What is the difference between Fiber Optic and Fiber Optic Cable?

What is fiber optic? What is fiber optic cable? And what is the difference between fiber optic and fiber optic cable? The main component of optical fiber is glass fiber, and the main component of glass fiber is high-purity silica. It fired at a temperature of 1500 degrees to form an optical fiber preform rod.

After the optical fiber preform rod made, it placed in the drawing furnace. It can draw 7500 kilometers of length uninterruptedly and clean an annealing tube. To prevent impurities and dust from falling on the optical fiber. It melts into a soft embryo at a high temperature of 2200 degrees Celsius. After passing through a 1-meter-long annealing tube, it gradually cools to become a glass fiber with a diameter of 0.1 mm.

The take-up machine rotates to drive the optical fiber drawing and completes the collection of the optical fiber. The optical fiber made of glass fiber inside the optical fiber. It can transmit optical signals thousands of kilometers away and combine hundreds or thousands of optical fibers together. It made into an optical cable like an electric cable, which not only improves the strength of the optical fiber, but also greatly increases the communication capacity.

In layman’s terms, an optical cable is to put more than one optical fiber through a post-processing jacket. Which protected layer by layer, so that the optical fiber can transmitted in outdoor and indoor environments. And it is not easy to disconnect, so that the optical fiber can adapt to various environments. But what is the main  difference between fiber optic and fiber optic cable?

The Difference Between Fiber Optic and Fiber Optic Cable

Optical cable is a communication cable consisting of one or more optical fibers and auxiliary materials, used to transmit optical signals. Optical fiber is a thin, soft optical fiber made of high-purity quartz or glass, used to transmit optical signals. It can be said that optical cable is the carrier of optical fiber, and optical fiber is the core of optical cable. The following are the specific differences between optical fiber and optical cable:

(1) Structural differences

Optical cable usually composed of optical fiber, protective layer, insulating layer, sheath, etc. to protect the optical fiber from interference and damage from the external environment. Optical fiber is a thin, long optical fiber. Usually made of pure quartz or glass materials. It has the characteristics of high refractive index and low loss.

(2) Different transmission methods

Optical cable transmits optical signals through optical fiber, which can achieve long-distance, high-speed, and large-capacity data transmission. Fiber optic is the transmission medium of optical signals. Optical signals transmitted through the internal optical fiber core, and the signal transmission achieved by using the principle of total internal reflection of light.

(3) Different application fields

Optical cable widely used in communications, radio and television, electricity, transportation and other fields. It used to achieve long-distance data transmission and communication. The optical fiber widely used in communication networks, data centers, medical equipment, industrial control and other fields to achieve high-speed, large-capacity data transmission and signal transmission.

Optical fiber Performance Indicators and Selection Recommendations

Fiber optic performance indicators include refractive index, loss, bandwidth, etc. When purchasing optical fiber, users need to pay attention to these indicators and choose the appropriate optical fiber type according to the specific application scenario. At the same time, users should also consider factors such as the reliability, stability and cost of the optical fiber, as well as compatibility with other devices and interface types.