A fiber-optic adapter connects two

optical fiber connector An optical fiber connector is a device used to link optical fibers, facilitating the efficient transmission of light signals. An optical fiber connector enables quicker connection and disconnection than splicing. They come in various types li ...

s in the

fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

lines.''Network World'', 24 Nov 1986, Vol. 3, No. 38, ISSN 0887-7661

Bare fiber adapter

Bare fiber adapter is used as the medium to temporarily link the bare optical fiber to fiber optic equipment. Available with FC, SC, ST. LC, MU,

SMA SMA or S.M.A. may refer to: Places * American Samoa, ITU letter code * Santa Maria Airport (Azores) (IATA code) *San Miguel de Allende, Mexico People * Sergeant Major of the Army, U.S. * Sima (Chinese surname), or Sma * Joshua Falk, known as '' ...

connectors with round or square type press button.

Couplers

A fiber optic coupler is a device used in

optical fiber An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

systems with one or more input fibers and one or several output fibers.

Light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

entering an input fiber can appear at one or more outputs and its

power distribution Electric power distribution is the final stage in the delivery of electricity. Electricity is carried from the transmission system to individual consumers. Distribution substations connect to the transmission system and lower the transmission v ...

potentially depending on the

wavelength In physics and mathematics, wavelength or spatial period of a wave or periodic function is the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. In other words, it is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same ''phase (waves ...

and

polarization Polarization or polarisation may refer to: Mathematics *Polarization of an Abelian variety, in the mathematics of complex manifolds *Polarization of an algebraic form, a technique for expressing a homogeneous polynomial in a simpler fashion by ...

. Such couplers can be fabricated in different ways, for example by thermally fusing fibers so that their cores get into intimate contact. If all involved fibers are single-mode (supporting only a single mode per polarization direction for a given wavelength), there are certain physical restrictions on the performance of the coupler. In particular, it is not possible to combine two or more inputs of the same optical frequency into one single-polarization output without significant excess losses. However, such a restriction does not occur for different input wavelengths: there are couplers that can combine two inputs at different wavelengths into one output without exhibiting significant losses. Wavelength-sensitive couplers are used as

multiplexer In electronics, a multiplexer (or mux; spelled sometimes as multiplexor), also known as a data selector, is a device that selects between several Analog signal, analog or Digital signal (electronics), digital input signals and forwards the sel ...

s in

wavelength-division multiplexing In fiber-optic communications, wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) is a technology which multiplexes a number of optical carrier signals onto a single optical fiber by using different wavelengths (i.e., colors) of laser light. This techn ...

(WDM) telecom systems to combine several input channels with different wavelengths, or to separate channels.

References

Fiber optics {{optics-stub