What is the difference between optical fiber and fiber optic cable?

Is the cable an optical fiber? Broadly speaking, optical fibers are optical cables, which are all transmission media. But strictly speaking, the two are not the same product, so what is the difference between the two?

The difference between optical cable and optical fiber concept:

The full name of the optical fiber is called the optical fiber, which is drawn from pure quartz with a special process into a glass tube thinner than a human hair with a few media in the middle. Its texture is brittle and easy to break, so an extra layer of protection is required.

Optical cables are mainly composed of optical fibers, plastic protective sleeves and plastic sheaths. The protective structure of the outer layer can prevent the damage of the optical fiber from the surrounding environment.

Fiber optic cables contain optical fibers and are part of a fiber optic cable. Optical fiber is the glass fiber in the optical cable, but the abbreviation of the two is often not strictly distinguished in engineering applications.

Communication fiber optic cable

The difference between optical cable and optical fiber structure:

Optical fiber is mainly divided into two categories, one is graded optical fiber, and the other is stepped optical fiber. The refractive index of the former is graded, while the refractive index of the latter is abrupt. In addition, it is divided into single-mode fiber and multi-mode fiber. In recent years, there are new photonic crystal fibers. The optical fiber has a dual structure, the core part is glass with high refractive index, and the surface layer is glass or plastic with low refractive index. This fiber is thinner than a human hair, and such a thin fiber has a dual structure distribution with completely different refractive indices, which is a very amazing technology.

Optical fiber cable is mainly composed of optical fiber (glass filament as thin as hair), plastic protective sleeve and plastic outer skin. There is no metal such as gold, silver, copper and aluminum in the optical cable, and generally has no recycling value. Optical cable is a kind of communication line in which a certain number of optical fibers form a cable core according to a certain method, which is covered with a sheath, and some are also covered with an outer sheath to realize optical signal transmission.

The difference between the propagation efficiency of optical cable and optical fiber:

Optical fiber, scientists have created "internal adhesion method", "MCVD method", "VAD method" to make ultra-high-purity quartz glass, and the efficiency of light transmission of specially-made optical fibers has been significantly improved. Now the better optical fiber, its light propagation loss is only 0.2 decibels per kilometer; that is to say, it only loses 4.5% after one kilometer of transmission. Fiber-optic lasers are not lethal, but they are still dangerous to look directly at.

Optical cable, communication optical cable is a kind of communication line in which a certain number of optical fibers form a cable core according to a certain method, which is covered with a sheath, and some are also covered with an outer sheath to realize the transmission of optical signals. Communication optical cables have larger transmission capacity than copper cables, long relay distance, small size, light weight, and no electromagnetic interference. Since 1976, they have developed into long-distance trunk lines, urban relays, offshore and transoceanic submarine communications , as well as the backbone of wired transmission lines for local area networks, private networks, etc., and began to develop into the field of user loop distribution networks in the city, which is fiber-to-the-home and broadband generation.