optical fiber

3 definitions found

optical fiber - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  optical fiber \optical fiber\ n. (Communications)
     A thin fiber of very pure glass used to carry signals
     transmitted by means of light. It has much greater
     information-carrying capacity than a copper wire, and in the
     1990's became a dominant means of transmitting telephone
     communications over long distances.
     [PJC]

optical fiber - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  optical fiber
      n 1: a very thin fiber made of glass that functions as a
           waveguide for light; used in bundles to transmit images
           [syn: optical fiber, glass fiber, optical fibre,
           glass fibre]

optical fiber - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  optical fibre
  fibre optics
  light pipe
  optical fiber
  
     <communications> (fibre optics, FO, US "fiber", light pipe) A
     plastic or glass (silicon dioxide) fibre no thicker than a
     human hair used to transmit information using infra-red or
     even visible light as the carrier (usually a laser).  The
     light beam is an electromagnetic signal with a frequency in
     the range of 10^14 to 10^15 Hertz.
  
     Optical fibre is less susceptible to external noise than other
     transmission media, and is cheaper to make than copper wire,
     but it is much more difficult to connect.  Optical fibres are
     difficult to tamper with (to monitor or inject data in the
     middle of a connection), making them appropriate for secure
     communications.  The light beams do not escape from the medium
     because the material used provides total internal reflection.
  
     AT&T Bell Laboratories in the United States managed to
     send information at a rate of 420 megabits per second, over
     161.5 km through an optical fibre cable.  In Japan, 445.8
     megabits per second was achieved over a shorter distance.  At
     this rate, the entire text of the Encyclopedia Britannica
     could be transmitted in one second.  Currently, AT&T is
     working on a world network to support high volume data
     transmission, international computer networking, electronic mail
      and voice communications (a single fibre can transmit
     200 million telephone conversations simultaneously).
  
     See also FDDI, Optical Carrier n, SONET.
  
     (1997-05-26)