Lightwave Engineering

6	Optical Fibers

This chapter describes the optical propagation and signal propagation inside an optical fiber. Optical fibers are classified on the basis of their materials and structure. In terms of materials, optical fibers can be classified as silica fibers* and plastic fibers, whereas in terms of structure, they can be categorized as multimode fibers and single-mode fibers. However, plastic fibers only consist of multimode fibers. (Single-mode fibers are possible, but they have no advantage^† over single-mode silica fibers, so they are not produced.) Moreover, silica fibers have for long been installed in many optical communication systems starting with long-distance trunk lines, and the diameters of the silica glass portion (portion ...