fiber optics

noun
1.
the branch of optics that deals with the transmission of light through transparent fibers, as in the form of pulses for the transmission of data or communications, or through fiber bundles for the transmission of images.
Compare optical fiber.
Origin
1960-65
Examples from the web for fiber optics
  • The new cells modify fiber optics with nanotechnology and dyes that convert light to energy.
  • Trained as a physicist, he spent several years studying fiber optics and how light beams can guide their own path.
  • Light delivered via cylindrical fiber optics breaks into different polarizations, or orientations of light waves.
  • The fiber material is used commonly in the manufacture of fiber optics.
  • It involved a fiber optics cable and a box with a lamp in it.
  • The whole country has been linked with fiber optics long time ago.
  • The proposed vendor will provide maintenance to fiber optics maintenance per the attached statement of work.
  • Inexpensive disposable fiber optics can relay real-time information about drilling process.
  • The use of fiber optics simplified system integration and significantly reduced wire count.
fiber optics in Medicine

fiber optics n.
An optical system in which light or an image is conveyed by a compact bundle of fine flexible glass or plastic fibers.

fi'ber-op'tic adj.
fiber optics in Science
fiber optics  
Technology based on the use of hair-thin, transparent fibers to transmit light or infrared signals. The fibers are flexible and consist of a core of optically transparent glass or plastic, surrounded by a glass or plastic cladding that reflects the light signals back into the core. Light signals can be modulated to carry almost any other sort of signal, including sounds, electrical signals, and computer data, and a single fiber can carry hundreds of such signals simultaneously, literally at the speed of light. Signals that have weakened after travelling very long distances in the fibers can be optically pumped with lasers, amplifying them without the need to convert them into electrical signals. Optical fibers are relatively inexpensive to manufacture and install when compared with wire cables, and they require very little power and are easily laid out underground. Optical fibers are also used to transmit images focused on one end to the other end through circuitous paths, as in bronchoscopes and colonoscopes used in medical examinations.
fiber optics in Culture

fiber optics definition


A technology that uses specially designed bundles of transparent fibers to transmit light.

Note: Some of the applications of fiber optics are in medicine, where it is used to view otherwise inaccessible parts of the body, and in telecommunications, where it is used to transmit data of all types.
fiber optics in Technology

spelling
US spelling of "fibre optics". See optical fibre.
(1997-03-31)