Internet
Wide area networks (WANs), the global backbones and workhorses of today's Internet that connect billions of computers over continents and oceans, are the foundation of modern online services. As COVID-19 has placed a vital ...
Aug 26, 2021
0
504
Electronics & Semiconductors
In the last few years, several technology companies including Google, Microsoft, and IBM, have massively invested in quantum computing systems based on microwave superconducting circuit platforms in an effort to scale them ...
May 10, 2021
0
122
Business
Facebook is growing its footprint in Oregon, announcing Thursday that it will expand its data center in Prineville—already the social media giant's largest in the United States.
Mar 19, 2021
0
5
Business
Facebook has decided to halt its efforts to build a trans-Pacific undersea cable that would have connected California and Hong Kong, due to tensions between the United States and China.
Mar 11, 2021
0
13
Electronics & Semiconductors
Researchers have developed a data transfer system that can transmit information 10 times faster than a USB. The new link pairs high-frequency silicon chips with a polymer cable as thin a strand of hair. The system may one ...
Feb 24, 2021
0
35
Engineering
A group of researchers from the Network System Research Institute of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, Japan) led by Georg Rademacher, NOKIA Bell Labs (Bell Labs, USA) led by Nicolas ...
Dec 18, 2020
0
21
Machine learning & AI
EPFL researchers have invented a way of automatically working out what data needs to be put into a complex system—such as a fiber optic network—in order to get the desired result. Their solution could prove especially ...
Jul 16, 2020
0
188
Electronics & Semiconductors
A new technique that synchronizes the clocks of computers in under a billionth of a second can eliminate one of the hurdles for the deployment of all-optical networks, potentially leading to more efficient data centers, according ...
Jun 22, 2020
0
142
Internet
Optics-based technologies such as optical fibers have strongly influenced the age of wired communication. Now they look set to revolutionize wireless communications as well and solve key issues with traditional radio-based ...
Jun 4, 2020
1
81
Electronics & Semiconductors
EPFL researchers have developed electronic fibers that, when embedded in textiles, can be used to collect data about our bodies by measuring fabric deformation. Their technology employs flexible transmission lines and offers ...
Jun 1, 2020
0
149
An optical fiber (or fibre) is a glass or plastic fiber that carries light along its length. Fiber optics is the overlap of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of optical fibers. Optical fibers are widely used in fiber-optic communications, which permits transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than other forms of communications. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss, and they are also immune to electromagnetic interference. Fibers are also used for illumination, and are wrapped in bundles so they can be used to carry images, thus allowing viewing in tight spaces. Specially designed fibers are used for a variety of other applications, including sensors and fiber lasers.
Light is kept in the core of the optical fiber by total internal reflection. This causes the fiber to act as a waveguide. Fibers which support many propagation paths or transverse modes are called multi-mode fibers (MMF), while those which can only support a single mode are called single-mode fibers (SMF). Multi-mode fibers generally have a larger core diameter, and are used for short-distance communication links and for applications where high power must be transmitted. Single-mode fibers are used for most communication links longer than 550 metres (1,800 ft).
Joining lengths of optical fiber is more complex than joining electrical wire or cable. The ends of the fibers must be carefully cleaved, and then spliced together either mechanically or by fusing them together with an electric arc. Special connectors are used to make removable connections.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
