Introduction

Optical Fiber
It is a glass filament or wire which carries light. It is a cylindrical waveguide that operate at optical frequency.

It confines electromagnetic energy in the form of light.

COMMUNICATION
It may be broadly defined as the transfer of information from one point to another.

HISTORY
Hollow Logs, Drum (different sizes), Wind Instruments (pipes), Smoke Signals, Signal fires and Signaling lamps. The first optical fiber exhibited very high attenuation i.e. 1000 dB/Km. While coaxial cable losses were 5-10 dB/Km. Fiber losses were reduced to below 5 dB/Km. Development of fiber waveguides with optical frequencies at small wavelengths requires the development of all optical components. Laser Life at the start was 1000 Hrs & now is 100 years. At present two optical windows are in operation i.e. 1310 nm ,1550nm.

Advantages of Optical Fiber

1. Enormous potential bandwidth The maximum capacity of single mode step index fiber is 1.6 Tb/Sec w.r.t coaxial cable bandwidth of 500 MHZ. 2. Small size and weight

Optical fibers have very small diameter i.e. 125um which is just like a human hair while the dia of one copper is 0.8mm.The ratio of weight as compared to other cables is 25:1. 3. Electrical isolation Optical fibers are fabricated from glass which are electrical insulated hence they don't exhibit interference problem. 4. Immunity to Interference & Cross talk The material of optical fiber is dielectric/glass hence there is no possibility of cross talk or leakage. 5. Signal Security The light from optical fibers doesn't radiate significantly and therefore they provide a high degree of signal security. 6. Low transmission loss Laser light travels with high speed on pure transparent glass. This development of optical fiber over the last twenty years has resulted in the production of O/F cables with very low attenuation i.e. 0.2 dB/Km. 7. Ruggedness & Flexibility Cable structures have been developed which have proved flexible, compact & extremely high. 8. System Reliability & Ease of Maintenance Due to low transmission loss, intermediate repeaters & line amplifiers are reduced. Hence with few repeaters system reliability is generally enhanced. The optical component life time is 20 to 30 years. 9. Potential Low Cost The glass which generally provides the optical fiber transmission medium is made from sand which is available in abundance. 10. Long distance transmission

Because of less attenuation transmission at a longer distance is possible.

Disadvantages of Optical Fiber

1. Very small hole on the surface of fiber may weakens the tensile strength. 2. A small bend on optical fiber causes radiation loss. 3. Alignment problem, connectors & core misalignment. 4. The cost of fusion splicing is high. 5. The fault localization is some what difficult.

6. Clean environment is required during splicing. A small dust particle can create high attenuation. 7. As the optical fibers are of very small, testing procedures tend to be more complex. 8. High investment cost, doubt of reliability in the presence of moisture etc

Applications of optical fiber communications

1. Optical fiber can be used as a medium for telecommunication and networking because it is flexible and can be bundled as cables. It is especially advantageous for long-distance communications. 2. Optical fibers have many uses in remote sensing. In some applications, the sensor is itself an optical fiber. Optical fibers can be used as sensors to measure strain, temperature, pressure and other quantities. 3. Fibers are widely used in illumination applications. They are used as light guides in medical and other applications where bright light needs to be shone on a target without a clear line-of-sight path. 4. Optical fiber is also used in imaging optics.

5. Optical fiber is also used for data communications, video control, protection switching, power and military applications.