Optical Fibers

1. Optical Fibers Jonathan Perez MEEN 3344

2. What are Optical Fibers? • Long thin strands of very pure glass about the diameter of a human hair. • They are arranged in bundles called optical cables and used to carry digital information over long distances. • Used heavily in telecommunications and computer networks • Also used in medical imaging and mechanical engineering inspection

3. How are they made? Three step process • Step 1: Make a pre-form glass cylinder

4. How are they made? • Step 2: Draw the fibers from the pre-form glass cylinder • Step 3: Test the finished optical fibers

5. Advantages of optical fibers(over metal wires) • Less Expensive • Thinner • Higher Carrying Capacity • Less Signal Degradation • Light Signals • Low Power • Digital Signals • Non Flammable • Lightweight • Flexible

6. Other and Future Uses • Illumination: light can be carried from outside to rooms in the interiors of buildings • Sensors: able to measure data at different points along the fiber • Laser beams: provides a flexible and safe means of distributing high power laser radiation around a factory to be used by robots or machine tools • Optical Computing: uses light instead of electrons to process information. Optical computers could transport information ten times faster than today's electronic devices

7. References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_Fiber http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/fiber-optic4.htm http://www.commspecial.com/fiberguide.htm http://www.physorg.com/news3679.html http://library.thinkquest.org/C006694F/Optical%20Fibres/Uses%201.htm