Fiber Optics Concepts

When you first learn of fiber optics you will come to realize it is a vast field and growing rapidly. Conceptually fiber optics is still in its infancy and developmental stages. Relatively speaking, one could compare it to the where the automobile industry or electrical power distribution was in the 1930’s!

The exponential growth of this industry has skyrocketed in recent years. It shows no sign of slowing and more technology and industries are using this technology with increasing reliability at a higher level of performance every day. Some of the most obvious fields of use are communications and lighting. There have been huge gains however using fiber optics in security, medical, construction, production, advertising, transportation, art, toys and now clothing!

Let’s look at just a couple examples how fiber optics can be used. Take construction for instance, today a bridge can be built having optical fiber embedded to measure the conditions of the bridge. In the medical industry fiber optic cables can be used to send signals to and from a person’s brain to a prosthetic and back to give a higher quality of life. It doesn’t matter what type of industry or how the fiber optics is utilized. The technology uses the same conceptual ideas and principles for propagating the light. It is simply a matter of how the light is used and what message is being sent.