cause dispersion and attenuation for the light traveling down the wire which would decrease the signal strength. The light travels down the core through the process of total http://cablesondemandblog.com/wordpress1/fiber-optic-cables-on-demand/ internal reflection however this can only occur if the optical fibre has a cladding. The cladding of an optical fibre can be made out of any material that has a lower refractive index than the core but is usually made out of plastic or glass. This is because the cladding is used to reflect the light back into the core without losing any energy as well as preventing light leakage. The cladding is then surrounded by a buffer coat which is usually made out of plastic and is used to protect the optical fibre from damage and moisture. There can be hundreds or thousands of these optical fibres arranged together which is called an optical cable. The fibre optic cable will also be surrounded by one final layer of protection called the jacket. The jacket can be made out of a number of materials including LSFH polymer, Polybutylene terephthalate and Polyethylene and is a final …show more content…
“Attenuation is the reduction in power of the light signal as it is transmitted” meaning that if attenuation is occurring the further the light travels the lower the signal strength will get. Attenuation can occur through many ways including absorption when some light is absorbed by the wire or dispersion when the light disperses in the wire. Fibre optics have been designed to limit absorption because the cladding that surrounds the core of the cable can’t absorb any of the light energy due to total internal reflection. Multimode fibre optics are much more likely to have attenuation due to dispersion than single mode fibre optics and this is because they have a much larger core. Dispersion is when the light signals traveling down the wire are going at different speeds to each other so arrive at different times meaning the signal can’t be picked up. The larger core of the multimode fibre optic means that more than one light beam can travel at once. Because the light enters at different angles some beams may go straight through and some may spend a long time reflecting. This can be prevented by using a graded-index fibre because these fibres are multimode fibres “whose core has a refractive index that decreases with increasing radial distance from the optical axis of the