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Optical fiber communication —An overview

M ARUMUGAM
Department of Physics, Anna University, Chennai 600 025, India

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Abstract.

This paper deals with the historical development of optical communication systems and their failures initially. Then the different generations in optical fiber communication along with their features are discussed. Some aspects of total internal reflection, different types of fibers along with their size and refractive index profile, dispersion and loss mechanisms are also mentioned. Finally the general system of optical fiber communication is briefly mentioned along with its advantages and limitations. Future soliton based optical fiber communication is also highlighted. Keywords. Bandwidth; optical fiber; group index; group velocity; soliton v-number; dispersion. PACS Nos 42.65 Tg; 47.81 Dp; 42.79 Sz; 05.45 Yv 1. Introduction Now we are in the twenty first century, the era of ‘Information technology’ [1-6]. There is no doubt that information technology has had an exponential growth through the modern telecommunication systems. Particularly, optical fiber communication plays a vital role in the development of high quality and high-speed telecommunication systems. Today, optical fibers are not only used in telecommunication links but also used in the Internet and local area networks (LAN) to achieve high signaling rates. 1.1 Historical perspective of optical communication The use of light for transmitting information from one place to another place is a very old technique. In 800 BC., the Greeks used fire and smoke signals for sending information like victory in a war, alertting against enemy, call for help, etc. Mostly only one type of signal was conveyed. During the second century B.C. optical signals were encoded using signaling lamps so that any message could be sent. There was no development in optical communication till the end of the 18th century. The speed of the optical communication page link was limited due to the requirement of line of sight transmission paths, the human eye as the receiver and unreliable nature of transmission paths affected by atmospheric effects such as fog and rain. In 1791, Chappe from France developed the semaphore for telecommunication on land. But that was also with limited information transfer.