Optical Fiber and Cables

This chapter gives an overview and introduces application scenarios for optical fibers and cables in optical communications. The use of single-mode optical fibers for both short-reach and long-haul applications is growing due to continually increasing demand for higher bandwidth optical communication systems. To better understand fiber-based optical communications the chapter first focuses on the design of the single-mode fiber while the latter half focuses on the design of optical fiber cable. A wide variety of optical fiber cables have been designed and installed to meet the needs of various applications and this chapter reviews the many types of cables for fiber to the home as well as for datacenter connectivity.