Fiber Optic Glossary : F

• F4B 5B Encoding
  A signal modulation scheme in which groups of 4 bits are encoded and transmitted in 5 bits in order to guarantee...
• Fabry Perot Cavity
  An optical resonator in which feedback is accomplished by two parallel planes. In diode lasers, the planes are obtained by...
• Fabry Perot Etalon
  A nonabsorbing, multireflecting device, similar in design to the Fabry-Perot interferometer, that serves as a multilayer, narrow-bandpass filter.
• Fabry Perot Fringes
  The series of rings when monochromatic light passes through a Fabry-Perot interferometer.
• Fabry Perot Laser
  A laser oscillator in which two mirrors are separated by an amplifying medium with an inverted population, making a Fabry-Perot...
• Face Pumped Laser
  A device in which slab geometry internally compensates for thermal-optic distortion; the solid host material is in the form of...
• Facet
  The cleaved end mirror of a laser diode’s active region.
• Facet Erosion
  The degradation of the facets in a laser diode due to the intensity of radiation.
• Failure
  Change in performance characteristics of a device, so that it no longer meets customer specifications.
• Failure Mode Analysis
  The examination of a failed laser diode by a failure mode analyst to determine the cause of device failure.
• Failure Rate
  The number of failures of a device per unit of time.
• Fall Time
  The time required for the trailing edge of a pulse to fall from 90% to 10% of its amplitude; the...
• Fan Out Cable
  Multi-fiber cable constructed in the tight buffered design. Designed for ease on connectorization and rugged applications for intra- or interbuilding requirements. Same...
• Fan-Out
  A multi-fiber cable constructed in a tight buffered tube design. At a termination point, cable fibers must be separated from...
• FAR
  Abbreviation for federal acquisition regulation.The guidelines by which the US government purchases goods and services. Also the criteria must be...
• Far Infrared Laser
  A laser with output over a wide range of wavelengths spanning the far-infrared region of the spectrum (30 to 1000...
• Faraday Effect
  A phenomenon that causes some materials to rotate the polarization of light in the presence of a magnetic field parallel...
• Fast Axis
  In a birefringent material, the index of refraction varies with the direction of vibration of a lightwave. That direction having...
• Fast Ethernet
  A 100 Mbit/sec Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) standard, converted for use with fiber optic cable.
• FBL
  An abbreviation for fly by light.
• FBW
  An abbreviation for fly by wire.
• FC
  A threaded optical connector that originated in Japan. Good for single-mode or multimode fiber and applications requiring low backreflection.
• 
  FC Connector
  FC stands for Fixed Connection. It is fixed by way of a threaded barrel housing. FC connectors are typical in...
• FC-PC
  A connector type. It is utilized for single mode cable. It offers extremely precise positioning of the single mode cable with...
• FCC
  Abbreviation for Federal Communications Commission. The U.S. Government board of five presidential appointees that has the authority to regulate all...
• FCS
  Abbreviation for frame check sequence. An error-detection scheme that (a) uses parity bits generated by polynomial encoding of digital signals,...
• FDA
  Abbreviation for Food and Drug Administration. Organization responsible for, among other things, laser safety.
• FDDI
  Fiber Distributed Data Interface.
• FDDN
  An abbreviation for fiber data distribution network.
• FDM
  See Frequency Division Multiplexing. Method by which the available transmission frequency range is divided into narrower bands, each used for a...
• FEC
  See Forward Error Correcting.
• Feedback
  A small portion of the light in a laser oscillator which does not exit the oscillator through output coupler. Rather, the...
• Feedback Amplifier
  An amplifying device that returns a portion of its output to its input as a means of modifying the device's...
• 
  Ferrule
  A precision tube which holds a fiber for alignment for interconnection or termination. Ferrule may be part of a connector...
• FET
  Abbreviation for Field-Effect Transistor. A semiconductor so named because a weak electrical signal coming in through one electrode creates an...
• FGB
  Abbreviation for fiber Bragg gratings. See Bragg grating.
• Fiber
  1. A single, separate optical transmission element, characterized by a core and a cladding. 2. Any filament or fiber, made of...
• Fiber Amplifier
  An all optical amplifier using erbium or other doped fibers and pump lasers to increase signal output power without electronic...
• Fiber Axis
  The mechanical centerline through the core of an optical fiber.
• Fiber Bandwidth
  The lowest frequency at which the magnitude of the fiber transfer function decreases to a specified fraction of the zero...
• Fiber Bragg Grating FBG
  A fiber Bragg grating is a periodic or aperiodic perturbation of the effective refractive index in the core of an...
• Fiber Buffer
  Material used to protect an optical fiber or cable from physical damage, providing mechanical isolation or protection. Fabrication techniques include both...
• Fiber Bundle
  A rigid or flexible, concentrated assembly of glass or plastic fibers used to transmit optical images or light.
• Fiber Channel
  1. An ANSI Optical Communications Standard that can transfer data up to 1,062.5 Mbits per second. 2. A high speed point-to-point...
• Fiber Cleaving
  The controlled fracture of an optical fiber along a crystalline plane resulting in a smooth surface.
• Fiber Core
  The inner portion of the fiber that transmits light. The index of refraction is higher than that of the cladding that...
• Fiber Curl
  A property of optical fiber that results from thermal stresses during manufacturing and is defined as the amount of curvature...
• Fiber Distributed Data Interface
  A standard for fiber optic data transmission systems being developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and associated working...
• Fiber Distributed Data Interface FDDI
  100 Mb/s ring architecture data network.
• Fiber Fuse
  A mechanism whereby the core of a single-mode fiber can be destroyed at high optical power levels.
• Fiber Grating
  An optical fiber in which the refractive index of the core varies periodically along its length, scattering light in a...
• Fiber Identifier
  A device that clamps onto a fiber and couples light from the fiber by bending, to identify the fiber and...
• Fiber Lapping
  A method of optical fiber coupling in which the fibers are ground down to expose their cores and placed together...
• fiber laser
  An alternate way of building a laser. The laser is built into the fiber itself.
• Fiber Lens Fusing
  A method of terminating optical fibers by forming a lens directly on the end of the fiber, eliminating the need...
• Fiber Loss
  The attenuation (deterioration) of the light signal in transmission through a fiber optic cable.
• Fiber Optic Amplifiers
  In fiber optics, amplifiers re-amplify an attenuated signal without converting the signal into electrical form.
• Fiber Optic Attenuators
  Attenuators are devices that reduce signal power in fiber optic links by inducing a fixed or variable loss. They are...
• Fiber Optic AUI Extender
  Connects remotely located workstations via fiber optical cables.
• Fiber Optic Cable
  A package for an optical fiber or fibers that may include cladding, buffering, strength members and an outer jacket.
• Fiber Optic Cable Assembly
  A length of fiber optic cable that has been terminated with a connector, pigtail or other component.
• Fiber Optic Cable Plant
  The combination of fiber optic cable sections, connectors and splices forming the optical path between two terminal devices.
• Fiber Optic Circulators
  In fiber optics, circulators are nonreciprocal devices that direct a light signal from one port, via a fiber optic line,...
• Fiber Optic Cleaver
  A device used to prepare optical fiber end faces; a scribe line made by the cleaver's blade propagates across the...
• Fiber Optic Communication System
  The transfer of modulated or unmodulated optical energy through optical fiber media which terminates in the same or different media.
• Fiber Optic Connector
  Hardware installed on fiber cable ends to provide cable attachment to a transmitter, receiver or other cable. Usually a device...
• Fiber Optic Connectors
  Hardware installed on fiber cable ends to provide cable attachment to a transmitter, receiver or other cable. Usually a device...
• Fiber Optic Coupler
  A fiber coupler is an optical fiber device with one or more input fibers and one or several output fibers. Light...
• Fiber Optic Couplers
  In fiber optics, couplers are optical devices that connect three or more fiber ends, dividing one input between two or...
• Fiber Optic Fault Locator
  Fault locators shine red laser light through jacketed fibers to identify breaks, bends, faulty connectors, splices and other causes of...
• Fiber Optic Field Flattener
  A plate consisting of fused optical fibers with both surfaces ground and polished, and having the entrance surface curved to...
• Fiber Optic Filters
  Fiber optic filters allow only specific wavelengths to pass through into a larger fiber optic system.
• Fiber Optic Gyroscope
  A coil of optical fiber that can detect rotation about its axis.
• Fiber Optic Illumination
  Fiber optic illumination is the conveyance or transmission of light from a source (output) to one or several fibers, allowing...
• Fiber Optic Inter Repeater Link
  Standard defining a fiber optic cable link between two repeaters in an IEEE 802.3 network.
• Fiber Optic Jumper
  Used to interconnect transmission equipment to the fiber optic patch panel.
• Fiber Optic Lightguide
  A bundle of optical fibers arranged randomly for the purpose of transmitting energy, not an image.
• Fiber Optic Link
  A combination of transmitter, receiver and fiber optic cable connecting them capable of transmitting data. This may be analog or...
• Fiber Optic Modems
  Fiber optic modems are used in fiber optic networks for sending and receiving data.
• Fiber Optic Power Meter
  A fiber optic power meter is an instrument that measures average power of a continuous light beam. These power meters...
• Fiber Optic Receivers
  In fiber optics, receivers are instruments that convert light into electrical signals. They contain a photodiode semiconductor, signal conditioning circuitry,...
• Fiber Optic Ribbon
  A coherent optical fiber bundle in which the configuration is flat rather than round, giving an output in a...
• 
  Fiber Optic Sensor
  Any device in which variations in the transmitted power or the rate of transmission of light in optical fiber are...
• Fiber Optic Span
  An optical fiber/cable terminated at both ends which may include devices that add, subtract, or attenuate optical signals.
• Fiber Optic Splitter
  A passive fiber optic coupler that divides light from a single fiber into two or more fiber channels. Timbercon Splitters...
• Fiber Optic Sub System
  A functional entity with defined bounds and interfaces which is part of a system. It contains solid state and/or other components...
• Fiber Optic Test Procedure (FOTP)
  Standard test procedures developed and published by the Electronic Industries Association (EIA) under the EIA-RS-455 series of standards.
• Fiber Optic Test Source
  Fiber optic test sources review the performance of a system by injecting light through the fibers.
• Fiber Optic Transmitters
  Fiber optic transmitters are devices that include an LED (or laser source) and signal conditioning electronics to inject a signal...
• Fiber Optic Waveguide
  A relatively long strand of transparent substance, usually glass, capable of conducting an electromagnetic wave of optical wavelength (visible or near...
• Fiber Optics
  Light transmission through optical fibers for communication or signaling.
• Fiber Optics FO
  The branch of optical technology concerned with the transmission of radiant power through fibers made of transparent materials such as...
• Fiber Test Equipment
  Used for the testing, maintenance, restoration, and inspection of fiber systems.
• Fiber to the Home
  Fiber optic service to a node located inside an individual home.
• Fiber to the Loop (FTTL)
  Fiber optic service to a node that is located in a neighborhood.
• Fiber Tracer
  An instrument that couples visible light into the fiber to allow visual checking of continuity and tracing for correct...
• Fiberscope
  An optical instrument consisting of an objective lens, a coherent (usually flexible) fiber bundle and an eyepiece to examine the...
• Fibre Channel
  A standard for transmitting signals at 100 Mbit s to 4.25 Gbit s over fiber or (at slower speeds) copper....
• Figure 8 Cable
  An aerial cable configuration in which the conductors and the steel strand which supports the cable are integrally jacketed. A...
• Figure Tolerance
  The allowable departure from the given figure or geometrical form. It may be described in terms of fringes or...

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