Fiber Performance Specifications

Attenuation: reduction in optical power when passing through a fiber, usually expressed in decibels (dB). With respect to fiber, we talk about the attenuation or attenuation coefficient per unit length, in dB / km. Refer to optical loss.

Bandwidth: a range of signal frequencies or bit rate in which a component, link or fiber-optic signal operates.

Decibels (dB): a unit of measurement of the optical power that indicates the relative power. For example, 3 dB is a factor or two, 10 dB is a factor of ten. The dB in negative values ​​indicate a loss, so -10 dB implies a 10-fold reduction in power, -20 dB implies another 10 times or a total of 100 times, -30 implies another 10 or a total of 1000 and so on.

dB: optical power relative to an arbitrary zero level, used to measure loss.

dBm: optical power with 1 milliwatt reference, used to measure the absolute optical power from the transmitters or receivers. Refer to optical power.

Optical loss: the amount of optical power lost when light is transmitted through fiber, splices, couplers; It is expressed in "dB".

Optical power: measured in "dBm" or decibels with a reference power of one milliwatt. While the loss is a relative reading, the optical power is an absolute measurement, with reference standards. One measures the optical power to test the transmitters or receivers and the relative power in "dB" to test the loss.

Dispersion: pulse propagation caused by modes in multimode fiber (modal dispersion), the difference in light speed of different wavelengths (CD or chromatic dispersion in single-mode or multimode fibers) or polarization (PMD or dispersion by mode of single-mode fiber polarization).

Fiber optic cable certification

Refraction: the change of direction of the light after colliding with small particles that cause most of the loss in the optical fiber and is used to make measurements with an OTDR (optical reflectometer in the time domain).

Wavelength: Term for the color of light, usually expressed in nanometers (nm) or microns (m). Fiber is mostly used in the infrared region where light is invisible to the human eye. Most fiber specifications (attenuation, dispersion) depend on the wavelength.