Benefits of Using Fiber Optic Attenuators with Doped Fiber

by www.fiber-mart.com

Fiber optic attenuators are used in networking applications where an optical signal is too strong and needs to be reduced. There are many applications where this arises, such as needing to equalize the channel strength in a multi-wavelength system or reducing the signal level to meet the input specifications of an optical receiver. In both scenarios, reducing the optical signal strength is necessary or else system performance issues may arise.

 

Types of Fiber Optic Attenuators

There are many forms which can be taken by optical attenuators, but the two basic types of fiber optic attenuators are fixed and variable. In this article, we will focus on the fixed type. 

 

The size of the build out attenuator is approximately 1.25 inch. Many have a male interface connector at one end and a female interface connector at the other end but female to female interface connectors are also available. The fabrication of the build-out style is typically accomplished using with air gap attenuation or doped fiber attenuation.

 

What are Air Gap Attenuators?

Air gap attenuators accomplish the loss of optical power with the help of two fibers that are separated by air to yield the loss. These attenuators can be fixed or variable, but a downside is that they can be vulnerable to dust contamination and are also vulnerable to changing temperatures and moisture. One must also be cautious where they are used. For example, multi-channel analog systems, like ones used by CATV, this attenuator can create second order distortions that reduce the performance of the system.

 

What are doped Fiber Attenuators?

As the name suggests, doped fiber attenuators consist of a small fiber piece along with metal ion doping which provides the exact attenuation and interfaces in between female and male connections on the attenuators. These types can be wavelength sensitive because of their fabrication. The primary reasons why these doped fiber attenuators are preferred include:

 

Not susceptible to dirt, moisture, or temperature variations

Provide a stable performance over wide wavelength variations and band passes.

Benefits of Using Fiber Optic Attenuators with Doped Fiber

by www.fiber-mart.com

Fiber optic attenuators are used in networking applications where an optical signal is too strong and needs to be reduced. There are many applications where this arises, such as needing to equalize the channel strength in a multi-wavelength system or reducing the signal level to meet the input specifications of an optical receiver. In both scenarios, reducing the optical signal strength is necessary or else system performance issues may arise.

 

Types of Fiber Optic Attenuators

There are many forms which can be taken by optical attenuators, but the two basic types of fiber optic attenuators are fixed and 

variable. In this article, we will focus on the fixed type.

 

Fixed Attenuators

 

The further classification of fixed attenuators is

Build - out style

In-line patch cord

 

The size of the build out attenuator is approximately 1.25 inch. Many have a male interface connector at one end and a female 

interface connector at the other end but female to female interface connectors are also available. The fabrication of the build-out 

style is typically accomplished using with air gap attenuation or doped fiber attenuation.

 

What are Air Gap Attenuators?

Air gap attenuators accomplish the loss of optical power with the help of two fibers that are separated by air to yield the loss. 

These attenuators can be fixed or variable, but a downside is that they can be vulnerable to dust contamination and are also 

vulnerable to changing temperatures and moisture. One must also be cautious where they are used. For example, multi-channel analog systems, like ones used by CATV, this attenuator can create second order distortions that reduce the performance of the system.

 

What are doped Fiber Attenuators?

As the name suggests, doped fiber attenuators consist of a small fiber piece along with metal ion doping which provides the exact 

 

attenuation and interfaces in between female and male connections on the attenuators. These types can be wavelength sensitive because of their fabrication. The primary reasons why these doped fiber attenuators are preferred include:

Not susceptible to dirt, moisture, or temperature variations

Provide a stable performance over wide wavelength variations and band passes.

 

M2 Optics has been an established manufacturer and innovator of professional optical fiber platforms for fiber network simulation, latency / optical time delay, training, and demonstration applications. Our customer base includes many of the world's most recognized communications service providers, equipment manufacturers, data centers, web service providers, financial institutions, research institutions, and government agencies.

Is the Optical Communications Market Growth for Real?

by Fiber-MART.COM

Reflection

The optical communications market is expanding as evidenced by growth in vendors’ revenues and margins. Moreover, companies are spending to increase manufacturing capacity and the outlook for growth is good. But some question the sustainability of this expansion.

 

The optical community has many participants who experienced the dot-com bust at the turn of the millennium and know firsthand the pain of over-extension.  My perspective is also shaped by that historical event. While my work today involves converting ideas to actionable plans, I was a market researcher at a well-known analyst firm before this role. I spent years defending the forecast of our market research firm, explaining how we missed that down-turn and what we had done to improve our forecasting process so it wouldn’t happen again.

 

Forecasting today’s market is just as challenging as it was in 2001. We are trying to estimate market performance that appears to have an insatiable demand for bandwidth with imperfect information and limited end-user resources to pay for the hardware.

 

Understanding the story behind the market performance and the forecast is among the most valuable lessons I learned. What’s the story behind this market?

 

The Market Is Up

Indeed the market is up and fiber and transceiver vendors have announced plans to increase capacity. Corning, an optical fiber and cable leader reports that market demand is exceeding supply. It plans to spend $176 million over the next two years to build a new optical fiber cable manufacturing facility and expand an existing facility.

 

Finisar, a leading transceiver vendor, reported record revenues and is running near capacity for its 100Gbps, QSFP28 transceiver. And Finisar expects this situation to continue through 2017. Moreover, it is planning to build a new facility in China and is expanding its VCSEL facility in Allen Texas, albeit to increase support for non-telecom products.

 

These are but examples to illustrate the need for more fiber—bringing optical connectivity to more places and simultaneously the need for more bandwidth per end-point, i.e.—increasing the data transmitted per fiber. Meanwhile, several vendors in the optical communication ecosystem are posting record revenues and earnings and projecting generally positive outlooks.

 

But there are also the market naysayers who experienced the dot-com bust and are wondering how long this will last. Is the growth real or is this another bubble? They don’t want to find themselves holding the bag with massive factories, excessive capacity and inventory, and no business.

 

And there is my buddy, the CEO of an optical infrastructure company, who says there is a twenty year cycle for telecom so expect the next down-turn around 2020. Just in time for the new factories to come online.

 

The Story Behind the Numbers

What’s driving growth today is the wild race by Web 2.0 companies to build large-scale data centers and capture the cloud services market and consumers. They are spending to connect equipment inside the data centers and to connect data centers from distances spanning a few kilometers across a campus to thousands of kilometers and, even, over submarine networks. The biggest demand today is to connect switches inside the data center, driving optical suppliers to develop and deliver new high capacity solutions.

 

Indeed, Finisar’s QSFP28 is for such an application. Luxtera, who is also shipping a transceiver for this data center application, reported that it too is sold out.

 

Meanwhile, the telcos are also spending to expand their networks. FTTH is growing in North America and the huge deployments in China continue. The 5G battle, which will require fiber to support the wireless network, is just gearing up in North America.

 

This combined effect has a profound impact on the volume demand for fiber connectivity and high-bandwidth transceivers driving revenue growth of the optical communications industry.

 

Real Growth, but...

Is the optical communications market growth for real? I think the story behind the performance suggests a strong market. In 2001 the market infrastructure revenue came from ostensibly one source: telecom operators. The Web 2.0 companies have expanded this base and diversified market segments contributing to optical communications ,thereby strengthening the financial foundation of this market.

 

But more information would help to improve the story and help market participants plan better. For example, a clear understanding of the Web 2.0 companies’ bandwidth demand would help. New data centers are being built globally and old ones being retrofitted on schedules shorter than previous generations. Services and underlying architecture connecting equipment are different. Correlating build cycles and bandwidth for service demands would help improve understanding the market and its evolution.

WHY IT PROFESSIONALS PREFER FIBER OPTICS

More and more IT professionals are choosing to install fiber optic cables over the copper cables that have traditionally been used to create networks. Why is that? Well, for one, fiber optic cables have proven to transmit data substantially faster than copper cables. Fiber optic cables use light to move data around, and that makes them quicker. But that’s not the only reason why IT professionals are choosing fiber optic cables. Here are several other reasons.

 

FIBER OPTIC CABLES DON’T LOSE THEIR SIGNAL STRENGTH AS QUICKLY AS COPPER CABLES.

When copper cables are forced to transmit data over a long distance, they end up losing a lot of their signal strength. IT professionals refer to this as low attenuation, and it can obviously be problematic for companies that need cables capable of carrying data over longer distances. Data doesn’t break down in fiber optic cables like it does in copper cables, which, outside of speed, is one of the biggest benefits of using them.

 

FIBER OPTIC CABLES AREN’T A FIRE HAZARD LIKE COPPER CABLES.

When companies use copper cables, they are relying on electricity to transmit data. Anytime you count on electricity for anything, there is obviously a fire risk that comes along with it. This same fire risk is not present when fiber optic cables are utilized since light will not catch on fire when transmitting data.

 

FIBER OPTIC CABLES DON’T BREAK AS OFTEN AS COPPER CABLES DO.

Fiber optic cables and copper cables can both wear down and break over time. But despite the fact that fiber optic cables are comprised of glass, they break a whole lot less often than copper cables do. This means that IT professionals won’t be forced to make unnecessary repairs when they go with fiber optic cables.

 

There are so many different advantages to using fiber optic cables over copper cables. It’s why many IT professionals have started to turn their attention to fiber optic cables. If your company would like to find out more about the benefits of using fiber optic cables over copper cables, Connected Fiber can help. Call us at 1-862786-1199 today and ask about the fiber optic services we can provide for you.

Waterproof Fiber Optic Cables

Fiber-mart.com has developed a new type of waterproof fiber optic cable that has been manufactured according to IEC standards. Fiber optic cables are typically used to connect fiber optic cable with fiber optic equipment. The product possesses low insertion loss, repeat push-pull performance and high return loss and these qualities make the cable user-friendly.

Waterproof fiber optic patch cables are designed to fit for outdoor applications. The waterproof fiber optic cables are with strong PE jacket and armored structure, they can resist high temperature and suit to use in harsh environment.

We supply both single mode and multimode waterproof fiber cables, custom cable assemblies are available. Waterproof fiber optic cable assemblies include waterproof fiber optic cable and waterproof fiber optic patch cord.by adopting the special structure cables and connectors, these fiber cable assemblies are widely used in CATV and other applications.

Waterproof Fiber Optic cables are widely used in data transmission network, typical types are with 2 fiber cores, 4 fiber cores or 8, 12 fiber cores. Atrone produce the fiber optic waterproof cables strictly according to IEC standards, the products feature low insertion loss, high return loss, good interchangeability and repeat push-pull performance, which make them easy to use. The waterproof fiber optic cables are with strong PE jacket and waterproof sealed head connectors; they can be used in harsh environment.

Waterproof Fiber Optic cables Features:

Various kinds of connect interfaces optional such as SC,FC,ST,LC, etc.

Ceramic ferrules, PC, UPC, APC polishing optional

Low insertion loss, high return loss

Waterproof

Out diameter of inner fiber: 3.0mm, 2.0mm, 0.9mm

Fiber Optic Attenuator Solution

Fiber optic attenuator is a device to reduce the power level of an optical signal, either in free space or in an optical fiber.

Things You Should Know About Fiber Optic Attenuators

Why Fiber Optic Attenuators Are Needed?

Most people believe bigger signal power level is better, right? Beginners in fiber optic technology are often confused with why optic attenuators are necessary to reduce light intensity. Aren't we using amplifiers to increase the signal power level?

The truth is that too much light can overload a fiber optic receiver and degrade the bit error ratio (BER). To achieve the best bit error ratio, the light power must be reduced. Or in a multi-wavelength fiber optic system, you need to equalize the optical channel strength so that all the channels have similar power levels. This means to reduce stronger channels' powers to match lower power channels. Fiber optic attenuator is the device who works in above cases perfectly.

Fiber optic attenuators are usually used in two scenarios:
1. Attenuators are permanently installed in a fiber optic communication link to properly match transmitter and receiver optical signal levels.

2. In fiber optic power level testing. Attenuators are used to temporarily add a calibrated amount of signal loss in order to test the power level margins in a fiber optic communication system.

How Does A Fiber Attenuator Work?

The power reduction are done by such means as absorption, reflection, diffusion, scattering, deflection, diffraction, and dispersion, etc. Attenuators usually works by absorbing the light, like sunglasses absorb the extra light energy. Attenuators typically have a working wavelength range in which they absorb the light energy equally. They should not reflect the light since that could cause unwanted back reflection in the fiber system. Or by scattering the light such as an air gap. Another type of attenuator utilizes a length of high-loss optical fiber, that operates upon its input optical signal power level in such a way that its output signal power level is less than the input level.

Types Of  Fiber Optic Attenuators

Optical attenuators can take a number of different forms and are typically classified as fixed or variable attenuators. 

 

Fixed Attenuators  Fixed attenuators have a fixed optical power reduction number, expressed in dB, such as 1dB, 5dB, 10dB, etc. A -3dB attenuator should reduce intensity of the output by 3 dB. Their applications include telecommunication networks, optical fiber test facility, Local Area Network(LAN) and CATV systems.

 

Fixed value attenuators are composed of two big groups: In-line type and connector type (or build out style). In-line type looks like a plain fiber patch cable, it has a fiber cable terminated with two connectors which you can specify types.

 

Connector type attenuator looks like a bulk head fiber connector, with a male connector interface on one end and a female interface connector on the opposite end. The connector style is typically fabricated with either air gap attenuation or doped fiber attenuation. It mates to regular connectors of the same type such as FC, ST, SC and LC. The female to female fixed attenuators work like a regular adapter. But instead of minimizing insertion loss, it purposely adds some attenuation. The male to female fixed attenuators work as fiber connectors, you can just plug in your existing fiber connector to its female side.

 

Variable Attenuators  The attenuation level can be adjusted, such as from 0.5 dB to 20dB, or even 50dB. Some variable attenuators have very fine resolution, such as 0.1dB, or even 0.01dB. This is critical for accurate testing. For precise testing purposes, engineers have also designed instrument type variable attenuators. These instrument type attenuators have high attenuation ranges, such as from 0.5 dB to 70dB. Variable attenuators are general used for testing and measurement, but they also have a wide usage in EDFAs for equalizing the light power among different channels.

 

The female to female variable attenuators are adjustable by turning a nut in the middle. The nut adjusts the air gap in the middle to achieve different attenuation levels. The in-line patch cable type variable attenuators work as regular patch cables, but your can adjust its attenuation level by turning the screw.

Our Fiber Optic Attenuators Solutions:

*SC Fiber Optic Attenuators

*LC Fiber Optic Attenuators

*FC Fiber Optic Attenuators

*ST Fiber Optic Attenuators

*E2000 Fiber Optic Attenuators 

*Variable In-Line Optical Attenuators 

*Handheld Variable Optical Attenuators
 

SC Fiber Optic Attenuators	LC Fiber Optic Attenuators
Work in 1250nm to 1625nm range, with attenuation  range from 1dB to 30dB optional.	Work in 1250 to1625nm range, with optional attenuation value from 1dB to 30dB.

FC Fiber Optic Attenuators

Work in 1250nm to 1625nm range, with attenuation range from 1dB to 30dB optional.

ST Fiber Optic Attenuators	E2000 Fiber Optic Attenuators
Work in 1250nm to 1625nm range, with attenuation range from 1dB to 30dB optional.	Work in 1250nm to 1625nm range, with attenuation range from 1dB to 30dB optional.