Manufacturing of Optical Fibers

Optical fiber is a single, hair fine filament drawn from molten silca glass. Today, this has replaced metal wires in high speed communication.In a fiber optic communications system, cables made of optical fibers connect datalinks that contain lasers and light detectors. To transmit information, a datalink converts an analog electronic signal into digital pulses of laser light. These travel through the optical fiber to another datalink, where a light detector reconverts them into an electronic signal. It makes people to wonder how something only 1/8 of a mm - 0.005 inches - in diameter can be made with such precison. So here is breif explanation of how optical fiber is made.

Raw Materials

Optical fiber is mostly made from silicon dioxide(SiO 2 ) but some little amount of other materials are also used such as s fluorozirconate, fluoroaluminate, and chalcogenide glasses as well as crystalline materials like sapphire, are used for longer-wavelength infrared or other specialized applications.Chemical compounds such as germanium tetrachloride (GeCl ₄ ) and phosphorus oxychloride (POC1 ₃ ) can be used to produce core fibers and outer shells, or claddings, with function-specific optical properties.

Refrences

http://www.thefoa.org/tech/fibr-mfg.html

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Optical-Fiber.html

http://www.fiberoptics4sale.com/wordpress/the-manufacturing-of-optical-fiber/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_fiber