Skip to Main Content

Library & Innovation Centre

Banner

Websites

YouTube


 

Diagrams

Fibre optic cable

Modern communication systems use fibre optic cables, which may have as many as a thousand individual fibres, because of a variety of benefits, such as greater data capacity, immunity to electro-magnetic interference, no risk of starting electrical fires, and improved security of communications.

Source: Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). Fiber optics. Britannica School. Retrieved June 29, 2022, from https://school-eb-com-au.db.plcscotch.wa.edu.au/levels/high/article/fiber-optics/34170


If light hits the interface at any angle larger than θc with respect to the normal, it will not pass through to the second medium and all of it will be reflected back into the first medium, thus total internal reflection. θc is dependent on the refractive indices of the two mediums and can be calculated by Snell’s Law.

Further reading: Maestre, S. (2021, September 9). How does light travel through optical fibers? CircuitBread. https://www.circuitbread.com/ee-faq/how-does-light-travel-through-optical-fibers

Compiled and created by Luciana Cavallaro June 2022