Glass Four Fiber Facts | Science of Glass | The Glass Age | Corning

Four Fiber Facts

Four Fiber Facts

Optical fiber is an ultra-thin, extremely flexible thread of glass that enables us to transmit information at high speeds across the room or across the world. Corning invented the first commercially viable low-loss optical fiber in 1970, but glass technology has continued to evolve since that time.

How has glass technology changed to meet growing bandwidth demand, and why does it remain critical in today’s telecommunications networks? These important facts answer those questions.

 

Fiber is fast

When it comes to bandwidth, fiber is king. It can transmit more than 10 terabits of data per second over a distance of 10,000 kilometers. What does that mean? It would take approximately 25 seconds to send the entire United States’ Library of Congress from San Francisco to Tokyo.

Fiber bends

While the glass we use every day seems inflexible, Corning’s revolutionary single-mode and multimode optical fiber is flexible enough to bend around tight corners, twist into hard-to-reach places and loop within smaller terminal boxes without sacrificing performance.

Fiber is strong

Compared to other materials, optical fiber is incredibly durable and tough. For example, glass is intrinsically three times stronger than high-tensile steel and is six times stronger than titanium.

Fiber is more secure than traditional copper

Unlike copper wires, it is very difficult to tap or bug optical fiber. If someone does attempt to tap into a fiber cable, maintenance systems can quickly detect a loss in the optical signal being transmitted.

Learn more about optical fiber by exploring this video.