What is Optical Fiber and Its' Origin

An optical fiber is a single, hair-fine filament drawn from molten silica glass. These fibers are replacing metal wire as the transmission medium in high-speed, high-capacity communications systems that convert information into light, which is then transmitted via fiber optic cable. Currently, American telephone companies represent the largest users of fiber optic cables, but the technology is also used for power lines, local access computer networks, and video transmission.

Direct Buried Fiber Optical Cable

Alexander Graham Bell, the American inventor best known for developing the telephone, first attempted to communicate using light around 1880. However, light wave communication did not become feasible until the mid-twentieth century, when advanced technology provided a transmission source, the laser, and an efficient medium, the optical fiber. The laser was invented in 1960 and, six years later, researchers in England discovered that silica glass fibers would carry light waves without significant attenuation, or loss of signal. In 1970, a new type of laser was developed, and the first optical fibers were produced commercially.

In a fiber optic communications system, cables made of optical fibers connect data links that contain lasers and light detectors. To transmit information, a data link converts an analog electronic signal—a telephone conversation or the output of a video camera—into digital pulses of laser light. These travel through the optical fiber to another data link, where a light detector reconverts them into an electronic signal.

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