Introduction :

An optical fiber (or optical fibre) is a flexible, transparent fiber made of a pure glass (silica) not much thicker than a human hair. It functions as a waveguide, or light pipe, to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber. The field of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of optical fibers is known as fiber optics. Optical fibers are widely used in fiber-optic communications, which permits transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than other forms of communication. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss and are also immune to electromagnetic interference. Fibers are also used for illumination, and are wrapped in bundles so that they may be used to carry images, thus allowing viewing in confined spaces. Specially-designed fibers are used for a variety of other applications, including sensors and fiber lasers.

Optical fibers typically include a transparent core surrounded by a transparent cladding material with a lower index of refraction. Light is kept in the core by total internal reflection. This causes the fiber to act as a waveguide. Fibers that support many propagation paths or transverse modes are called multi-mode fibers (MMF), while those that only support a single mode are called single-mode fibers (SMF). Multi-mode fibers generally have a wider core diameter, and are used for short-distance communication links and for applications where high power must be transmitted. Single-mode fibers are used for most communication links longer than 1,050 meters (3,440 ft).

Joining lengths of optical fiber is more complex than joining electrical wire or cable. The ends of the fibers must be carefully cleaved, and then spliced together, either mechanically or by fusing them with heat. Special optical fiber connectors for removable connections are also available.

History:
Fiber optics, though used extensively in the modern world, is a fairly simple, and relatively old, technology. Guiding of light by refraction, the principle that makes fiber optics possible, was first demonstrated by Daniel Colladon and Jacques Babinet in Paris in the early 1840s. John Tyndall included a demonstration of it in his public lectures in London, 12 years later.Tyndall also wrote about the property of total internal reflection in an introductory book about the nature of light in 1870: "When the light passes from air into water, the refracted ray is bent towards the perpendicular... When the ray passes from water to air it is bent from the perpendicular... If the angle which the ray in water encloses with the perpendicular to the surface be greater than 48 degrees, the ray will not quit the water at all: it will be totally reflected at the surface.... The angle which marks the limit where total reflection begins is called the limiting angle of the medium. For water this angle is 4827', for flint glass it is 3841', while for diamond it is 2342'.Unpigmented human hairs have also been shown to act as an optical fiber. Practical applications, such as close internal illumination during dentistry, appeared early in the twentieth century. Image transmission through tubes was demonstrated independently by the radio experimenter Clarence Hansell and the television pioneer John Logie Baird in the 1920s. The principle was first used for internal medical examinations by Heinrich Lamm in the following decade. Modern optical fibers, where the glass fiber is coated with a transparent cladding to offer a more suitable refractive index, appeared later in the decade.Development then focused on fiber bundles for image transmission. Harold Hopkins and Narinder Singh Kapany at Imperial College in London achieved low-loss light transmission through a 75 cm long bundle which combined several thousand fibers. Their article titled "A flexible fibrescope, using static scanning" was published in the journal Nature in 1954.The first fiber optic semi-flexible gastroscope was patented by Basil Hirschowitz, C. Wilbur Peters, and Lawrence E. Curtiss, researchers at the University of Michigan, in 1956. In the process of developing the gastroscope, Curtiss produced the first glass-clad fibers; previous optical fibers had relied on air or impractical oils and waxes as the low-index cladding material. A variety of other image transmission applications soon followed. In 1880 Alexander Graham Bell and Sumner Tainter invented the 'Photophone' at the Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C., to transmit voice signals over an optical beam.It was an advanced form of telecommunications, but subject to atmospheric interferences and impractical until the secure transport of light that would be offered by fiber-optical systems. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, light was guided through bent glass rods to illuminate body cavities.Jun-ichiNishizawa, a Japanese scientist at Tohoku University, also proposed the use of optical fibers for communications in 1963, as stated in his book published in 2004 in India. Nishizawa invented other technologies that contributed to the development of optical fiber communications, such as the graded-index optical fiber as a channel for transmitting light from semiconductor lasers.The first working fiber-optical data transmission

system was demonstrated by German physicist Manfred Brner at Telefunken Research Labs in Ulm in 1965, which was followed by the first patent application for this technology in 1966.Charles K. Kao and George A. Hockham of the British company Standard Telephones and Cables (STC) were the first to promote the idea that the attenuation in optical fibers could be reduced below 20 decibels per kilometer (dB/km), making fibers a practical communication medium.They proposed that the attenuation in fibers available at the time was caused by impurities that could be removed, rather than by fundamental physical effects such as scattering. They correctly and systematically theorized the light-loss properties for optical fiber, and pointed out the right material to use for such fibers silica glass with high purity. This discovery earned Kao the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009. NASA used fiber optics in the television cameras sent to the moon. At the time, the use in the cameras was classified confidential, and only those with the right security clearance or those accompanied by someone with the right security clearance were permitted to handle the cameras. The crucial attenuation limit of 20 dB/km was first achieved in 1970, by researchers Robert D. Maurer, Donald Keck, Peter C. Schultz, and Frank Zimar working for American glass maker Corning Glass Works, now Corning Incorporated. They demonstrated a fiber with 17 dB/km attenuation by doping silica glass with titanium. A few years later they produced a fiber with only 4 dB/km attenuation using germanium dioxide as the core dopant. Such low attenuation ushered in optical fiber telecommunication. In 1981, General Electric produced fused quartz ingots that could be drawn into fiber optic strands 25 miles (40 km) long. Attenuation in modern optical cables is far less than in electrical copper cables, leading to long-haul fiber connections with repeater distances of 70150 kilometers (4393 mi). The erbium-doped fiber amplifier, which reduced the cost of long-distance fiber systems by reducing or eliminating optical-electrical-optical repeaters, was co-developed by teams led by David N. Payne of the University of Southampton and Emmanuel Desurvire at Bell Labs in 1986. Robust modern optical fiber uses glass for both core and sheath, and is therefore less prone to aging. It was invented by Gerhard Bernsee of Schott Glass in Germany in 1973. The emerging field of photonic crystals led to the development in 1991 of photonic-crystal fiber, which guides light by diffraction from a periodic structure, rather than by total internal reflection. The first photonic crystal fibers became commercially available in 2000.Photonic crystal fibers can carry higher power than conventional fibers and their wavelengthdependent properties can be manipulated to improve performance.

BASIC STRUCTURE OF AN OPTICAL FIBER :

The basic structure of an optical fiber consists of three parts; the core, the cladding, and the coating or buffer. The basic structure of an optical fiber is shown in figure 2-9. The core is a cylindrical rod of dielectric material. Dielectric material conducts no electricity. Light propagates mainly along the core of the fiber. The core is generally made of glass. The core is described as having a radius of (a) and an index of refraction n1. The core is surrounded by a layer of material called the cladding. Even though light will propagate along the fiber core without the layer of cladding material, the cladding does perform some necessary functions.

Figure : Basic structure of an optical fiber.

The cladding layer is made of a dielectric material with an index of refraction n2. The index of refraction of the cladding material is less than that of the core material. The cladding is generally made of glass or plastic. The cladding performs the following functions:

Reduces loss of light from the core into the surrounding air Reduces scattering loss at the surface of the core Protects the fiber from absorbing surface contaminants Adds mechanical strength

For extra protection, the cladding is enclosed in an additional layer called the coating or buffer. The coating or buffer is a layer of material used to protect an optical fiber from physical damage. The material used for a buffer is a type of plastic. The buffer is elastic in nature and prevents abrasions. The buffer also prevents the optical fiber from scattering losses caused by microbends. Microbends occur when an optical fiber is placed on a rough and distorted surface. Microbends are discussed later.

Types of Optical Fiber:

Understanding the characteristics of different fibertypes aides in understanding the applications for which they are used. Operating a fiber optic system properly relies on knowing what type of fiber is being used and why. There are two basic types of fiber:multimodefiber optic cable and single-mode fiber optic cable. Multimode fiber is best designed for short transmission distances, and is suited for use in LAN systems and video surveillance. Single-mode fiber is best designed for longer transmission distances, making it suitable for long-distance telephony and multichannel television broadcast systems.

Multimode Fiber :
Multimode fiber, the first to be manufactured and commercialized, simply refers to the fact that numerous modes or light rays are carried simultaneously through the waveguide. Modes result from the fact that light will only propagate in the fiber core at discrete angles within the cone of acceptance. This fiber type has a much larger core diameter, compared to singlemode fiber, allowing for the larger number of modes, and multimode fiber is easier to couple than single-mode optical fiber. Multimode fiber may be categorized as step-index or gradedindex fiber. Multimode Step-index Fiber Figure shows how the principle of total internal reflection applies to multimode step-index fiber. Because the cores index of refraction is higher than the claddings index of refraction, the light that enters at less than the critical angle is guided along the fiber.

Figure 2 Total Internal Reflection in Multimode Step-index fiber Three different lightwaves travel down the fiber. One mode travels straight down the center of the core. A second mode travels at a steep angle and bounces back and forth by total internal reflection. The third mode exceeds the critical angle and refracts into the cladding. Intuitively, it can be seen that the second mode travels a longer distance than the first mode, causing the two modes to arrive at separate times. This disparity between arrival times of the different light rays is known as dispersion, and the result is a muddied signal at the receiving end. For a more detailed discussion of dispersion, see Dispersion in Fiber Optic Systems however, it is important to note that high dispersion is an unavoidable characteristic of multimode step-index fiber. Multimode Graded-index Fiber Graded-index refers to the fact that the refractive index of the core gradually decreases farther from the center of the core.

The increased refraction in the center of the core slows the speed of some light rays, allowing all the light rays to reach the receiving end at approximately the same time, reducing dispersion.Figure 3 shows the principle of multimode graded-index fiber. The cores central refractive index, nA, is greater than that of the outer cores refractive index, nB. As discussed earlier, the cores refractive index is parabolic, being higher at the center. As Figure 3 shows, the light rays no longer follow straight lines; they follow a serpentine path being gradually bent back toward the center by the continuously declining refractive index. This reduces the arrival time disparity because all modes arrive at about the same time. The modes traveling in a straight line are in a higher refractive index, so they travel slower than the serpentine modes. These travel farther but move faster in the lower refractive index of the outer core region.

Figure : Multimode Graded-index Fiber

Single-mode Fiber :
Single-mode fiber allows for a higher capacity to transmit information because it can retain the fidelity of each light pulse over longer distances, and it exhibits no dispersion caused by multiple modes. Single-mode fiber also enjoys lower fiber attenuation than multimode fiber. Thus, more information can be transmitted per unit of time. Like multimode fiber, early single-mode fiber was generally characterized as step-index fiber meaning the refractive index of the fiber core is a step above that of the cladding rather than graduated as it is in graded-index fiber. Modern single-mode fibers have evolved into more complex designs such as matched clad, depressed clad and other exotic structures.

Single-mode fiber has disadvantages. The smaller core diameter makes coupling light into the core more difficult. The tolerances for single-mode connectors and splices are also much

more demanding. Single-mode fiber has gone through a continuing evolution for several decades now. As a result, there are three basic classes of single-mode fiber used in modern telecommunications systems. The oldest and most widely deployed type is non dispersionshifted fiber(NDSF). These fibers were initially intended for use near 1310 nm. Later, 1550 nm systems made NDSF fiber undesirable due to its very high dispersion at the 1550 nm wavelength. To address this shortcoming, fiber manufacturers developed, dispersion-shifted fiber(DSF), that moved the zero-dispersion point to the 1550 nm region. Years later, scientists would discover that while DSF worked extremely well with a single 1550 nm wavelength, it exhibits serious nonlinearities when multiple, closely-spaced wavelengths in the 1550 nm were transmitted in DWDM systems. Recently, to address the problem of nonlinearities, a new class of fibers were introduced. These are classified as non zerodispersion-shifted fibers (NZ-DSF). The fiber is available in both positive and negative dispersion varieties and is rapidly becoming the fiber of choice in new fiber deployment. For more information on this loss mechanism, see the article Fiber Dispersion.

Figure :Dispersion for Alternating 20 km Lengths of (+D) NZ-DSF and (-D) NZ-DSF Fiber One additional important variety of single-mode fiber is polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber. All other single-mode fibers discussed so far have been capable of carrying randomly polarized light. PM fiber is designed to propagate only one polarization of the input light. This is important for components such as external modulators that require a polarized light input. Figure 7 shows the cross-section of a type of PM fiber. This fiber contains a feature not seen in other fiber types. Besides the core, there are two additional circles called stress rods. As their name implies, these stress rods create stress in the core of the fiber such that the transmission of only one polarization plane of light is favored. Single-mode fibers experience nonlinearities that can greatly affect system performance. For complete information, see Fiber Nonlinearities.

The idea of using light to send messages has been developed since the eighth century B.C., when the Greeks used fire signals for sending alarms or calls for help.Thus before optical fibers was developed such techniques used for communication needed to be prearranged between both the sender and receiver.It was only in the mid 1960s did Charles K. Kao determined that glass had a loss of 20db/km, which spurred researchers into exploring methods for making glass more pure.This discovery sparked a revolution in the telecommunication industry as a new industry of processing optical fibers becomes commercially important. A typical optical fiber can be either made out of glass (otherwise known as silicon dioxide) or plastic (typically a polysterene or polymethyl methacrylate). Because of the fibers lightness and small size with the ability to have greater information carrying capacities than metallic wires they are more suitable for many different applications.With so many beneficial factors in using an optical fiber it is no surprise that many companies have applied this technology into developing new installations and applications making them commercially viable. This paper will discuss the basic principles of how optical fibers work by explaining it through light theory. As well it will discuss the different modes that a fibercan have along with the import roles that attenuation plays when designing a fiber. Also, the construction methods used in the fabrication of optical fibers such as Flame Hydrolysis will be discussed. Lastly, a general description of how an optical fiber is integrated into a system and used to send large amounts of data. When light is directed into an optical fiber the effectiveness of the wire depends on its ability to guide the light ray far distances with little scattering or absorption of the light as possible. Doing so means that the optical fiber must exhibit total internal reflection within the wire. Thus when considering the propagation of light for an optical fiber the refractive index of the dielectric medium needs to be accounted for. As light rays become incident on an interface between two dielectrics with different index of refractions, refraction occurs between the two mediums. This can be best described by using Snells Law of Refraction which states: Snells Law : n1sin 1= n2 sin 2

This equation shows that at certain angles partial internal reflection will arise, as well at other angles total internal reflection will occur as shown in figure.

Figure: Light Ray Diagrams

This relationship can then be used to find the critical angle c which serves as the limiting case of refraction and the angle of incidence.By launching the light ray at an angle > c as seen in figure, it is reflected at the same angle to the normal, leading to total internal reflection within the optical fiber. A typical optical fiber with two dielectric mediums is shown in figure, with the silica core having the index refraction of n1 and the silica cladding with a lower index of refraction of n2 . With this setup it is possible to send packets of information through light rays which can propagate through an optical fiber with very little loss or distortion. However other factors will influence the effectiveness of the optical fiber due such things like impurities but this will be discussed in detail in later sections of this paper.

Figure :Total internal reflection between two dielectric mediums

Losses In Optical Fiber :

Understanding fiber optic losses is valuable in designing and choosing components in a fiber optic communications system. These losses are important variables in the network design phase with a loss budget in mind. In turn, meeting this loss budget is critical in the functioning of the whole system.

TYPES OF LOSSES :
There are different reasons for light losses which may occur during transmission of light signal inside the fiber or during the interconnection process of two fibers.

1. Absorption Loss
Light travels best in clear substances. Impurities such as metal particles or moisture in the fiber can block some of the light energy, it absorb the light and dissipate it in the form of heat energy, which caused absorption loss. The solution is to use ultra-pure glass and dopant chemicals to minimize impurities, and to eliminate loss at the water peak wavelength during the process of fiber manufacturing.

2. Rayleigh Scatter
Rayleigh scatter occurs at random when there are small changes in the refractive index of materials in which the light signal travels. In this case, it is the changes in the refractive index of the core and the cladding of the fiber optic cable. This loss is caused by the miniscule variation in the composition and density of the optical glass material itself, which is related to the fiber manufacturing process.

Figure : Light scattered during transmission

3. Bending Loss
Bending losses occurs in two forms - macrobending and microbending. When a cable is bent and it disrupts the path of the light signal. The tighter the bends of a cable, the greater it is of the light loss.

Figure : Bending Radii of an optical fiber

(i) Macrobends Macrobends describes the bending of the fiber optic cable in a tight radius. The bend curvature creates an angle that is too sharp for the light to be reflected back into the core, and some of it escapes through the fiber cladding, causing optical loss. This optical power loss increases rapidly as the radius is decreased to an inch or less. Different fiber optic cables have different specifications on how much the cable can bend without affecting the stated performance or loss. The industry has seen gradual improvements in the bending performances of the fiber. One such example is the recent G.657.B.3 fiber standard recommended by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), where the bending radius is standardized as low as 5mm. (ii) Microbends Microbends refer to minute but sever bends in fiber that result in light displacement and increased loss, it typically caused by pinching or squeezing the fiber. Microbends deform the fiber's core slightly, causing light to escape at these deflections. Most microbending can be avoided by the correct selection of materials and proper cabling, handling, and installation techniques.

4. Insertion Loss (IL)

Insertion loss is the most important performance indicator of a fiber optic interconnection. This is the loss of light signal, measured in decibels (dB), during the insertion of a fiber optic connector. Some of the common causes of insertion losses includes: (i) the misalignment of ferrules during connection, (ii) the air gap between two mating ferrules, and (iii) absorption loss from impurities such as scratches and oil contamination Insertion loss can be minimized by proper selection of interconnect materials, good polishing and termination process of fiber connectors.

5. Return Loss (RL)

Return loss, which is also known as back reflection, is the loss of light signal that is reflected back to the original light source. This occurs as the light is reflected off the connector and travels back along the fiber to the light source. This phenomenon is also known as the Fresnel reflection. It occurs also when there are changes in the refractive index of materials in which the light travels, such as the fiber core and the air gap between fiber interconnection. When

light passes through these two different refractive indexes, some of the light signal is reflected back. As a general rule, the greater the difference between two materials refractive index, the higher the loss. When reading return loss figures, the higher the absolute value of the decibel unit means the better the performance of the interconnection.

Advantages Of Optical Fiber :

The main advantages of using optical fibres in the communications industry are: - A much greater amount of information can be carried on an optical fibre compared to a copper cable.

- In all cables some of the energy is lost as the signal goes along the cable. The signal then needs to be boosted using regenerators. For copper cable systems these are required every 2 to 3km but with optical fibre systems they are only needed every 50km.

- Unlike copper cables, optical fibres do not experience any electrical interference. Neither will they cause sparks so they can be used in explosive environments such as oil refineries or gas pumping stations.

- For equal capacity, optical fibres are cheaper and thinner than copper cables which makes them easier to install and maintain.

Uses of Optical Fibres :

In this section we will show you how optical fibres are used. As you will be able to see when you read further, optical fibres are revolutionising fields like communications and medicine.

Telecommunications Industry
Until the optical fibre network was developed, telephone calls were mainly sent as electrical signals along copper wire cables. As demand for the systems to carry more telephone calls increased, simple copper wires did not have the capacity, known as bandwidth, to carry the amount of information required. Systems using coaxial cables like TV aerial leads were used but as the need for more bandwidth grew, these systems became more and more expensive especially over long

distances when more signal regenerators were needed. As demand increases and higher frequency signals are carried, eventually the electronic circuits in the regenerators just cannot cope. Optical fibres offer huge communication capacity. A single fibre can carry the conversations of every man, woman and child on the face of this planet, at the same time, twice over. The latest generations of optical transmission systems are beginning to exploit a significant part of this huge capacity, to satisfy the rapidly growing demand for data communications and the Internet. The main advantages of using optical fibres in the communications industry are:

- A much greater amount of information can be carried on an optical fibre compared to a copper cable.

- In all cables some of the energy is lost as the signal goes along the cable. The signal then needs to be boosted using regenerators. For copper cable systems these are required every 2 to 3km but with optical fibre systems they are only needed every 50km.

- Unlike copper cables, optical fibres do not experience any electrical interference. Neither will they cause sparks so they can be used in explosive environments such as oil refineries or gas pumping stations.

- For equal capacity, optical fibres are cheaper and thinner than copper cables which makes them easier to install and maintain. In the UK at the moment there are three million kilometres of optical fibre cable in the BT network. Most of BT's trunk network now uses optical fibre cables. In a recent trial in Bishop's Stortford optical fibres were actually laid into homes. This allowed customers to receive cable TV and stereo radio as well as phone and information services. Optical fibres could be put into all homes but currently the cost of the system including lasers and detectors would be too high for simple telephone calls. Some companies have a direct optical fibre link if they need to send large quantities of information by phone, for example between computers at different business centres. Optical fibre submarine links are in use all around the world. Because of the low loss and high bandwidth of optical fibre systems they are ideal for submarine systems where you want to minimise the amount of complex electronics in regenerators sitting on the sea bed. In fact,

the link from the UK to the English Channel Islands is achieved directly without any submerged regenerators. The world's first international optical fibre submarine cable was laid by BT in 1986 between the UK and Belgium. It is 112Km in length and has only 3 regenerators. BT was a major partner in the first transatlantic optical fibre cable system - TAT 8 (Transatlantic Telecommunications cable no 8) which was capable of carrying 40,000 telephone calls at once, or the equivalent in data, facsimile, or TV pictures. The second transatlantic cable, TAT 9, which came into service in 1992, has twice that capacity and links five separate landing points in the UK the USA, Canada, France and Spain. The transatlantic optical fibre cable network, completed in 1996, spanned 14,000Km and linked the UK, France and the USA . It could handle up to 320,000 phone calls at one time. Undersea cables consist of fibres with a copper coated steel conductor which are covered in protective layers of steel and polypropylene. In shallow waters, e.g. the continental shelf, a submersible remote-controlled plough is used to bury the cables one metre below the seabed, to protect them from damage by trawling and ships' anchors.

Medicine Industry
The advent of practicable optical fibres has seen the development of much medical technology. Optical fibres have paved the way for a whole new field of surgery, called laproscopic surgery (or more commonly, keyhole surgery), which is usually used for operations in the stomach area such as appendectomies. Keyhole surgery usually makes use of two or three bundles of optical fibres. A "bundle" can contain thousands of individual fibres". The surgeon makes a number of small incisions in the target area and the area can then be filled with air to provide more room. One bundle of optical fibres can be used to illuminate the chosen area, and another bundle can be used to bring information back to the surgeon. Moreover, this can be coupled with laser surgery, by using an optical fibre to carry the laser beam to the relevent spot, which would then be able to be used to cut the tissue or affect it in some other way.

Other Uses
- Optical fibres can be used for the purposes of illumination, often carrying light from outside to rooms in the interiors of large buildings.

- Another important application of optical fibres is in sensors. If a fibre is stretched or squeezed, heated or cooled or subjected to some other change of environment, there is usually a small but measurable change in light transmission. Hence, a rather cheap sensor can be

made which can be put in a tank of acid, or near an explosion or in a mine and connected back, perhaps through kilometres of fibre, to a central point where the effects can be measured. An advantage of fibre-optic sensors is that it is possible to measure the data at different points along the fibre and to know to what points the different measurements relate. These are the so-called distributed sensors.

- Fibre optics are also used to carry high power laser beams from fixed installations within factories to the point of use of the laser light for welding, cutting or drilling. The fibre provides a flexible and safe means of distributing high power laser radiation around a factory so that robots or machine tools can be provided with laser machining capability.

- Optical fibres can also be used as simple light guides. At least one fancy modern car has a single high intensity lamp under its bonnet, with optical fibres taking the light to a series of mini-headlamps on the front. Less high tech versions carry light from bulbs to the glove compartment etc.

- A research group at the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford, is designing a laser installation at the William Hershel Telescope on La Palma to help astronomers make an 'artificial' star in the layer of atomic sodium which exists at a height of 100km above the Earth's surface.

The Earth's atmosphere is a big problem for astronomers. It is a gas that is constantly moving which makes the light traveling through it from distant starts flicker. If astronomers could use a reference 'star' whose brightness they knew, then they could allow for this twinkling.

The telescope will look at how the atmosphere is effecting the artificial star second by second and adjust the telescope's mirror to compensate. This should allow astronomers to capture pictures of astronomical objects of a quality previously only obtainable from the Hubble Space Telescope. The optical fibre in this case is used to pipe the laser power needed to create the artificial star from the lasers to the telescope itself.

- As light is not affected noticeably by electromagnetic fields. It also does not interfere with other instruments that do use electricity. For this reason, fibre-optics are also becoming very important for short-range communication and information transfer in applications situations

like aircraft. This application is now being extended into motor cars, and plastic optical fibres will soon (say in 5-8 years time) be very common for transmitting information around the car. So we can see that optical fibres are not just passive light pipes. Researchers are finding ways in which they can make the fibres become the active elements of the circuit, e.g. amplifiers or filters. This means that the information could remain in light form from one end of a link to the other, removing the limitations of the electronics in circuits and enabling more of the theoretical information carrying capacity to be used. Engineers of the future can look forward to designing and using telecommunications systems that have no loss, infinite bandwidth and high reliability. New services for customers, such as 3D high definition TV and virtual reality information and entertainment systems, could be more easily provided as well as giving them the benefits of lower costs and greater flexibility.