Fiber Optic Reference Guide, 3rd Edition

9 OTHER PASSIVE DEVICES

 

After the fiber, connectors and splices rank as the most important passive devices in a fiber optic system. Other types of passive devices include couplers, splitters, tap ports, switches, and wavelength-division multiplexers. These devices divide, route, or combine multiple optical signals.

FIBER OPTIC COUPLERS

Fiber optic couplers either split optical signals into multiple paths or combine multiple signals on one path. Optical signals differ from electrical signals, making optical couplers trickier to design than their electrical counterparts. Like electrical currents, a flow of signal carriers, in this case photons, comprise the optical signal. However, an optical signal does not flow through the receiver to the ...