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Springer Handbook of Lasers and Optics pp 1171–1208Cite as

Optical Fibers

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Abstract

With the development of extremely low-loss optical fibers and their application to communication systems, a revolution has taken place during the last 40 years. In 2001, using glass fibers as the transmission medium and lightwaves as carrier waves, information was transmitted at a rate more than 1 Tbit/s (which is roughly equivalent to transmission of about 15 million simultaneous telephone conversations) through one hair thin optical fiber. Experimental demonstration of transmission at the rate of 14 Tbit/s over a 160 km long single fiber was demonstrated in 2006, which is equivalent to sending 140 digital high definition movies in 1 s. Very recently record transmission of more than 100 Tbit/s over 165 km single mode fiber has been reported. These can be considered as extremely important technological achievements. In this chapter we will discuss the propagation characteristics of optical fibers with special applications to optical communication systems and also present some of the noncommunication applications such as sensing.

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Abbreviations

ASE:

amplified spontaneous emission

DCF:

dispersion-compensating fiber

DGD:

differential group delay

DRS:

double Rayleigh scattering

DSF:

dispersion-shifted fiber

DWDM:

dense wavelength division multiplexed

EDF:

erbium-doped fiber

EDFA:

erbium-doped fiber amplifier

FBG:

fiber Bragg grating

FWM:

four-wave mixing

GVD:

group velocity dispersion

LD:

laser diode

LEAF:

large effective area

LED:

light-emitting diode

LP:

linearly polarized

LPG:

long period grating

MCVD:

modified chemical vapor deposition

MFD:

multilayer fluorescent disk

NZ-DSF:

nonzero dispersion shifted fiber

OSNR:

optical signal-to-noise ratio

OVD:

outside vapor deposition

PMD:

polarization mode dispersion

RDS:

relative dispersion slope

RFA:

Raman fiber amplifier

SBS:

stimulated Brillouin scattering

SC:

supercontinuum

SMF:

single-mode fiber

SNR:

signal-to-noise ratio

SOA:

semiconductor optical amplifier

SPM:

self-phase modulation

SRS:

stimulated Raman scattering

TIR:

total internal reflection

UV:

ultraviolet

WDM:

wavelength division multiplexing

XPM:

cross-phase modulation

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, 110016, New Delhi, India

    Ajoy Ghatak

  2. Physics Department, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India

    K. Thyagarajan

Authors
  1. Ajoy Ghatak
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  2. K. Thyagarajan
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ajoy Ghatak or K. Thyagarajan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Kassel, Heinrich-Plett-Str. 40, 34132, Kassel, Germany

    Frank Träger

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Ghatak, A., Thyagarajan, K. (2012). Optical Fibers. In: Träger, F. (eds) Springer Handbook of Lasers and Optics. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19409-2_14

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