For courses in Introduction to Fiber Optics and Introduction to Optical Networking in departments of Electronics Technology and Electronics Engineering Technology. Also suitable for corporate training programs. Ideal for technicians, entry-level engineers, and other nonspecialists, this best-selling practical, thorough, and accessible introduction to fiber optics reflects the expertise of an author who has followed the field for over 25 years. Using a non-theoretical/non-mathematical approach, it explains the principles of optical fibers, describes components and how they work, explores the tools and techniques used to work with them and the devices used to connect fiber network, and concludes with applications showing how fibers are used in modern communication systems. It covers both existing systems and developing technology, so students can understand present systems and new developments.

Ideal for technicians, entry-level engineers, and other non specialists, this practical, thorough, and accessible introduction to fiber optics reflects the expertise of an author who has followed the field for over 20 years. Using a non-theoretical/mathematical approach, it begins with the technical details of optical fibers, moves through the tools and techniques used to work with them, the devices used to connect fiber network, and concludes with applications showing how fibers are used. *NEW-Provides full explanations of fiber types, characteristics, and materials. *NEW-Offers up-to-date explanations of fiber amplifiers and fiber gratings. *NEW-Explains wavelength-division multiplexing and dense WDM (DWDM) systems. *NEW-Discusses optical switching and networks. *NEW-Explores fiber-optic systems for distribution to subscribers - including fiber to the curb and hybrid fiber-coax. *Describes the evolution of fiber-optic technology and its applications to communications. *Considers the characteristics, manufacture, operation, and function of major types of fibers. *Demonstrates basic splicing concepts, loss mechanisms, fusion splicing, and mechanical splicing. *Reviews long-distance

This book tells you all you want to know about optical fibers: Their structure, their light-guiding mechanism, their material and manufacture, their use. It began with telephone, then came telefax and email. Today we use search engines, music downloads and internet videos, all of which require shuffling of bits and bytes by the zillions. The key to all this is the conduit: the line which is designed to carry massive amounts of data at breakneck speed. In their data carrying capacity optical fiber lines beat all other technologies (copper cable, microwave beacons, satellite links) hands down, at least in the long haul; wireless devices rely on fibers, too. Several effects tend to degrade the signal as it travels down the fiber: they are spelled out in detail. Nonlinear processes are given due consideration for a twofold reason: On the one hand they are fundamentally different from the more familiar processes in electrical cable. On the other hand, they form the basis of particularly interesting and innovative applications, provided they are understood well enough. A case in point is the use of so-called solitons, i.e. special pulses of light which have the wonderful property of being able to heal after perturbation. The book will take you from the physical basics of ray and beam optics, explain fiber structure and the functions of optical elements, and bring you to the forefront of both applications and research. The state of the art of high speed data transmission is described, and the use of fiber optic sensors in metrology is treated. The book is written in a pedagogical style so that students of both physics and electrical engineering, as well as technicians and engineers involved in optical technologies, will benefit. The new edition is largely updated and has new sections on nonlinear phenomena in fibers as well as on the latest trends in applications.

The Fiber Optic Reference Guide offers readers a solid understanding of the principles of fiber optic technology, especially as it relates to telecommunications, from its early days to developing future trends. Using a minimum of jargon and a wealth of illustrations, this book provides the underlying principles of fiber optics as well as essential practical applications. The third edition is updated to include expanded sections on light emitters, semiconductor optical amplifiers, Bragg gratings, and more systems design considerations. Fiber optics plays a key role in communications, as well as in broadcast and cable systems. Engineers working with fiber optics as well as newcomers to the industry will find the third edition of this reference guide invaluable. It will help the reader develop a solid understanding of the underlying principles of this rapidly changing technology as well as its essential practical applications. The text is thoroughly indexed and illustrated.

This text presents the history of the development of fibre optic technology, explaining the scientific challenges that needed to be overcome, the range of applications and future potential for this fundamental communications technology.

Within the past few decades, information technologies have been evolving at a tremendous rate, causing profound changes to our world and our ways of life. In particular, fiber optics has been playing an increasingly crucial role within the telecommunication revolution. Not only most long-distance links are fiber based, but optical fibers are increasingly approaching the individual end users, providing wide bandwidth links to support all kinds of data-intensive applications such as video, voice, and data services. As an engineering discipline, fiber optics is both fascinating and challenging. Fiber optics is an area that incorporates elements from a wide range of techno- gies including optics, microelectronics, quantum electronics, semiconductors, and networking. As a result of rapid changes in almost all of these areas, fiber optics is a fast evolving field. Therefore, the need for up-to-date texts that address this growing field from an interdisciplinary perspective persists. This book presents an overview of fiber optics from a practical, engineering perspective. Therefore, in addition to topics such as lasers, detectors, and optical fibers, several topics related to electronic circuits that generate, detect, and process the optical signals are covered. In other words, this book attempts to present fiber optics not so much in terms of a field of “optics” but more from the perspective of an engineering field within “optoelectronics.

2014A-8 The complete, up-to-date technical overview of optical communications. Fibre in the WAN, MAN, local loop, campus and LAN. Up-to-the-minute coverage of Wavelength Division Multiplexing. Previews today's advanced research--tomorrow's practical applications. Over the past 15 years, optical fibre's low cost, accuracy and enormous capacity has revolutionized wide area communications--making possible the Internet as we know it. Now a second fibre revolution is underway. Advanced technologies such as Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) are adding even more capacity, and fibre is increasingly the media of choice in MANs, campuses, buildings, LANs--soon, even homes. If you need to understand the state-of-the-art in optical communications, Understanding Optical Communications is the most complete, up-to-date technical overview available. Fundamental principles and components of optical communications. Optical communications systems, interfaces and engineering challenges. FDDI, Ethernet on Fibre, ESCON, Fibre Channel, SONET/SDH and ATM. WDM: sparse and dense approaches, photonic networking, WDM for LANs and WDM standards. Fibre in the local loop, integration with HFC networks and passive optical networks. Understanding Optical Communications reviews key technical issues facing engineers as they extend fibre into new applications and markets. It presents an up-to-the-minute status report on WDM for LANs and MANs, including a rare glimpse at IBM's latest experimental systems. It points to the advanced research most likely to bear fruit: dark and spatial solitons, advanced fibres, plastic technologies, optical CDMA, TDM and packet-networks and more. Whether you're building optical systems or planning for them, this is the briefing you've been looking for.