How are optical fibres different from ordinary cables?
Kalyan, Vizag ANSWER 1: Optical fibres, are used to transmit/receive light signals. In an optical fibre the light signal undergoes total internal reflection. The light hits the fibres at the glancing angle and is transmitted forward. They have different layers of glass protected in layers ofbuffers,namely, hard buffer, soft buffer, core glass, and cladding glass The cladding glass has a low refractive index toward the core glass. When total internal reflection occurs the signal is transmitted. The soft and the hard buffer are protective coating which provide the necessary protection to the inner glass from external environments. These optical fibres are more useful than copper because in copper, the wire is covered with a plastic covering and prone to electric sparks.In optical fibres the transmission and the reception takes place in different fibres as the receiver has to aligned properly to the transmitter. But in recent times, duplex method of transreceiving is in use.
