Optical fiber is a long 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 cylindrical layers, counted in the inside as fiber core (diameter 8~10um) as well as cladding (diameter 125um) along with buffer coating (diameter 9000um).
The fiber core and cladding are composed of silica or glass. Fiber Core and Cladding layers combine to contain the light within the core without leaking. Fiber buffer coating is made of plastic or acrylic and gives handling flexibility and physical protection for the fiber.
Fiber optics employ an optical phenomenon known as total internal reflection. When light is introduced into the fiber from its the end, it becomes contained within the core, without spilling out and wasting its energy.
Then light is digitally modulated to show 1 and 0 just as a computer. As such, data can be transmitted from one site to another one, which could be from San Francisco all the way to New York.
What are fiber optic connectors and how do they function?
Now you understand how optical fibers work. What is the fiber optic connector? And what’s its function in a fiber optic telecommunication network?
Put it simple, a fiber optic connector’s job is similar to an electric power plug It relies on light to transmit from one segment of optical fiber to another section of optical fiber.
Because optical fibers are small they require fiber optic connectors to be designed with extreme precision, and at a scale of 0.1um which is one hundredth of the human hair.
Fiber optic connectors align two fibers from end to end so precisely that light can travel from one fiber into another without being bounced off of the connector and losing its signal.
Besides fiber optic connectors, they provide cross connect flexibility for the telecommunications network. So a complicated computer network can be modularized and manageable.
Similar to other connectors utilized in the electronic industry, electric industry, or computer industry, numerous kinds and types of connectors for fiber optics were developed along the development of fiber optic communication industry. Certain of them were very popular in the industry but have now served their purposes and الياف اس تي سي (read more) are disappearing.
The most popular fiber optic connectors that are used today are SC, ST, LC, FC, MTRJ, SMA and a few of lesser-known ones. There are certain to be new connectors developed with the development of the industry.