What is the way that fiber optic connectors work? The history of fiber optic communications is a book by itself since it took several generations before the industry was established that we have today.

Optic fiber is a thin, cylindrical fiber made of plastic or glass, that is as small as one tenth of a human hair. The standard optical fiber in telecom comprises three cylindrical layers, counted inside out the fiber core (diameter 8~10um) as well as cladding (diameter of 125um) and buffer coating (diameter 900um).

The fiber core and cladding are composed of silica or glass. The fiber core and the layers of cladding are used to keep the light inside the core without leakage. Fiber buffer coating is created out of plastic or acrylic, and offers handling flexibility as well as physical protection to the fiber.

Optical fibers utilize an optical phenomenon called total internal reflection. When light is introduced into the fiber from its end face, it is confined inside the core not leaking out and wasting its energy.

Then, http://a7babi.com/showthread.php?t=24464 light is digitally modified to indicate the numbers 1 and 0 like a computer, and information can be carried from one location to another, which could be from San Francisco all the way to New York.

What are fiber optic connectors and how do they work?

Now you understand the way optical fibers function. So what is an optical connector and what’s the purpose of the fiber optic network of telecommunications?

In simple terms The fiber optic connector’s function is just like an electric power supply, it relies on light to transmit from one section of optical fiber to a different section of optical fiber.

Since optical fibers are so tiny they require fiber optic connectors to be designed with extreme precision, and at a scale of 0.1um which is one hundredth of a human hair.

Fiber optic connectors connect two fibers from one end to the other to ensure that light is able to move from one fiber to another without bouncing off the connector and losing its signal.

In addition, fiber optic connectors provide cross connect flexibility for the telecommunications network. So a complicated computer network can be modularized and simple to manage.

Just like any other connectors that are used in electric industry, electronic industry, and computer industry, numerous types and types of connectors for fiber optics were invented in the course of development of the fiber optic communication industry. Certain of them were very popular in the industry and now have served their purpose and are becoming obsolete.

The most popular fiber optic connectors used nowadays comprise SC, ST, LC, FC, MTRJ, SMA and a few lesser-known ones. You will surely see new connectors developed with the progress of this industry.