Optical fiber is a long thin cylindrical fiber made from glass or plasticthat is smaller than one tenth of a human hair. The standard optical fiber in telecom is composed of three layers that are counted inside out the fiber core (diameter 810um) as well as cladding (diameter 125um) as well as buffer layer (diameter 900um).
Fiber core and cladding are composed of silica or glass. The fiber core and the cladding layers are used to keep the light inside the core and prevent it from leaking. Fiber buffer coating is created out of plastic or acrylic, and gives handling flexibility and physical protection to the fiber.
Fiber optics employ an optical phenomenon known as total internal reflection. When light is injected into the fiber from end face, it is contained within the core, without leaking outside and losing energy.
Then, light is digitally modulated to show the numbers 1 and 0 as a computer. As such, information can be carried from one place to another site which may be located from San Francisco all the way to New York.
What are fiber optic connectors ? And how do they function?
Now you understand how optical fibers operate. What is an optical connector and what is its purpose in the fiber optic network of telecommunications?
Simply put The fiber optic connector’s purpose is just like an electric power plug, it connects light from one segment of optical fiber with another segment that is optical.
Since optical fibers are small, fiber optic connectors have to be constructed with high precision, with a size to 0.1um that is just one centimeter of the human hair.
Fiber optic connectors are positioned to align two fibers from end to end in a way that light can move from one fiber to another without bounce off the interface , and thus losing its signal.
Additionally the fact that fiber optic connectors offer cross connect flexibility for رقم الالياف البصرية stc the telecommunications network. Therefore, a computer network that is complex can be modularized and manageable.
Just like any other connectors that are used in electric industry, electronic industry, or the computer industry, a variety of kinds and types of connectors for fiber optics were invented along the development of fiber optic communications. Certain types were once extremely popular in the field and now have served their purposes and are disappearing.
The most well-known fiber optic connectors in use today are SC, ST, LC, FC, MTRJ, SMA and a few lesser-known ones. You will surely see new connectors developed with the advancement of technology.