Definitions

In fiber optic cable, containment of the fiber or fibers within an outer protective tube in which they can move to some extent. The interstices usually are filled with an insulating material. See...

Optical fiber that transmits a greater percentage of input light than does high-loss step-index fiber. Low-loss fiber requires higher purity materials and a more sophisticated drawing process and...

In optical fiber, bends that are larger than microbends (see microbending), being visible. Generally they are caused by bending the cable beyond the specified bend radius. Light escaping at the bends...

A shaft, spindle or any object generally passed through a workpiece to hold, support or shape a particular piece during its machining process or its practical use. In fiber optics, optical fibers are...

A means of testing optical fiber for macrobending losses by wrapping the fiber once at very low tension around a mandrel, and then measuring attenuation vs. wavelength.

Nondestructive measurement of the delta and alpha of clad optical fibers that involves interferometry with the fiber immersed in an index-matching oil and illuminated perpendicular to the fiber axis.

A cable backbone used to interconnect local area networks at various sites (corporate offices and factories, for example) in a given region. Optical fiber is well-suited to the transmission of both...

Micro-optics refers to the design, fabrication, and application of optical components and systems at a microscale level. These components are miniaturized optical elements that manipulate light at a...

A type of fiber optic sensor that detects changes in pressure, vibration, sound level or acceleration by monitoring the ejection of light from the fiber core to the cladding caused by microbending...

In optical fiber, sharp but microscopic curvatures that create local axial displacements of a few microns and spatial wavelength displacements of a few millimeters. One frequent cause is longitudinal...

Transmission loss in optical fibers caused by packaging processes; it is considered a power-coupling effect from the guided modes to the radiation modes.

A microbubble resonator is a device used in photonics and optical physics for the precise manipulation of light waves. It consists of a micro-sized, gas-filled spherical cavity (the "microbubble")...

Modal bandwidth is a crucial parameter in optical fiber communication systems, particularly in multimode fiber (MMF) systems. It quantifies the ability of a fiber optic link to transmit data at high...

A device used in measuring the attenuation of multimode optical fibers. A short reference length of fiber when combined with the mode filter has approximately the same angular output distribution of...

A device for inducing mode coupling in an optical fiber. Also, a device composed of one or more optical fibers in which strong mode coupling occurs. Also called mode mixer.

Modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) is a technique used in the fabrication of optical fibers. It is a specialized form of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) that is employed to produce...

A modulator is a device or component that modifies a carrier signal in order to encode information for transmission over a communication channel. The process of modulating involves varying one or...

A type of tubing used to protect optical fiber cables, consisting of a wire spiral of aluminum, galvanized steel or stainless steel, encased in a polyvinyl chloride or silicon rubber coating. These...

A metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodiode is a type of photodetector that consists of metal electrodes on a semiconductor material. Unlike the more common PIN photodiodes, which have a P-type and...

Fiber optic cable bearing many fibers independently sheathed and capable of carrying unrelated signals. They often surround a central strength member, and can be either loose- or tight-buffered. One...

A fiber optic connector or splice that mates two multifiber cables, optically aligning all of the individual fibers simultaneously.

An array of optically distinct fibers that are fused into one strand. They are used to keep the resolution efficiency of the smaller, single fibers and eliminate difficulty in handling. Their...

A multihaul transceiver is an optical transceiver module designed to support multiple network architectures or transmission technologies within a single compact device. It offers versatility and...

A fiber optic bundle split along its length with the ends of the fibers extending separately to illuminate different points with a single light source.

In an optical waveguide,- typically a multimode fiber - the distortion resulting from differential mode delay, i.e. axial rays (modes), with the shortest path length, will have the shortest...

The combination of two or more signals for transmission along a single wire, path or carrier. In most optical communication systems this is referred to as wavelength division multiplexing, in which...

A measurement technique used to determine the spatial distribution profile of an electrical or optical quantity of interest which is provided by multiple scans within the near-field region of a...

A type of thermoset rubber used to jacket fiber optic cables, including those used in outdoor military installations.

An assembly of optical fibers that will not transmit coherent images or information because the relationship of the fibers on either end of the assembly is random; Noncoherent fiber bundles are...

Nonlinear optical materials are substances that exhibit optical properties that are not linearly proportional to the intensity of incident light. In other words, these materials produce optical...

Nonlinear polarization refers to the phenomenon where the polarization of a material responds nonlinearly to an applied electric field. In linear systems, the polarization of a material is directly...

Also referred to as the V number in fiber optics; the normalized frequency is a dimensionless quantity, denoted by the symbol V, given by: where a is waveguide core radius, l is wavelength in vacuum,...

An optical assembly refers to a collection of optical components that are carefully arranged and aligned to perform a specific function within an optical system. These components may include lenses,...

Optical cements and adhesives are specialized materials used in the assembly and bonding of optical components in optical systems. These materials are designed to provide secure and durable bonds...

Transparent glassy and or crystalline structured materials engineered from inorganic, non-metallic materials via various methods that include heat or specific chemical reactions. Optical ceramics...

An optical channel monitor (OCM) is a device used in optical communication systems to monitor and analyze the performance of individual channels within a wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM)...

An instrument used to measure backscatter as well as optical return loss and reflectance within an optical fiber system by measuring the reflected light when a continuous wave is transmitted through...

An optical gate typically refers to a device or system that controls the transmission of light, allowing it to pass through or be blocked in a manner analogous to an electronic gate controlling the...

Optical manufacturing tools and machinery encompass a wide range of equipment, instruments, and systems used in the fabrication, shaping, finishing, and testing of optical components and systems....

Laser-powered telephone device for analog communications that employs a vibrating plastic membrane as a transmitter to modulate laser light piped via optical fibers from a central exchange, omitting...

In an optical fiber or waveguide communications system, an optoelectronic device or module that receives an optical signal, converts this optical signal to an electrical signal which is then...

Optical strain sensors are devices that utilize optical principles to measure the deformation or strain experienced by a material under mechanical stress. These sensors convert changes in strain into...

Optical switching refers to the process of controlling the routing or transmission of optical signals within a network using various techniques to selectively switch or redirect optical paths. This...

An optical testing instrument is a device or system used to evaluate and measure the performance, quality, and characteristics of optical components, systems, and devices. These instruments play a...