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this objective to a high degree. A coaxial cable provides protection of signals from
external electromagnetic interference, and effectively guides signals with low
emission along the length of the cable.
Coaxial cable design choices affect physical size, frequency performance,
attenuation, power handling capabilities, flexibility, and cost. The inner conductor
might be solid or stranded; stranded is more flexible. To get better high-frequency
performance, the inner conductor may be silver plated. Sometimes copper-plated
iron wire is used as an inner conductor.
The insulator surrounding the inner conductor may be solid plastic, a foam plastic,
or may be air with spacers supporting the inner wire. The properties of dielectric
control some electrical properties of the cable. A common choice is a solid
polyethylene (PE) insulator. Lower-loss cables will use a polyethylene foam
insulator. Solid Teflon (PTFE) is also used as an insulator. Some coaxial lines use
air (or some other gas) and have spacers to keep the inner conductor from touching
the shield.
There is also a lot of variety in the shield. Conventional coaxial cable has braided
copper wire forming the shield. This allows the cable to be flexible, but it also
means there are gaps in the shield layer. It also means the inner dimension of the
shield varies slightly because the braid cannot be flat. Sometimes the braid is silver
plated. For better shield performance, some cables have a double-layer shield. The
shield might be just two braids, but it is more common now to have a thin foil
shield covered by a wire braid. Some cables may invest in more than two shield
layers. Other shield designs sacrifice flexibility for better performance; some
shields are a solid metal tube. Those cables cannot take sharp bends, as the shield
will kink, causing losses in the cable. Many Cable television (CATV) distribution
systems use such "hard line" cables, as they provide a lower signal loss.
The insulating jacket can be made from many materials. A common choice is PVC,
but some applications may require fire-resistant materials. Outdoor applications
may require the jacket to resist ultraviolet light and oxidation. For internal chassis
connections the insulating jacket may be omitted.
Connections to the ends of coaxial cables are usually made with RF connectors.
much more data than a single electrical cable. Fiber is also immune to electrical
interference, which prevents cross-talk between signals in different cables and
pickup of environmental noise. Also, wiretapping is more difficult compared to
electrical connections, and there are concentric dual core fibers that are said to be
tap-proof. Because they are non-electrical, fiber cables can bridge very high
electrical potential differences and can be used in environments where explosive
fumes are present, without danger of ignition.
Although fibers can be made out of transparent plastic, glass, or a combination of
the two, the fibers used in long-distance telecommunications applications are
always glass, because of the lower optical attenuation. Both multi-mode and
single-mode fibers are used in communications, with multi-mode fiber used mostly
for short distances (up to 500 m), and single-mode fiber used for longer distance
links. Because of the tighter tolerances required to couple light into and between
single-mode fibers (core diameter about 10 micrometers), single-mode
transmitters, receivers, amplifiers and other components are generally more
expensive than multi-mode components.
Principle of operation
An optical fiber is a cylindrical dielectric waveguide that transmits light along its
axis, by the process of total internal reflection. The fiber consists of a core
surrounded by a cladding layer. To confine the optical signal in the core, the
refractive index of the core must be greater than that of the cladding. The boundary
between the core and cladding may either be abrupt, in step-index fiber, or gradual,
in graded-index fiber.
Optical fibres
Index of refraction
The index of refraction is a way of measuring the speed of light in a material. Light
travels fastest in a vacuum, such as outer space. The actual speed of light in a
vacuum is 299,792 kilometers per second, or 186,282 miles per second. Index of
refraction is calculated by dividing the speed of light in a vacuum by the speed of
light in some other medium. The index of refraction of a vacuum is therefore 1, by
definition. The typical value for the cladding of an optical fiber is 1.46. The core
value is typically 1.48. The larger the index of refraction, the more slowly light
travels in that medium.