Losses in Optical fiber:
Fiber optic transmission has many advantages compared to other transmission methods such as copper or radio transmission. Fiber optic cables that are lighter, shorter, and more flexible than copper can transmit signals at faster speeds over long distances. However, many factors can affect the performance of a fiber optic. In order to ensure the good and stable performance of fiber optic, there are many issues to be considered. Fiber optic loss is a negligible issue among them and has been a top priority for many engineers to consider during the selection and operation of fiber optics.
When the light-carrying signal passes through the core of the fiber optic, the power of the light will decrease. Therefore, the strength of the signal reduces. This loss of light power is generally referred to as attenuation or optic loss. This reduction in power level is described in dB. During transmission, something happened and causes fiber optic loss. In order for optical signals to be transmitted smoothly and safely, fiber optic loss must be minimized. The causes of fiber optic loss lie in two aspects: internal causes and external causes of fiber optics, also known as internal fiber core attenuation and external fiber attenuation.
Optical fiber is an excellent medium for the propagation of light signals, and unlike copper cables, it rarely requires amplification. The single-mode fiber of high quality often exhibits attenuation (loss of power) as low as 0.1dB per kilometer. Signal strength, or power (measured in dB), will always be higher at the head end or central office of a network connection than at the subscriber, as it is unlikely that there will be some degradation of light over the length of the network connection. If the impact is too high, performance suffers, so understanding and measuring these losses is an important part of network installation and testing. Many optics company uses polarizer in laser line beam splitter manufacturing to make the process fast.
For network planners, the bulk of the loss budget is spent between the end node and the subscriber’s network terminal. Splitters add significant losses to this part of the network – far more so than fiber connectors and other passive components. We use the terms insertion loss (IL) and return loss (RL) while measuring the attenuation effects of these components.
