Some of the important features of the fiber optics that we are interested are discussed below. Now a days we are using copper wires as they are the most cost effective and reliable interconnect in parallel machines. However as machines grow more powerful, wire density becomes critical making fiber possible alternatives because of their small wire size. Fiber optics are used mainly to use effectively its high bandwidth. On a single fiber lots of information/data can be transmitted concurrently and in parallel. Over 1000 high bandwidth (100-200 Mb/s) independent channels or busses can be supported on a single optical fiber. Furthermore multiple buses can co-exist on a single fiber. Fiber links allow a number of high speed serial links to replace a large number of electrical lines. The use of fiber is thus space saving. The input and output properties of the fiber are very important. They give us an idea about the nature and working of fiber materials. The fiber cables can transport light signals from one place to another place just similar to the way the metallic conductors transport electric signals. The fiber cables guide light around bends and they are able to carry light for very long distances with very little attenuation. But the transmission characteristics of the fiber are not complete and completely efficient. The fiber cables introduce loss of light and smearing of the modulation imposed on the light signals to represent information. These affects of delay distortion and attenuation limit the distances that can be spanned without electro-optic repeaters and thus limit the information rates which can be carried over long distances as well. Make of fiber optic cables. Turns out they can be made of just glass, glass plus polymers, or just polymers ("plastic optical fibers" -POF-). The most basic optical fiber consist of: a) An inner cylinder with high refractive index, called the core.
