An overview of optical Fibers: The Background, Light Transmission, Features, Types And Applications

Abstract

Early humans used a number of methods for instance fire or the reflection of sunlight by mirrors and the like to communicate with others. The next method included using tubes and channels to conduct light inside it using lenses and mirrors. In the 19th century, the transmission line was realized inside a water pipe, and in 1930, in Germany, light conduction was realized inside a glass fiber. Optical Fiber is a long and narrow fiber of transparent material such as glass or plastic that can transfer light from one end to the other.

Optical fiber has a much higher bandwidth than regular cables; using optical fiber, we can easily transfer video, audio and other data with a high bandwidth of up to 10 Gbps and above. Nowadays, optical fiber telecommunications is one of the most important data transmission tools due to its wider bandwidth compared to copper cables, and less latency compared to satellite telecommunications. In this paper, we try to explain and study the nature of this technology, its advantages and disadvantages, and its growing applications, and to evaluate its superiority in terms of data transfer capability.

Keywords- Types of Optical Fibers, Optical Fiber Networks, Optical Fiber Features, and Optical Fiber Applications