The technology deals with the transmission of data in the form of light pulses through a fibre optic cable are called fibre optics. A fibre optic cable may contain a few to hundreds of glass fibres. The glass layer that surrounds the glass core is called cladding. The cladding is protected by another layer called the buffer tube. The jacket layer acts as a final protective layer.
working
When the light enters the fibre optic cable, the fibre optic core and cladding having different refractive index bents the light at a certain angle. Thus the total internal reflection occurs. The light can only travel 30% less speed than the speed of light, through the thick glass medium. Sometimes if the distance of transmission is large, it may need to boost the signal. For that repeaters are used at distances to regenerate the optical signal by converting it into an electrical signal.
Fibre optic cable type
Single mode fibre
Best for long distance transmission due to the smaller diameter of its fibreglass core. That way the reduction of signal strength (attenuation) can be lessened. Single mode fibre is expensive because of the highly precise calculations it needed to produce laser light through its small opening. When compared to multimode fibre, single-mode fibre has higher bandwidth. That makes it suitable for a laser to became its light source.
Multimode fibre
Multimode fibre, which used for short distance transmission of light signals because of its large core opening. This allows the light signals to bounce and reflect through the way. Thus multiple lights are allowed to pass through the way at one time. Thus the data transmission increases, but prone to interface, signal loss etc. In order to create the light pulse, a multimode fibre use Light emitting diode, LED.
Uses of Fibre optics
The main benefit of fibre optic cable is its lighter weight and smaller size. In order to get precise illumination, several medical instruments are using this. X-ray imaging, endoscopy, light therapy and surgical microscopy are some of the medical applications of fibre optics. Fibre optics are suitable for various tests like MRI scan because of its immunity towards electromagnetic interference. The military, as well as the space industry, also make use of this fibre optics technology for signal transfer.