Fiber Optics & Laser

Fiber Optics & Optical Fibers

• A technology that uses glass (or plastic) threads (fibers) to transmit data.
• A fiber optic cable consists of a bundle of glass threads, each of which is capable of transmitting messagesmodulated onto light waves

Fiber optics has several advantages over traditional metal communications lines

• Much greater bandwidth than metal cables. This means that they can carry more data.
• Immunity to Electromagnetic Interference
• Thinner and lighter than metal wires.
• Data can be transmitted digitally (the natural form for computer data) rather than analogically.
• Data Security & No sparks hazard

Disadvantages of fiber optics 

• Cables are expensive to install
• More fragile than wire due to limited physical arc of the cable (cannot bend much)
• Difficult to splice
• Loss of light in fiber due to scattering

Uses 

• Telecommunications
• Internal inspection of the body
• Mechanical imaging

LASER

A device that generates an intense beam of coherent monochromatic light (or other electromagnetic radiation) by stimulated emission of photons from excited atoms or molecules. Coherent, in this context, means that it is all one wavelength, unlike ordinary light which showers on us in many wavelengths.

• Theacronym laser stands for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.
• Lasers work as a result of resonant effects. The output of a laser is a coherent electromagnetic field.
• In a coherent beam of electromagnetic energy, all the waves have the same frequency and phase

Lasers are one of the most important inventions of the 20th Century. Here are just a few of applications of Laser

• Drilling and cutting (To drill holes in diamonds)
• Alignment and guidance
• In medicine, such as eye surgery
• In space exploration → NASA have sent a laser to Mars on their Curiosity Rover.
• Communication – internet and TV

Optical properties of Laser are exploited in

• Holography
• Reading barcodes
• Recording and playing compact discs