Technology is rapidly developing and we are in an era of fiber optics. We might have heard about fiber cable pulling and splicing in our near premises. What makes the fiber cable so demanding? Is it direct light that pass through this optical cable? Let us have an understanding of this technological milestone.
Fibre Optic Cables
Hundreds of thin strands of glass or plastic constitute a fiber optic cable. Each strand resembles the human hair but it is a bit thicker than the hair.
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| Fig. 2- A cable strand |
The core of the cable is the glass strand. The core is then protected by a layer called cladding. Cladding prevents the reflection outside the core. An extra protective plastic coating is provided to the cladding to absorb the shocks within the cable.
How does fibre optics work?
LEDs or lasers firstly convert the data signals of communication to light beams. These beams of light are then travelled through the fibre optic cables. The transmission of these light beams depends on the refractive indices of cladding and the core.
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| Fig. 3 - The travel of light beam through the cable |
The journey of light beam starts through the core. The cladding has a lower refractive index than the core has a higher refractive index than cladding. Hence, the cladding can prevent the passage of reflection outside its coating which means the cladding would lock the light rays within the core. Thus the light beam travels in a zig-zag manner through the cable as shown in Fig.3.
Applications of fibre optic technology
- Computer Networking- Fiber optics ensure the long distance transmission of different bandwidths of signals in the field of computer networking.
- Telecommunication- Transmission and broadcasting of high-quality signals in the telecommunication field through fibre optics is a boom these days.
- Medical field- It has tremendous applications in scanning, diagnostics, and endoscopy.
- Military and space industries- Military aeroplanes and tanks have several applications with fiber cables due to its smooth and reliable tansmission of confidential datas.
