CONNECTORS / TERMINATIONS WITH FIBER GLOSSARY (3)

Cladding: The layer of glass or other transparent material surrounding the light-carrying core of an optical fiber. It has a lower refractive index than the core and thus confines light in the core. Coatings may be applied over the cladding. Material that surrounds the core of an optical fiber. Its lower index of refractionk compared to that of the core causes the transmitted light to travel down the core of a fiber. Optical cladding promotes total internal reflection for the propagation of light in a fiber.

Copper: Industry slang for metal wire, either twisted-pair or coaxial cable.

Core: The central part of an optical fiber that carries light. The light-conducting portion of a fiber, defined by its higher refraction index. The core is the center of a fiber, surrounded by concentric cladding of lower refractive index.

Critical Angle: The angle at which light in a high-refractive index material undergoes total internal reflection.

Dispersion: The stretching of light pulses as they travel in an optical fiber, this increases their duration. The temporal spreading of light signal in an optical waveguide caused by light signals traveling at different speeds through a fiber either due to modal or chromatic effects.

October 24, 2011

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