What Is Optical Fiber?

We’ve all heard of the buzzword “Optical Fiber or Fiber Optics,” but how many of us know what is Optical Fiber? Optical fiber is a cable that uses optical or light-based technology to transmit data between two locations.

This article will discuss what is Optical Fiber or Fiber Optics cable in great detail. But, before we begin, let’s quickly go through the topics listed under the table of contents (TOC) that we will cover in this blog.

Table of contents (TOC)

• What is optical fiber?
• How does optical fiber work?
• Types of optical fiber
• Use cases of optical fiber cable
• Advantages of optical fiber
• Disadvantages of optical fiber
• Optical fiber vs copper wire

What is optical fiber? 

Optical fiber definition: An optical fiber can be defined as a cable that transmits data from one place to another by using light pulses that travel along with a long fiber, usually made of plastic or glass.

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To understand optical fibers in a better way, let’s go through all of their components. Let’s start with the outermost component and then move toward the inner components.

• Cable jacket: This is the outermost component of an optical fiber that protects the cable from environmental hazards, such as construction, lighting, etc.
• Strengthening fibers: This is the second outermost component of an optical fiber that protects the core (innermost component) against crushing forces and excessive tension during installation.
• Coating: This is the third outermost component of an optical fiber that absorbs shocks and provides extra protection to the core against excessive cable bends. It is a form of a coating that is applied over the cladding (second innermost component) to reinforce the fiber core.
• Cladding: This is the second innermost component that serves as a borderline for the light waves, thus making the data travel the length of the fiber.
• Core: This is the innermost component of an optical fiber that acts as a physical medium that transports optical signals from a connected light source to an intended receiver. The bigger the core, the more light the cable can transport, resulting in a higher data transfer.

When it comes to the thickness of optical fibers, you might be surprised to learn that it is roughly the same diameter as a strand of human hair, which makes it much easier to bundle up. And when these strands are bundled together, they form optical fibers cable.

How does optical fiber work? 

Now that you understand the components of fiber optic cabel, it will be much easier to understand its working. And, to make it even more simple, let’s try to understand the whole process in the form of an example, such as:

• 1st step: Suppose you want to send the data “Hello” to one of your friends on the city’s other side.
• 2nd step: You use an optical cable to send the data.
• 3rd step: Once the data is sent, it travels in the form of light particles or photons in the fiber optic cabel.
• 4th step: Due to the cladding component, the light particles bounce off the cable walls repeatedly due to continued internal mirror-like reflection. And because of this, light can travel to the core component.
• 5th step: Once the light reaches the core, this component transports the signals to an intended receiver, in this case, your friend.

Even though optical cables can transmit data over much greater distances than other cables, they sometimes require repeaters to cover much greater distances. To renew or boost weak optical signals, repeaters convert weak optical signals into electrical signals before processing them. Once the signals are processed, repeaters retransmit the optical signal.

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Types of optical fiber 

Optical fibers are classified into different types based on factors such as refractive index, material, and mode of light propagation. So, in total, optical fibers can be distinguished by three factors. Let’s take a closer look at the different types of optical fibers available based on these factors.

Refractive index

Based on the refractive index, optical fibers can be classified into two parts, such as:

• Step index fibers: In this type of optical fiber, the core is surrounded by the cladding, with a single uniform index of refraction.
• Graded index fibers: This type of optical fiber consists of refractive indices that vary from one end of the fiber to the other, which causes light rays to move at varying rates.

Material used

Based on material, optical fibers can be classified into two parts, such as:

• Glass fiber: These optical fibers have higher information transmission capacity with lower loss and are ideal in corrosive environments or extreme temperatures. In this cable, highly purified silica glass is used.
• Plastic fiber: These optical fibers have great flexibility, are lighter in weight and can withstand vibration and unstable environments. In this cable, polymethylmethacrylate is used as a core for light transmission.

Mode of light propagation

Based on the mode of light propagation, optical fibers can be classified into two parts, such as:

• Single-mode fiber: These optical fibers are best for transferring data to long distances.
• Multimode fiber: These optical fibers are best for transferring data to short distances.

Here’s the image that shows various types of optical fibesr:

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Use cases of optical fiber cable 

There is a lot of use of fiber optics cabels in our daily lives. Let’s explore some of the most popular uses, such as:

Communication: Optical fiber allows you to easily transmit data to long distances and exchange signals, such as video, data, voice, and telemetry signals. The Internet is a noteworthy example of a real-world application using optical fibers.

Medical equipment: Optical fibers are widely used in medical devices, such as endoscopes, ophthalmoscopes, etc. Fiber optics cabel are highly preferred as it’s quite flexible and provides no minor side effects compared to other types of cables. One of the primary reasons for choosing optical fibers over other types of cables is that optical fibers do not provide any toxic radiation that can harm the patients or the staff.

Light decoration items: You might be surprised that optical fibers are also used in electric decorative items, such as fairy lights. Fairy lights are the lights that are mainly used for decorative purposes. Fiber optics cabels are preferred in this segment as they have minimum chances to give an electric shock and are available at affordable cost with a long life span.

Networking: Data transfer speed can play a significant role in computer networking. And, as optical fibers provide a much faster data transfer rate than any other types of cables, optical cable is highly preferred for connecting various networking devices.

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Military equipment: Fiber optics cabel is highly preferred in military equipment. And this is so because optical fibers are highly secure and can be accessed only by the authenticated user. This property of optical fibers is crucial for military-grade equipment as their data needs to remain confidential and secure at all costs.

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Advantages of optical fiber 

There are many uses cases of optical fiber in various industries; hence you can imagine the number of advantages that a fiber optic cabel has. Let’s look at some of the most popular advantages of fiber optic cabels.

• Reduces power consumption
• Works even when submerged in water
• Supports higher bandwidth capacities
• Requires significantly less maintenance or replacement
• Possesses inflammable properties and more resistance
• Reduces signal degradation and is exceptionally lightweight
• Allows more comprehensive data travel without requiring repeaters to boost the signals frequently.
• Possesses various other positive points, such as they are more robust, thinner, and lighter than most the other cables

Disadvantages of optical fiber

Fiber optics also have some disadvantages, such as:

• Fiber optics are quite expensive compared to any other types of cables available.
• As fiber optics are made of glass, they are more fragile than electrical wires.
• Deploying a new fiber optic network or expanding an existing one is very delicate.

Optical fiber vs copper wire

For better understanding, let’s explore optical fiber vs copper wire in a tabular format:

Benchmark	Optical fiber	Copper wire
Carries data in the form of	Light	Electric signals
Installation cost is	High	Low
Bandwidth offered is	High	Low
Bandwidth size offered	60Tps	10Gbps
It is thin and lighter in weight	Yes	No
Corrosive material resistant	More	Less
Attenuation is	Low	High
Security	Highly secure	Less secure
Easily breakable	Yes	No

Conclusion

Fiber optics has gained popularity in recent years, and due to its advantages over other types of cables, fiber obtics have become the backbone for MANs, WANs, and LANs. The usage of optical fibers will keep increasing faster because of their use in various industries.

After reading this article, I hope you can easily tell what is optical fiber, its advantages, disadvantages, etc. If you have any queries, please feel free to ask. All questions are welcome!!