How do fiber optics work?

Question

Isabella Alvarez · Accepted Answer

Light travels down a fiber-optic cable by bouncing repeatedly off the walls.

Each tiny photon, or particle of light, bounces down the pipe like a bobsleigh going down an ice run as light travels down a fiber-optic cable by repeatedly bouncing off the walls. Now, you might expect a beam of light traveling in a clear glass pipe to simply leak out of the edges. One of the mechanisms that keeps light inside the pipe is total internal reflection, which occurs when light strikes glass at an extremely shallow angle (less than 42 degrees) and reflects back in again, as though the glass were actually a mirror. The structure of the cable, which is composed of two distinct parts, is the other element that maintains light in the pipe. The core, or central portion of the cable, is the portion through which light passes. The cladding, or outer layer of glass, is wrapped around the core and serves to maintain light signals inside the core. It is able to do this because the cladding is composed of a different kind of glass than the core; more precisely, because the cladding's refractive index is lower than the core's, total internal reflection occurs, preventing light from escaping and causing it to bounce down the core. Response derived from this

Amelia Adams · Answer

undefined Fiber optics work by transmitting light through a long, thin strand of glass or plastic. Light enters one end of the fiber, undergoes multiple internal reflections due to the principle of total internal reflection, and travels down the fiber without significant loss of intensity. This light can carry data in the form of pulses, which are converted back into electrical signals at the receiving end.