How are optical fibres used in different industries?
Fibre-optic lines have revolutionized long-distance phone calls, cable TV and the Internet. Optical fibres are mainly used in telecommunications, but they are also used for lighting, sensors, toys, and seeing inside small spaces.
Here are at least three examples:
1. Optical fibres are used in the medical industry. An example of this is a medical tool called a gastroscope (a type of endoscope). A gastroscope is a thick optical cable consisting of many optical fibres. They are used by doctors to look down a person’s throat to detect illnesses inside their stomach.
How it works: At the top of a gastroscope, there is an eyepiece and a lamp. The light from the lamp shines down into the patient's stomach. When the light reaches the stomach, it reflects off the stomach walls into a lens at the bottom of the cable. Finally, it travels back up into the doctor's eyepiece. Other types of endoscopes in which optical fibres are used are arthroscopes (used to search for problems in joints like shoulders or knees) and bronchoscopes (used to see inside the lungs). |
Another example of its use in the medical industry is for x-ray, MRI, CAT, PET imaging and light therapy. Optical fibres help to transmit images of organs or arteries, which were previously inaccessible without the use of surgery.
2. Optical fibres are used as industrial endoscopes. Examples include a fiberscope or boroscope. They can be used to examine things like inaccessible pieces of machinery such as airplane engines or the inside of a clock. Many microscopes use fibre-optic light to provide very strong lighting of samples being studied. Using fibre optics, images of the interior of a machine can be transmitted and seen. 3. Optical fibres are used by telecommunication companies (see 'Fibre Optic Communication' section in 'How do they work?' page.). They can be used as a medium for long-distance communication. Since the light does not leak out of the fibre much as it travels, the light can go a long distance before the signal gets too weak. This is used to send telephone and internet signals between cities. Signals for many conversations can be carried over a single fibre without amplifiers. In addition to long distance, optical fibres are also used for short-distance communications between devices. For example, most high-definition televisions allows the streaming of audio over light, because of the optical connection. In short, fibre optics enable the transmission of data over long distances without loss or interruption. 4. In spectroscopy, optical fibre bundles analyse compositions of a substance that is unable to be placed inside the spectrometer. By using fibres, a spectrometer can be used to study objects. 5. Optical fibre is sometimes used for shorter links too, like carrying the sound signals between a compact disc player and a stereo receiver. The fibres used for these short links are often made of plastic. 6. Fibres are also used for decoration, like fibre-optic Christmas trees, signs or art. For example, the jewellery shop Swarovski use optical fibres to light up the crystals inside the shop. 7. An anti-tank missile uses fibre optic cable for flight control, so that signals on fibre optic cables cannot be jammed. |
Here is an article detailing the great versatility of optical fibres for biomedical applications: http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2011/01/medical-applications-of-fiber-optics-optical-fiber-sees-growth-as-medical-sensors.html