Optical fiber is a long thin cylindrical fiber that is made of plastic or glass, smaller than one tenth of a human hair. A typical optical fiber for telecom is made up of three layers that are counted inside out the fiber core (diameter 810um), cladding (diameter 130um) along with buffer coating (diameter 900um).
Fiber core and cladding is made from glass or silica. Fiber Core and Cladding layers combine to contain the light inside the core and prevent it from leakage. Fiber buffer coating is created out of plastic or acrylic, and offers handling flexibility as well as physical protection for Web-development62605.bloggerchest.com/16547182/optical-fiber-secrets the fiber.
Fiber optics employ an optical phenomenon known as total internal reflection. When light is introduced into the fiber from its one end, it’s contained within the core, without spilling out and losing energy.
Then, light is digitally modulated to show 1 and 0 just as a computer. As such, data can be transmitted 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 how optical fibers operate. So what is a fiber optic connector and what’s its function in a fiber optic telecommunication network?
Put it simple, a fiber optic connector’s job is similar to that of an electric power plug It is used to connect light in one section that is optical to another segment of optical fiber.
Since optical fibers are so small they require fiber optic connectors to be designed with extreme precision, at the size that is 0.1um that is just one centimeter of the human hair.
Fiber optic connectors connect two fibers from one end to the other so precisely that light can move from one fiber to another without being bounced off of the interface and loss its signal.
Additionally the fact that fiber optic connectors offer cross connect flexibility to the telecommunications network. Thus, a complex computer network can be modularized and easy to manage.
Similar to other connectors that are used in electronic industry, electric industry and computer industry, numerous types of fiber optic connectors were invented in the course of development of the fiber optic communication industry. Certain types were once highly popular in the market and now have served their purposes and are disappearing.
The most popular fiber optic connectors that are used today comprise SC, ST, LC, FC, MTRJ, SMA as well as a few others that are less well-known. Sure you will see new connectors developed with the progress of this industry.