Classification and introduction of optical fiber

Optical fiber is a kind of slender optical waveguide device used to transmit optical signals, which is widely used in communication, medical, sensing and industrial fields. According to different physical properties and uses, optical fibers can be divided into many different types. Below we will introduce several common types of fiber.

The first is Single-Mode Fiber (SMF). Single-mode fibers have a small core diameter, typically 9 or 10 microns. Due to the small core diameter, light can only propagate in one path (that is, one mode) during transmission, making single-mode fiber with low signal attenuation and dispersion, suitable for long distance and high-speed transmission. Single-mode fiber is mainly used in optical communication fields, such as long-distance transmission, metropolitan area networks and data center networks.

The second is Multi-Mode Fiber (MMF). Multimode fibers have a larger core diameter, typically 50 or 62.5 microns. Due to the large core diameter, the multi-mode fiber can support the transmission of multiple modes, resulting in the dispersion and attenuation of the signal during the propagation process. Compared to single-mode fiber, multimode fiber has a shorter transmission distance and is commonly used in small-range communication applications such as local area networks (Lans), short-range communications, and data centers.

In addition to the basic fiber types mentioned above, there are other special fiber types.

Birefringent Fiber (PMF) is a special kind of fiber that can maintain the Polarization of light. Because in some applications, the polarization state of the light is critical to the performance of the transmission, birefringent fibers are widely used in fiber optic gyroscopes, lasers, and other devices that need to maintain polarization characteristics.

A Coupler Fiber (CF) is an optical fiber device that divides an input optical signal into multiple output channels. Split-beam couplers usually adopt Y or star structure, and are widely used in optical communication fiber network, distributed sensing, fiber measurement and biooptics.

In addition, there are special optical Fiber types, such as Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG), Fiber Optic Sensor (FOS), Fiber Amplifier and Laser. These special fiber types have important application value in optical communication, optical fiber sensing and optical devices.

Finally, it should be noted that different types of optical fibers differ in terms of manufacturing and characteristics, so when selecting and applying optical fibers, it is necessary to make appropriate choices according to specific needs and application scenarios.