Introduction - Optical Fiber and Their Properties

Introduction

An optical fiber is a glass or plastic fiber that carries light along its length. Fiber optics is the overlap of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of optical fibers. Optical fibers are widely used in fiber optic communications, which permits transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) because light has high frequency than any other form of radio signal than other forms of communications. Light is kept in the core of the optical fiber by total internal reflection. This causes the fiber to act as a waveguide. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss, and they are also immune to electromagnetic interference, which is caused by thunderstorm. Fibers are also used for illumination and are wrapped in bundles so they can be used to carry images, thus allowing viewing in tight spaces. Specially designed fibers are used for a variety of other applications, including sensors and fiber lasers.