optical fiber is a thin, cylindrical fiber made of glass or plastic, that is as small as one tenth of a human hair. A standard telecom optical fiber comprises three layers that are counted from the inside out as fiber core (diameter 8~10um) and cladding (diameter of 125um) as well as buffer layer (diameter 90um).
Fiber core and cladding is composed of silica or Www.adsleema.com/2022/10/blog-post_28.html glass. The fiber core and the cladding layers work together to confine the light inside the core and prevent it from losing. Fiber buffer coating is made of plastic or acrylic and provides handling flexibility and physical protection for the fiber.
Optic fibers make use of an optical phenomenon known as total internal reflection. When light is injected into the fiber from the end, it becomes confined inside the core without spilling out and losing its energy.
Then, light is digitally modified to show 1 and 0 , just as a computer. As such, information can be transferred from one place to another one, which could be from San Francisco all the way to New York.
What are fiber optic connectors and how do they work?
You now know how optical fibers work. So what is the fiber optic connector? And what’s its function in the fiber optic network of telecommunications?
Simply put A fiber optic connector’s job is similar to an electric power supply that is used to connect light in one section of optical fiber to another section that is optical.
Since optical fibers are small that fiber optic connectors need to be constructed with high precision, with a scale to 0.1um that is just one centimeter of the human hair.
Fiber optic connectors align two fibers from end to end so precisely that light can move from one fiber to another without being bounced off of the interface , and thus losing its signal.
In addition the fact that fiber optic connectors offer cross connect flexibility to the telecommunications network. Therefore, a computer network that is complex can be modularized and easy to manage.
Just like any other connectors that are used in electronic industry, electric industry, or the computer industry, a variety of types and types of connectors for fiber optics were developed in the course of development of the fiber optic communications. Certain types were once highly popular in the market but they have since served their purposes and are fading away.
The most widely used fiber optic connectors that are used today are SC, ST, LC, FC, MTRJ, SMA and a few of lesser-known ones. You will surely see new connectors being developed as a result of the progress of this industry.