Fiber Optic Fundamentals

Prepared for The Handbook of Fiber Optic Data Communication Third Edition Dr. Casimer DeCusatis IBM Corporation

Key Concepts
Brief History of Optical Fiber Technology Multimode and Single-mode Fiber Basic Fiber Optic Link Concepts and Applications to the Computer Industry

Optical fiber vs Copper

Challenges: Connectivity and Interoperability

Newer technologies involving higher datarates, smaller form factors, higher port densities, pluggability, and parallel links are showing an increased need to focus on connectivity and interoperability issues
Transceiver Fiber Optic Cable Transceiver

Electrical Connector Optical Port Optical Connector Optical Connector Optical Port

Electrical Connector

A failure anywhere along this link will cause the entire link to fail

Conclusions
Historically, the fundamental concepts of fiber optics date back to 1927 Multimode fibers use a core diameter of either 50 or 62.5 microns
Short wavelength lasers Shorter distances (few hundred meters)

Single-mode fibers use a core diameter of 9-10 microns

Long wavelength lasers Longer distances (several kilometers)

A basic link is composed of optical transceivers, cables, and connectors Fiber optics is widely used for both voice and data communication, and is gradually becoming a more fundamental part of future computer architectures