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Optical disc

An optical disc is a flat, usually disc-shaped object that stores information in the form of physical variations on its surface that can be read with the aid of a beam of light. Optical discs can be reflective, where the light source and detector are on the same side of the disc, or transmissive, where light shines through the disc to be detected on the other side.

Optical discs can store analog information (e.g. Laserdisc), digital information (e.g. DVD), or store both on the same disc (e.g. CD Video).

Their main uses are the distribution of media and data, and long-term archival.

Design and technology
The encoding material sits atop a thicker substrate (usually polycarbonate) that makes up the bulk of the disc and forms a dust defocusing layer. The encoding pattern follows a continuous, spiral path covering the entire disc surface and extending from the innermost track to the outermost track.

The data are stored on the disc with a laser or stamping machine, and can be accessed when the data path is illuminated with a laser diode in an optical disc drive that spins the disc at speeds of about 200 to 4,000 RPM or more, depending on the drive type, disc format, and the distance of the read head from the center of the disc (outer tracks are read at a higher data speed due to higher linear velocities at the same angular velocities).

Most optical discs exhibit a characteristic iridescence as a result of the diffraction grating formed by their grooves. This side of the disc contains the actual data and is typically coated with a transparent material, usually lacquer.

The reverse side of an optical disc usually has a printed label, sometimes made of paper but often printed or stamped onto the disc itself. Unlike the 3$1/2$-inch floppy disk, most optical discs do not have an integrated protective casing and are therefore susceptible to data transfer problems due to scratches, fingerprints, and other environmental problems. Blu-rays have a coating called durabis that mitigates these problems.

Optical discs are usually between 7.6 and 30 cm in diameter, with 12 cm being the most common size. The so-called program area that contains the data commonly starts 25 millimetres away from the center point. A typical disc is about 1.2 mm thick, while the track pitch (distance from the center of one track to the center of the next) ranges from 1.6 μm (for CDs) to 320 nm (for Blu-ray discs).

Recording types
An optical disc is designed to support one of three recording types: read-only (e.g.: CD and CD-ROM), recordable (write-once, e.g. CD-R), or re-recordable (rewritable, e.g. CD-RW). Write-once optical discs commonly have an organic dye (may also be a (Phthalocyanine) Azo dye, mainly used by Verbatim, or an oxonol dye, used by Fujifilm ) recording layer between the substrate and the reflective layer. Rewritable discs typically contain an alloy recording layer composed of a phase change material, most often AgInSbTe, an alloy of silver, indium, antimony, and tellurium. Azo dyes were introduced in 1996 and phthalocyanine only began to see wide use in 2002. The type of dye and the material used on the reflective layer on an optical disc may be determined by shining a light through the disc, as different dye and material combinations have different colors.

Blu-ray Disc recordable discs do not usually use an organic dye recording layer, instead using an inorganic recording layer. Those that do are known as low-to-high (LTH) discs and can be made in existing CD and DVD production lines, but are of lower quality than traditional Blu-ray recordable discs.

Usage
Optical discs are often stored in special cases sometimes called jewel cases and are most commonly used for digital preservation, storing music (e.g. for use in a CD player), video (e.g. for use in a Blu-ray player), or data and programs for personal computers (PC), as well as offline hard copy data distribution due to lower per-unit prices than other types of media. The Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) promoted standardized optical storage formats.

Libraries and archives enact optical media preservation procedures to ensure continued usability in the computer's optical disc drive or corresponding disc player.

File operations of traditional mass storage devices such as flash drives, memory cards and hard drives can be simulated using a UDF live file system.

For computer data backup and physical data transfer, optical discs such as CDs and DVDs are gradually being replaced with faster, smaller solid-state devices, especially the USB flash drive. This trend is expected to continue as USB flash drives continue to increase in capacity and drop in price.

Additionally, music, movies, games, software and TV shows purchased, shared or streamed over the Internet has significantly reduced the number of audio CDs, video DVDs and Blu-ray discs sold annually. However, audio CDs and Blu-rays are still preferred and bought by some, as a way of supporting their favorite works while getting something tangible in return and also since audio CDs (alongside vinyl records and cassette tapes) contain uncompressed audio without the artifacts introduced by lossy compression algorithms like MP3, and Blu-rays offer better image and sound quality than streaming media, without visible compression artifacts, due to higher bitrates and more available storage space. However, Blu-rays may sometimes be torrented over the internet, but torrenting may not be an option for some, due to restrictions put in place by ISPs on legal or copyright grounds, low download speeds or not having enough available storage space, since the content may weigh up to several dozen gigabytes. Blu-rays may be the only option for those looking to play large games without having to download them over an unreliable or slow internet connection, which is the reason why they are still (as of 2020) widely used by gaming consoles, like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One X. As of 2020, it is unusual for PC games to be available in a physical format like Blu-ray.

Discs should not have any stickers and should not be stored together with paper; papers must be removed from the jewel case before storage. Discs should be handled by the edges to prevent scratching, with the thumb on the inner edge of the disc. The ISO Standard 18938:2014 is about best optical disc handling techniques. Optical disc cleaning should never be done in a circular pattern, to avoid concentric cirles from forming on the disc. Improper cleaning can scratch the disc. Recordable discs should not be exposed to light for extended periods of time. Optical discs should be stored in dry and cool conditions to increase longevity, with temperatures between -10 and 23 °C, never exceeding 32 °C, and with humidity never falling below 10%, with recommended storage at 20 to 50% of humidity without fluctuations of more than ±10%.

Durability
Although optical discs are more durable than earlier audio-visual and data storage formats, they are susceptible to environmental and daily-use damage, if handled improperly.

Optical discs are not prone to uncontrollable catastrophic failures such as head crashes, power surges, or exposure to water like hard disk drives and flash storage, since optical drives' storage controllers are not tied to optical discs themselves like with hard disk drives and flash memory controllers, and a disc is usually recoverable from a defective optical drive by pushing an unsharp needle into the emergency ejection pinhole, and has no point of immediate water ingress and no integrated circuitry.

Safety
As the media itself only is accessed through a laser beam, no internal control circuitry, it can not contain malicious hardware such as so-called rubber-duckies or USB killers.

Malware is unable to spread over factory-pressed media, finalized media, or -ROM (read-only memory) drive types whose lasers lack the strength to write data. Malware is conventionally programmed to detect and spread over traditional mass storage devices such as flash drives, external solid-state drives and hard disk drives.

History

The first recorded historical use of an optical disc was in 1884 when Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter recorded sound on a glass disc using a beam of light.

Optophonie is a very early (1931) example of a recording device using light for both recording and playing back sound signals on a transparent photograph.

An early analogue optical disc system existed in 1935, used on Welte's sampling organ.

An early analog optical disc used for video recording was invented by David Paul Gregg in 1958 and patented in the US in 1961 and 1969. This form of optical disc was a very early form of the DVD. It is of special interest that, filed 1989, issued 1990, generated royalty income for Pioneer Corporation's DVA until 2007 —then encompassing the CD, DVD, and Blu-ray systems. In the early 1960s, the Music Corporation of America bought Gregg's patents and his company, Gauss Electrophysics.

American inventor James T. Russell has been credited with inventing the first system to record a digital signal on an optical transparent foil that is lit from behind by a high-power halogen lamp. Russell's patent application was first filed in 1966 and he was granted a patent in 1970. Following litigation, Sony and Philips licensed Russell's patents (then held by a Canadian company, Optical Recording Corp.) in the 1980s.

Both Gregg's and Russell's disc are floppy media read in transparent mode, which imposes serious drawbacks. In the Netherlands in 1969, Philips Research physicist, Pieter Kramer invented an optical videodisc in reflective mode with a protective layer read by a focused laser beam, filed 1972, issued 1991. Kramer's physical format is used in all optical discs. In 1975, Philips and MCA began to work together, and in 1978, commercially much too late, they presented their long-awaited Laserdisc in Atlanta. MCA delivered the discs and Philips the players. However, the presentation was a commercial failure, and the cooperation ended.

In Japan and the U.S., Pioneer succeeded with the Laserdisc until the advent of the DVD. In 1979, Philips and Sony, in consortium, successfully developed the audio compact disc.

In 1979, Exxon STAR Systems in Pasadena, CA built a computer controlled WORM drive that utilized thin film coatings of Tellurium and Selenium on a 12" diameter glass disk. The recording system utilized blue light at 457 nm to record and red light at 632.8 nm to read. STAR Systems was bought by Storage Technology Corporation (STC) in 1981 and moved to Boulder, CO. Development of the WORM technology was continued using 14" diameter aluminum substrates. Beta testing of the disk drives, originally labeled the Laser Storage Drive 2000 (LSD-2000), was only moderately successful. Many of the disks were shipped to RCA Laboratories (now David Sarnoff Research Center) to be used in the Library of Congress archiving efforts. The STC disks utilized a sealed cartridge with an optical window for protection.

The CD-ROM format was developed by Sony and Philips, introduced in 1984, as an extension of Compact Disc Digital Audio and adapted to hold any form of digital data. The same year, Sony demonstrated a LaserDisc data storage format, with a larger data capacity of 3.28 GB.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Optex, Inc. of Rockville, MD, built an erasable optical digital video disc system using Electron Trapping Optical Media (ETOM). Although this technology was written up in Video Pro Magazine's December 1994 issue promising "the death of the tape", it was never marketed.

In the mid-1990s, a consortium of manufacturers (Sony, Philips, Toshiba, Panasonic) developed the second generation of the optical disc, the DVD.

Magnetic disks found limited applications in storing the data in large amount. So, there was the need of finding some more data storing techniques. As a result, it was found that by using optical means large data storing devices can be made that in turn gave rise to the optical discs. The very first application of this kind was the compact disc (CD), which was used in audio systems.

Sony and Philips developed the first generation of the CDs in the mid-1980s with the complete specifications for these devices. With the help of this kind of technology the possibility of representing the analog signal into digital signal was exploited to a great level. For this purpose, the 16-bit samples of the analog signal were taken at the rate of 44,100 samples per second. This sample rate was based on the Nyquist rate of 40,000 samples per second required to capture the audible frequency range to 20 kHz without aliasing, with an additional tolerance to allow the use of less-than-perfect analog audio pre-filters to remove any higher frequencies. The first version of the standard allowed up to 75 minutes of music, which required 650 MB of storage.

The DVD disc appeared after the CD-ROM had become widespread in society.

The third generation optical disc was developed in 2000–2006 and was introduced as Blu-ray Disc. First movies on Blu-ray Discs were released in June 2006. Blu-ray eventually prevailed in a high definition optical disc format war over a competing format, the HD DVD. A standard Blu-ray disc can hold about 25 GB of data, a DVD about 4.7 GB, and a CD about 700 MB.

First-generation
From the start optical discs were used to store broadcast-quality analog video, and later digital media such as music or computer software. The LaserDisc format stored analog video signals for the distribution of home video, but commercially lost to the VHS videocassette format, due mainly to its high cost and non-re-recordability; other first-generation disc formats were designed only to store digital data and were not initially capable of use as a digital video medium.

Most first-generation disc devices had an infrared laser reading head. The minimum size of the laser spot is proportional to the wavelength of the laser, so wavelength is a limiting factor upon the amount of information that can be stored in a given physical area on the disc. The infrared range is beyond the long-wavelength end of the visible light spectrum, so it supports less density than shorter-wavelength visible light. One example of high-density data storage capacity, achieved with an infrared laser, is 700 MB of net user data for a 12 cm compact disc.

Other factors that affect data storage density include: the existence of multiple layers of data on the disc, the method of rotation (Constant linear velocity (CLV), Constant angular velocity (CAV), or zoned-CAV), the composition of lands and pits, and how much margin is unused is at the center and the edge of the disc.

Types of Optical Discs:
 * Compact disc (CD) and derivatives
 * Audio CD
 * Video CD (VCD)
 * Super Video CD
 * CD Video
 * CD-Interactive
 * LaserDisc
 * GD-ROM
 * Phase-change Dual
 * Double Density Compact Disc (DDCD)
 * Magneto-optical disc
 * MiniDisc (MD)
 * MD Data
 * Write Once Read Many (WORM)

Second-generation
Second-generation optical discs were for storing great amounts of data, including broadcast-quality digital video. Such discs usually are read with a visible-light laser (usually red); the shorter wavelength and greater numerical aperture allow a narrower light beam, permitting smaller pits and lands in the disc. In the DVD format, this allows 4.7 GB storage on a standard 12 cm, single-sided, single-layer disc; alternatively, smaller media, such as the DataPlay format, can have capacity comparable to that of the larger, standard compact 12 cm disc.

 * DVD and derivatives
 * DVD-Audio
 * DualDisc
 * Digital Video Express (DIVX)
 * DVD-RAM
 * DVD±R
 * Nintendo GameCube Game Disc (miniDVD derivative)
 * Wii Optical Disc (DVD derivative)
 * Super Audio CD (SACD)
 * Enhanced Versatile Disc
 * DataPlay
 * Hi-MD
 * Universal Media Disc (UMD)
 * Ultra Density Optical

Third-generation
Third-generation optical discs are used for distributing high-definition video and videogames and support greater data storage capacities, accomplished with short-wavelength visible-light lasers and greater numerical apertures. Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD uses blue-violet lasers and focusing optics of greater aperture, for use with discs with smaller pits and lands, thereby greater data storage capacity per layer. In practice, the effective multimedia presentation capacity is improved with enhanced video data compression codecs such as H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1.

Announced but not released:
 * Blu-ray and derivatives (up to 400 GB - experimental )
 * BD-R and BD-RE
 * High Fidelity Pure Audio
 * AVCHD and AVCREC
 * BDXL and Blu-ray 3D
 * 4K Blu-ray and 8K Blu-ray
 * Wii U Optical Disc (25 GB per layer)
 * HD DVD (discontinued disc format, up to 51 GB triple layer)
 * CBHD (a derivative of the HD DVD format)
 * HD VMD
 * Professional Disc
 * Digital Multilayer Disk
 * Fluorescent Multilayer Disc
 * Forward Versatile Disc

Fourth-generation
The following formats go beyond the current third-generation discs and have the potential to hold more than one terabyte (1 TB) of data and at least some are meant for cold data storage in data centers: Announced but not released:
 * Archival Disc
 * Holographic Versatile Disc
 * LS-R
 * Protein-coated disc
 * Stacked Volumetric Optical Disc
 * 5D DVD
 * 3D optical data storage (not a single technology, examples are Hyper CD-ROM and Fluorescent Multilayer Disc)

In 2004, development of the Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) commenced, which promised the storage of several terabytes of data per disc. However, development stagnated towards the late 2000s due to lack of funding.

In 2006, it was reported that Japanese researchers developed ultraviolet ray lasers with a wavelength of 210 nanometers, which would enable a higher bit density than Blu-ray discs. As of 2022, no updates on that project have been reported.

Folio Photonics is planning to release high-capacity discs in 2024 with the cost of $5 per TB, with a roadmap to $1 per TB, using 80% less power than HDD.

Overview of optical types

 * Notes

Recordable and writable optical discs
There are numerous formats of optical direct to disk recording devices on the market, all of which are based on using a laser to change the reflectivity of the digital recording medium in order to duplicate the effects of the pits and lands created when a commercial optical disc is pressed. Formats such as CD-R and DVD-R are "Write once read many" or write-once, while CD-RW and DVD-RW are rewritable, more like a magnetic recording hard disk drive (HDD).

Media technologies vary, for example, M-DISC media uses a rock-like layer to retain data for longer than conventional recordable media. While being read-only compatible with existing DVD and Blu-ray drives, M-DISC media can only be written to using a stronger laser specifically made for this purpose, which is built into fewer optical drive models.

Surface error scanning

Optical media can predictively be scanned for errors and media deterioration well before any data becomes unreadable. Optical formats include some redundancy for error correction, which works until the amount of error exceeds a threshold. A higher rate of errors may indicate deteriorating and/or low quality media, physical damage, an unclean surface and/or media written using a defective optical drive.

Precise error scanning requires access to the raw, uncorrected readout of a disc, which is not always provided by a drive. As a result, support of this functionality varies per optical drive manufacturer and model. On ordinary drives without this functionality, it is possible to still look for unexpected reduction in read speed as an indirect, much less reliable measure.

Error scanning software includes Nero DiscSpeed, k-probe, Opti Drive Control (formerly "CD speed 2000") and DVD info Pro for Windows, and QPxTool for cross-platform.

Error types
There are different types of error measurements, including so-called "C1", "C2" and "CU" errors on CDs, and "PI/PO (parity inner/outer) errors" and the more critical "PI/PO failures" on DVDs. Finer-grain error measurements on CDs supported by very few optical drives are called E11, E21, E31, E21, E22, E32.

"CU" and "POF" represent uncorrectable errors on data CDs and DVDs respectively, thus data loss, and can be a result of too many consecutive smaller errors.

Due to the weaker error correction used on Audio CDs (Red Book standard) and Video CDs (White Book standard), C2 errors already lead to data loss. However, even with C2 errors, the damage is inaudible to some extent.

Blu-ray discs use so-called LDC (Long Distance Codes) and BIS (Burst Indication Subcodes) error parameters. According to the developer of the Opti Drive Control software, a disc can be considered healthy at an LDC error rate below 13 and BIS error rate below 15.

Optical disc manufacturing
Optical discs are made using replication. This process can be used with all disc types. Recordable discs have pre-recorded vital information, like manufacturer, disc type, maximum read and write speeds, etc. In replication, a cleanroom with yellow light is necessary to protect the light-sensitive photoresist and to prevent dust from corrupting the data on the disc.

A glass master is used in replication. The master is placed in a machine that cleans it as much as possible using a rotating brush and deionized water, preparing it for the next step. In the next step, a surface analyzer inspects the cleanliness of the master before photoresist is applied on the master. The photoresist is then baked in an oven to solidify it. Then, in the exposure process, the master is placed in a turntable where a laser selectively exposes the resist to light. At the same time, a developer and deionized water are applied to the disc to remove the exposed resist. This process forms the pits and lands that represent the data on the disc.

A thin coating of metal is then applied to the master, making a negative of the master with the pits and lands in it. The negative is then peeled off the master and coated in a thin layer of plastic. The plastic protects the coating while a punching press punches a hole into the center of the disc, and punches excess material.

The negative is now a stamper - a part of the mold that will be used for replication. It is placed on one side of the mold with the data side containing the pits and lands facing out. This is done inside an injection molding machine. The machine then closes the mold and injects polycarbonate in the cavity formed by the walls of the mold, which forms or molds the disc with the data on it.

The molten polycarbonate fills the pits or spaces between the lands on the negative, acquiring their shape when it solidifies. This step is somewhat similar to record pressing.

The polycarbonate disc cools quickly and is promptly removed from the machine, before forming another disc. The disc is then metallized, covered with a thin reflective layer of aluminum. The aluminum fills the space once occupied by the negative.

A layer of varnish is then applied to protect the aluminum coating and provide a surface suitable for printing. The varnish is applied near the center of the disc, and the disc is spun, evenly distributing the varnish on the surface of the disc. The varnish is hardened using UV light. The discs are then silkscreened or a label is otherwise applied.

Recordable discs add a dye layer, and rewritable discs add a phase change alloy layer instead, which is protected by upper and lower dielectric (electrically insulating) layers. The layers may be sputtered. The additional layer is between the grooves and the reflective layer of the disc. Grooves are made in recordable discs in place of the traditional pits and lands found in replicated discs, and the two can be made in the same exposure process. In DVDs, the same processes as in CDs are carried out, but in a thinner disc. The thinner disc is then bonded to a second, equally thin but blank, disc using UV-curable Liquid optically clear adhesive, forming a DVD disc. This leaves the data in the middle of the disc, which is necessary for DVDs to achieve their storage capacity. In multi layer discs, semi reflective instead of reflective coatings are used for all layers except the last layer, which is the deepest one and uses a traditional reflective coating.

Dual layer DVDs are made slightly differently. After metallization (with a thinner metal layer to allow some light to pass through), base and pit transfer resins are applied and pre-cured in the center of the disc. Then the disc is pressed again using a different stamper, and the resins are completely cured using UV light before being separated from the stamper. Then the disc receives another, thicker metallization layer, and is then bonded to the blank disc using LOCA glue. DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL discs receive a dye layer after curing, but before metallization. CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R discs receive the dye layer after pressing but before metallization. CD-RW, DVD-RW and DVD+RW receive a metal alloy layer sandwiched between 2 dielectric layers. HD-DVD is made in the same way as DVD. In recordable and rewritable media, most of the stamper is composed of grooves, not pits and lands. The grooves contain a wobble frequency that is used to locate the position of the reading or writing laser on the disc. DVDs use pre-pits instead, with a constant frequency wobble.

Blu-ray
HTL (high-to-low type) Blu-ray discs are made differently. First, a silicon wafer is used instead of a glass master. The wafer is processed in the same way a glass master would.

The wafer is then electroplated to form a 300-micron thick nickel stamper, which is peeled off from the wafer. The stamper is mounted onto a mold inside a press or embosser.

The polycarbonate discs are molded in a similar fashion to DVD and CD discs. If the discs being produced are BD-Rs or BD-REs, the mold is fitted with a stamper that stamps a groove pattern onto the discs, in lieu of the pits and lands found on BD-ROM discs.

After cooling, a 35 nanometre-thick layer of silver alloy is applied to the disc using sputtering. Then the second layer is made by applying base and pit transfer resins to the disc, and are pre-cured in its center.

After application and pre-curing, the disc is pressed or embossed using a stamper and the resins are immediately cured using intense UV light, before the disc is separated from the stamper. The stamper contains the data that will be transferred to the disc. This process is known as embossing and is the step that engraves the data onto the disc, replacing the pressing process used in the first layer, and it is also used for multi layer DVD discs.

Then, a 30 nanometre-thick layer of silver alloy is then sputtered onto the disc and the process is repeated as many times as required. Each repetition creates a new data layer. (The resins are applied again, pre-cured, stamped (with data or grooves) and cured, silver alloy is sputtered and so on)

BD-R and BD-RE discs receive (through sputtering) a metal (recording layer) alloy (that is sandwiched between two dielectric layers, also sputtered, in BD-RE), before receiving the 30 nanometre metallization (silver alloy, aluminum or gold) layer, which is sputtered. Alternatively, the silver alloy may be applied before the recording layer is applied. Silver alloys are usually used in Blu-rays, and aluminum is usually used on CDs and DVDs. Gold is used in some "Archival" CDs and DVDs, since it is more chemically inert and resistant to corrosion than aluminum, which corrodes into aluminum oxide, which can be seen in disc rot as transparent patches or dots in the disc, that prevent the disc from being read, since the laser light passes through the disc instead of being reflected back into the laser pickup assembly to be read. Normally, aluminum does not corrode since it has a thin oxide layer that forms on contact with oxygen. In this case, it can corrode due to its thinness.

Then, the 98 micron-thick cover layer is applied using UV-curable liquid optically clear adhesive, and a 2 micron-thick hard coat (such as Durabis) is also applied and cured using UV light. In the last step, a 10 nanometre-thick silicon nitride barrier layer is applied to the label side of the disc to protect against humidity. Blu-rays have their data very close to the read surface of the disc, which is necessary for Blu-rays to achieve their capacity.

Discs in large quantities can either be replicated or duplicated. In replication, the process explained above is used to make the discs, while in duplication, CD-R, DVD-R or BD-R discs are recorded and finalized to prevent further recording and allow for wider compatibility. (See Optical disc authoring). The equipment is also different: replication is carried out by fully automated purpose-built machinery whose cost is in the hundreds of thousands of US dollars in the used market, while duplication can be automated (using what's known as an autoloader ) or be done by hand, and only requires a small tabletop duplicator.

title: Optical disc


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Optical isolator

An optical isolator, or optical diode, is an optical component which allows the transmission of light in only one direction. It is typically used to prevent unwanted feedback into an optical oscillator, such as a laser cavity.

The operation of conventional optical isolators relies on the Faraday effect (which in turn is produced by magneto-optic effect), which is used in the main component, the Faraday rotator. However, integrated isolators which do not rely on magnetism have been made in recent years too.

Theory
The main component of the optical isolator is the Faraday rotator. The magnetic field, $$B$$, applied to the Faraday rotator causes a rotation in the polarization of the light due to the Faraday effect. The angle of rotation, $$\beta$$, is given by,
 * $$\beta=\nu B d\,$$,

where, $$\nu$$ is the Verdet constant of the material  (amorphous or crystalline solid, or liquid, or crystalline liquid, or vaprous, or gaseous) of which the rotator is made, and $$d$$ is the length of the rotator. This is shown in Figure 2. Specifically for an optical isolator, the values are chosen to give a rotation of 45°.

It has been shown that a crucial requirement for any kind of optical isolator (not only the Faraday isolator) is some kind of non-reciprocal optics

Polarization dependent isolator
The polarization dependent isolator, or Faraday isolator, is made of three parts, an input polarizer (polarized vertically), a Faraday rotator, and an output polarizer, called an analyzer (polarized at 45°).

Light traveling in the forward direction becomes polarized vertically by the input polarizer. The Faraday rotator will rotate the polarization by 45°. The analyzer then enables the light to be transmitted through the isolator.

Light traveling in the backward direction becomes polarized at 45° by the analyzer. The Faraday rotator will again rotate the polarization by 45°. This means the light is polarized horizontally (the direction of rotation is not sensitive to the direction of propagation). Since the polarizer is vertically aligned, the light will be extinguished.

Figure 2 shows a Faraday rotator with an input polarizer, and an output analyzer. For a polarization dependent isolator, the angle between the polarizer and the analyzer, $$\beta$$, is set to 45°. The Faraday rotator is chosen to give a 45° rotation.

Polarization dependent isolators are typically used in free space optical systems. This is because the polarization of the source is typically maintained by the system. In optical fibre systems, the polarization direction is typically dispersed in non polarization maintaining systems. Hence the angle of polarization will lead to a loss.

Polarization independent isolator
The polarization independent isolator is made of three parts, an input birefringent wedge (with its ordinary polarization direction vertical and its extraordinary polarization direction horizontal), a Faraday rotator, and an output birefringent wedge (with its ordinary polarization direction at 45°, and its extraordinary polarization direction at −45°).

Light traveling in the forward direction is split by the input birefringent wedge into its vertical (0°) and horizontal (90°) components, called the ordinary ray (o-ray) and the extraordinary ray (e-ray) respectively. The Faraday rotator rotates both the o-ray and e-ray by 45°. This means the o-ray is now at 45°, and the e-ray is at −45°. The output birefringent wedge then recombines the two components.

Light traveling in the backward direction is separated into the o-ray at 45, and the e-ray at −45° by the birefringent wedge. The Faraday Rotator again rotates both the rays by 45°. Now the o-ray is at 90°, and the e-ray is at 0°. Instead of being focused by the second birefringent wedge, the rays diverge.

Typically collimators are used on either side of the isolator. In the transmitted direction the beam is split and then combined and focused into the output collimator. In the isolated direction the beam is split, and then diverged, so it does not focus at the collimator.

Figure 3 shows the propagation of light through a polarization independent isolator. The forward travelling light is shown in blue, and the backward propagating light is shown in red. The rays were traced using an ordinary refractive index of 2, and an extraordinary refractive index of 3. The wedge angle is 7°.

The Faraday rotator
The most important optical element in an isolator is the Faraday rotator. The characteristics that one looks for in a Faraday rotator optic include a high Verdet constant, low absorption coefficient, low non-linear refractive index and high damage threshold. Also, to prevent self-focusing and other thermal related effects, the optic should be as short as possible. The two most commonly used materials for the 700–1100 nm range are terbium doped borosilicate glass and terbium gallium garnet crystal (TGG). For long distance fibre communication, typically at 1310 nm or 1550 nm, yttrium iron garnet crystals are used (YIG). Commercial YIG based Faraday isolators reach isolations higher than 30 dB.

Optical isolators are different from 1/4 wave plate based isolators because the Faraday rotator provides non-reciprocal rotation while maintaining linear polarization. That is, the polarization rotation due to the Faraday rotator is always in the same relative direction. So in the forward direction, the rotation is positive 45°. In the reverse direction, the rotation is −45°. This is due to the change in the relative magnetic field direction, positive one way, negative the other. This then adds to a total of 90° when the light travels in the forward direction and then the negative direction. This allows the higher isolation to be achieved.

Optical isolators and thermodynamics
It might seem at first glance that a device that allows light to flow in only one direction would violate Kirchhoff's law and the second law of thermodynamics, by allowing light energy to flow from a cold object to a hot object and blocking it in the other direction, but the violation is avoided because the isolator must absorb (not reflect) the light from the hot object and will eventually reradiate it to the cold one. Attempts to re-route the photons back to their source unavoidably involve creating a route by which other photons can travel from the hot body to the cold one, avoiding the paradox.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Optical isolator


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Optical path length

In optics, optical path length (OPL, denoted Λ in equations), also known as optical length or optical distance, is the length that light needs to travel through a vacuum to create the same phase difference as it would have when traveling through a given medium. It is calculated by taking the product of the geometric length of the optical path followed by light and the refractive index of the homogeneous medium through which the light ray propagates; for inhomogeneous optical media, the product above is generalized as a path integral as part of the ray tracing procedure. A difference in OPL between two paths is often called the optical path difference (OPD). OPL and OPD are important because they determine the phase of the light and govern interference and diffraction of light as it propagates.

optical path=refractive index x

In a medium of constant refractive index, n, the OPL for a path of geometrical length s is just

 * $$\mathrm{OPL} = n s .\,$$

If the refractive index varies along the path, the OPL is given by a line integral

 * $$\mathrm{OPL} = \int_C n \mathrm ds,$$

where n is the local refractive index as a function of distance along the path C.

An electromagnetic wave propagating along a path C has the phase shift over C as if it was propagating a path in a vacuum, length of which, is equal to the optical path length of C. Thus, if a wave is traveling through several different media, then the optical path length of each medium can be added to find the total optical path length. The optical path difference between the paths taken by two identical waves can then be used to find the phase change. Finally, using the phase change, the interference between the two waves can be calculated.

Fermat's principle states that the path light takes between two points is the path that has the minimum optical path length.

Optical path difference
The OPD corresponds to the phase shift undergone by the light emitted from two previously coherent sources when passed through mediums of different refractive indices. For example, a wave passing through air appears to travel a shorter distance than an identical wave traveling the same distance in glass. This is because a larger number of wavelengths fit in the same distance due to the higher refractive index of the glass.

The OPD can be calculated from the following equation:

 * $$\mathrm{OPD}= d_1 n_1 - d_2 n_2$$

where d1 and d2 are the distances of the ray passing through medium 1 or 2, n1 is the greater refractive index (e.g., glass) and n2 is the smaller refractive index (e.g., air).

title: Optical path length


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Optical power budget

The optical power budget in a fiber-optic communication link is the allocation of available optical power (launched into a given fiber by a given source) among various loss-producing mechanisms such as launch coupling loss, fiber attenuation, splice losses, and connector losses, in order to ensure that adequate signal strength (optical power) is available at the receiver. In optical power budget attenuation is specified  in decibel (dB) and optical power in dBm.

The amount of optical power launched into a given fiber by a given transmitter depends on the nature of its active optical source (LED or laser diode) and the type of fiber, including such parameters as core diameter and numerical aperture. Manufacturers sometimes specify an optical power budget only for a fiber that is optimum for their equipment—or specify only that their equipment will operate over a given distance, without mentioning the fiber characteristics. The user must first ascertain, from the manufacturer or by testing, the transmission losses for the type of fiber to be used, and the required signal strength for a given level of performance.

In addition to transmission loss, including those of any splices and connectors, allowance should be made for at least several dB of optical power margin losses, to compensate for component aging and to allow for future splices in the event of a severed cable.

 * LT = αL + Lc + Ls

Definitions:
 * LT - Total loss
 * α - Fiber attenuation
 * L - Length of fiber
 * Lc - Connector loss
 * Ls - Splice loss

Passive optical networks use optical splitters to divide the downstream signal into up to 32 streams, most often a power of two. Each division in two halves the transmitted power and therefore causes a minimum attenuation of 3 dB ($$\tfrac{1}{2}$$ ≈ 10−0.3).

title: Optical power budget


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Optical power margin

In an optical communications link, the optical power margin is the difference between the optical power that is launched by a given transmitter into the fiber, less transmission losses from all causes, and the minimum optical power that is required by the receiver for a specified level of performance. An optical power margin is typically measured using a calibrated light source and an optical power meter.

The optical power margin is usually expressed in decibels (dB). At least several dB of optical power margin should be included in the optical power budget. The amount of optical power launched into a given fiber by a given transmitter depends on the nature of its active optical source (LED or laser diode) and the type of fiber, including such parameters as core diameter and numerical aperture.

title: Optical power margin


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Visible spectrum

The visible spectrum is the band of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called visible light (or simply light). The optical spectrum is sometimes considered to be the same as the visible spectrum, but some authors define the term more broadly, to include the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum as well, known collectively as optical radiation.

A typical human eye will respond to wavelengths from about 380 to about 750 nanometers. In terms of frequency, this corresponds to a band in the vicinity of 400–790 terahertz. These boundaries are not sharply defined and may vary per individual. Under optimal conditions these limits of human perception can extend to 310 nm (ultraviolet) and 1100 nm (near infrared).

The spectrum does not contain all the colors that the human visual system can distinguish. Unsaturated colors such as pink, or purple variations like magenta, for example, are absent because they can only be made from a mix of multiple wavelengths. Colors containing only one wavelength are also called pure colors or spectral colors.

Visible wavelengths pass largely unattenuated through the Earth's atmosphere via the "optical window" region of the electromagnetic spectrum. An example of this phenomenon is when clean air scatters blue light more than red light, and so the midday sky appears blue (apart from the area around the Sun which appears white because the light is not scattered as much). The optical window is also referred to as the "visible window" because it overlaps the human visible response spectrum. The near infrared (NIR) window lies just out of the human vision, as well as the medium wavelength infrared (MWIR) window, and the long-wavelength or far-infrared (LWIR or FIR) window, although other animals may perceive them.

Spectral colors
Colors that can be produced by visible light of a narrow band of wavelengths (monochromatic light) are called pure spectral colors. The various color ranges indicated in the illustration are an approximation: The spectrum is continuous, with no clear boundaries between one color and the next.

History

In the 13th century, Roger Bacon theorized that rainbows were produced by a similar process to the passage of light through glass or crystal.

In the 17th century, Isaac Newton discovered that prisms could disassemble and reassemble white light, and described the phenomenon in his book Opticks. He was the first to use the word spectrum (Latin for "appearance" or "apparition") in this sense in print in 1671 in describing his experiments in optics. Newton observed that, when a narrow beam of sunlight strikes the face of a glass prism at an angle, some is reflected and some of the beam passes into and through the glass, emerging as different-colored bands. Newton hypothesized light to be made up of "corpuscles" (particles) of different colors, with the different colors of light moving at different speeds in transparent matter, red light moving more quickly than violet in glass. The result is that red light is bent (refracted) less sharply than violet as it passes through the prism, creating a spectrum of colors.

Newton originally divided the spectrum into six named colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. He later added indigo as the seventh color since he believed that seven was a perfect number as derived from the ancient Greek sophists, of there being a connection between the colors, the musical notes, the known objects in the Solar System, and the days of the week. The human eye is relatively insensitive to indigo's frequencies, and some people who have otherwise-good vision cannot distinguish indigo from blue and violet. For this reason, some later commentators, including Isaac Asimov, have suggested that indigo should not be regarded as a color in its own right but merely as a shade of blue or violet. Evidence indicates that what Newton meant by "indigo" and "blue" does not correspond to the modern meanings of those color words. Comparing Newton's observation of prismatic colors with a color image of the visible light spectrum shows that "indigo" corresponds to what is today called blue, whereas his "blue" corresponds to cyan.

In the 18th century, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote about optical spectra in his Theory of Colours. Goethe used the word spectrum (Spektrum) to designate a ghostly optical afterimage, as did Schopenhauer in On Vision and Colors. Goethe argued that the continuous spectrum was a compound phenomenon. Where Newton narrowed the beam of light to isolate the phenomenon, Goethe observed that a wider aperture produces not a spectrum but rather reddish-yellow and blue-cyan edges with white between them. The spectrum appears only when these edges are close enough to overlap.

In the early 19th century, the concept of the visible spectrum became more definite, as light outside the visible range was discovered and characterized by William Herschel (infrared) and Johann Wilhelm Ritter (ultraviolet), Thomas Young, Thomas Johann Seebeck, and others. Young was the first to measure the wavelengths of different colors of light, in 1802.

The connection between the visible spectrum and color vision was explored by Thomas Young and Hermann von Helmholtz in the early 19th century. Their theory of color vision correctly proposed that the eye uses three distinct receptors to perceive color.

Limits to visible range

The visible spectrum is limited to wavelengths that can both reach the retina and trigger visual phototransduction (excite a visual opsin). Insensitivity to UV light is generally limited by transmission through the lens. Insensitivity to IR light is limited by the spectral sensitivity functions of the visual opsins. The range is defined psychometrically by the luminous efficiency function, which accounts for all of these factors. In humans, there is a separate function for each of two visual systems, one for photopic vision, used in daylight, which is mediated by cone cells, and one for scotopic vision, used in dim light, which is mediated by rod cells. Each of these functions have different visible ranges. However, discussion on the visible range generally assumes photopic vision.

Atmospheric transmission
The visible range of most animals evolved to match the optical window, which is the range of light that can pass through the atmosphere. The ozone layer absorbs almost all UV light (below 315 nm). However, this only affects cosmic light (e.g. sunlight), not terrestrial light (e.g. Bioluminescence).

Ocular transmission
Before reaching the retina, light must first transmit through the cornea and lens. UVB light (< 315 nm) is filtered mostly by the cornea, and UVA light (315–400 nm) is filtered mostly by the lens. The lens also yellows with age, attenuating transmission most strongly at the blue part of the spectrum. This can cause xanthopsia as well as a slight truncation of the short-wave (blue) limit of the visible spectrum. Subjects with aphakia are missing a lens, so UVA light can reach the retina and excite the visual opsins; this expands the visible range and may also lead to cyanopsia.

Opsin absorption
Each opsin has a spectral sensitivity function, which defines how likely it is to absorb a photon of each wavelength. The luminous efficiency function is approximately the superposition of the contributing visual opsins. Variance in the position of the individual opsin spectral sensitivity functions therefore affects the luminous efficiency function and the visible range. For example, the long-wave (red) limit changes proportionally to the position of the L-opsin. The positions are defined by the peak wavelength (wavelength of highest sensitivity), so as the L-opsin peak wavelength blue shifts by 10 nm, the long-wave limit of the visible spectrum also shifts 10 nm. Large deviations of the L-opsin peak wavelength lead to a form of color blindness called protanomaly and a missing L-opsin (protanopia) shortens the visible spectrum by about 30 nm at the long-wave limit. Forms of color blindness affecting the M-opsin and S-opsin do not significantly affect the luminous efficiency function nor the limits of the visible spectrum.

Different definitions
Regardless of actual physical and biological variance, the definition of the limits is not standard and will change depending on the industry. For example, some industries may be concerned with practical limits, so would conservatively report 420–680 nm, while others may be concerned with psychometrics and achieving the broadest spectrum would liberally report 380–750, or even 380–800 nm. The luminous efficiency function in the NIR does not have a hard cutoff, but rather an exponential decay, such that the function's value (or vision sensitivity) at 1,050 nm is about 109 times weaker than at 700 nm; much higher intensity is therefore required to perceive 1,050 nm light than 700 nm light.

Vision outside the visible spectrum
Under ideal laboratory conditions, subjects may perceive infrared light up to at least 1,064 nm. While 1,050 nm NIR light can evoke red, suggesting direct absorption by the L-opsin, there are also reports that pulsed NIR lasers can evoke green, which suggests two-photon absorption may be enabling extended NIR sensitivity.

Similarly, young subjects may perceive ultraviolet wavelengths down to about 310–313 nm,  but detection of light below 380 nm may be due to fluorescence of the ocular media, rather than direct absorption of UV light by the opsins. As UVA light is absorbed by the ocular media (lens and cornea), it may fluoresce and be released at a lower energy (longer wavelength) that can then be absorbed by the opsins. For example, when the lens absorbs 350 nm light, the fluorescence emission spectrum is centered on 440 nm.

Non-visual light detection
In addition to the photopic and scotopic systems, humans have other systems for detecting light that do not contribute to the primary visual system. For example, melanopsin has an absorption range of 420–540 nm and regulates circadian rhythm and other reflexive processes. Since the melanopsin system does not form images, it is not strictly considered vision and does not contribute to the visible range.

In non-humans
The visible spectrum is defined as that visible to humans, but the variance between species is large. Not only can cone opsins be spectrally shifted to alter the visible range, but vertebrates with 4 cones (tetrachromatic) or 2 cones (dichromatic) relative to humans' 3 (trichromatic) will also tend to have a wider or narrower visible spectrum than humans, respectively.

Vertebrates tend to have 1-4 different opsin classes: Testing the visual systems of animals behaviorally is difficult, so the visible range of animals is usually estimated by comparing the peak wavelengths of opsins with those of typical humans (S-opsin at 420 nm and L-opsin at 560 nm).
 * longwave sensitive (LWS) with peak sensitivity between 500–570 nm,
 * middlewave sensitive (MWS) with peak sensitivity between 480–520 nm,
 * shortwave sensitive (SWS) with peak sensitivity between 415–470 nm, and
 * violet/ultraviolet sensitive (VS/UVS) with peak sensitivity between 355–435 nm.

Mammals
Most mammals have retained only two opsin classes (LWS and VS), due likely to the nocturnal bottleneck. However, old world primates (including humans) have since evolved two versions in the LWS class to regain trichromacy. Unlike most mammals, rodents' UVS opsins have remained at shorter wavelengths. Along with their lack of UV filters in the lens, mice have a UVS opsin that can detect down to 340 nm. While allowing UV light to reach the retina can lead to retinal damage, the short lifespan of mice compared with other mammals may minimize this disadvantage relative to the advantage of UV vision. Dogs have two cone opsins at 429 nm and 555 nm, so see almost the entire visible spectrum of humans, despite being dichromatic. Horses have two cone opsins at 428 nm and 539 nm, yielding a slightly more truncated red vision.

Birds
Most other vertebrates (birds, lizards, fish, etc.) have retained their tetrachromacy, including UVS opsins that extend further into the ultraviolet than humans' VS opsin. The sensitivity of avian UVS opsins vary greatly, from 355–425 nm, and LWS opsins from 560–570 nm. This translates to some birds with a visible spectrum on par with humans, and other birds with greatly expanded sensitivity to UV light. The LWS opsin of birds is sometimes reported to have a peak wavelength above 600 nm, but this is an effective peak wavelength that incorporates the filter of avian oil droplets. The peak wavelength of the LWS opsin alone is the better predictor of the long-wave limit. A possible benefit of avian UV vision involves sex-dependent markings on their plumage that are visible only in the ultraviolet range.

Fish
Teleosts (bony fish) are generally tetrachromatic. The sensitivity of fish UVS opsins vary from 347-383 nm, and LWS opsins from 500-570 nm. However, some fish that use alternative chromophores can extend their LWS opsin sensitivity to 625 nm. The popular belief that the common goldfish is the only animal that can see both infrared and ultraviolet light is incorrect, because goldfish cannot see infrared light.

Invertebrates
The visual systems of invertebrates deviate greatly from vertebrates, so direct comparisons are difficult. However, UV sensitivity has been reported in most insect species. Bees and many other insects can detect ultraviolet light, which helps them find nectar in flowers. Plant species that depend on insect pollination may owe reproductive success to their appearance in ultraviolet light rather than how colorful they appear to humans. Bees' long-wave limit is at about 590 nm. Mantis shrimp exhibit up to 14 opsins, enabling a visible range of less than 300 nm to above 700 nm.

Thermal vision
Some snakes can "see" radiant heat at wavelengths between 5 and 30 μm to a degree of accuracy such that a blind rattlesnake can target vulnerable body parts of the prey at which it strikes, and other snakes with the organ may detect warm bodies from a meter away. It may also be used in thermoregulation and predator detection.

Spectroscopy

Spectroscopy is the study of objects based on the spectrum of color they emit, absorb or reflect. Visible-light spectroscopy is an important tool in astronomy (as is spectroscopy at other wavelengths), where scientists use it to analyze the properties of distant objects. Chemical elements and small molecules can be detected in astronomical objects by observing emission lines and absorption lines. For example, helium was first detected by analysis of the spectrum of the Sun. The shift in frequency of spectral lines is used to measure the Doppler shift (redshift or blueshift) of distant objects to determine their velocities towards or away from the observer. Astronomical spectroscopy uses high-dispersion diffraction gratings to observe spectra at very high spectral resolutions.

title: Visible spectrum


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Optical time-domain reflectometer

An optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) is an optoelectronic instrument used to characterize an optical fiber. It is the optical equivalent of an electronic time domain reflectometer which measures the impedance of the cable or transmission line under test. An OTDR injects a series of optical pulses into the fiber under test and extracts, from the same end of the fiber, light that is scattered (Rayleigh backscatter) or reflected back from points along the fiber. The scattered or reflected light that is gathered back is used to characterize the optical fiber. The strength of the return pulses is measured and integrated as a function of time, and plotted as a function of length of the fiber.

Reliability and quality of OTDR equipment
The reliability and quality of an OTDR is based on its accuracy, measurement range, ability to resolve and measure closely spaced events, measurement speed, and ability to perform satisfactorily under various environmental extremes and after various types of physical abuse. The instrument is also judged on the basis of its cost, features provided, size, weight, and ease of use.

Some of the terms often used in specifying the quality of an OTDR are as follows:
 * Accuracy: Defined as the correctness of the measurement i.e., the difference between the measured value and the true value of the event being measured.

 * Measurement range: Defined as the maximum attenuation that can be placed between the instrument and the event being measured, for which the instrument will still be able to measure the event within acceptable accuracy limits.

 * Instrument resolution: Is a measure of how close two events can be spaced and still be recognized as two separate events. The duration of the measurement pulse and the data sampling interval create a resolution limitation for OTDRs. The shorter the pulse duration and the shorter the data sampling interval, the better the instrument resolution, but the shorter the measurement range. Resolution is also often limited when powerful reflections return to the OTDR and temporarily overload the detector. When this occurs, some time is required before the instrument can resolve a second fiber event. Some OTDR manufacturers use a “masking” procedure to improve resolution. The procedure shields or “masks” the detector from high-power fiber reflections, preventing detector overload and eliminating the need for detector recovery.

Industry requirements for the reliability and quality of OTDRs are specified in the Generic Requirements for Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) Type Equipment.

Types of OTDR-like test equipment
The common types of OTDR-like test equipment are:
 * 1) Full-feature OTDR:
 * Full-feature OTDRs are traditional, optical time domain reflectometers. They are feature-rich and usually larger, heavier, and less portable than either the hand-held OTDR or the fiber break locator. Despite being characterized as large, their size and weight is only a fraction of that of early generation OTDRs. Often a full-feature OTDR has a main frame that can be fitted with multi-function plug-in units to perform many fiber measurement tasks. Larger color displays are common. The full-feature OTDR often has a greater measurement range than the other types of OTDR-like equipment. Often it is used in laboratories and in the field for difficult fiber measurements. Most full-feature OTDRs are powered from AC and/or a battery.
 * 1) Hand-held OTDR and Fiber break locator:
 * Hand-held (formerly mini) OTDRs and fiber break locators are designed to troubleshoot fiber networks in a field environment, often using battery power. The two types of instruments cover the spectrum of approaches to fiber optic plant taken by communication providers. Hand-held, inexpensive OTDRs are intended to be easy-to-use, light-weight, sophisticated OTDRs that collect field data and perform rudimentary data analysis. They may be less feature rich than full-feature OTDRs. Often they can be used in conjunction with PC-based software to perform data collection and sophisticated data analysis. Hand-held OTDRs are commonly used to measure fiber links and locate fiber breaks, points of high loss, high reflectance, end-to-end loss, and Optical Return Loss (ORL).
 * Fiber break locators are intended to be low-cost instruments specifically designed to determine the location of a catastrophic fiber event, e.g., fiber break, point of high reflectance, or high loss. The fiber break locator is an opto-electronic tape measure designed to measure only distance to catastrophic fiber events.
 * In general, hand-held OTDRs and fiber break locators are lighter and smaller, simpler to operate, and more likely to employ battery power than full-feature OTDRs. The intent with hand-held OTDRs and fiber break locators is to be inexpensive enough for field technicians to be equipped with one as part of a standard tool kit.
 * 1) RTU in RFTSs:
 * The RTU is the testing module of the RFTS described in Generic Requirements for Remote Fiber Testing Systems (RFTSS). An RFTS enables fiber to be automatically tested from a central location. A central computer is used to control the operation of OTDR-like test components located at key points in the fiber network. The test components scan the fiber to locate problems. If a problem is found, its location is noted and the appropriate personnel are notified to begin the repair process. The RFTS can also provide direct access to a database that contains historical information of the OTDR fiber traces and any other fiber records for the physical fiber plant.
 * Since OTDRs and OTDR-like equipment have many uses in the communications industry, operating environments vary widely, both indoors and outdoors. Most often, however, these test sets are operated in controlled environments, accessing the fibers at their termination points on fiber distribution frames. Indoor environments include controlled areas such as central offices (COs), equipment huts, or Controlled Environment Vaults (CEVs). Use in outside environments is rarer, but may include use in a manhole, aerial platform, open trench, or splicing vehicle.

OTDR data format
In the late 1990s, OTDR industry representatives and the OTDR user community developed a unique data format to store and analyze OTDR fiber data. This data was based on the specifications in GR-196, Generic Requirements for Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) Type Equipment. The goal was for the data format to be truly universal, in that it was intended to be implemented by all OTDR manufacturers. OTDR suppliers developed the software to implement the data format. As they proceeded, they identified inconsistencies in the format, along with areas of misunderstanding among users.

From 1997 to 2000, a group of OTDR supplier software specialists attempted to resolve problems and inconsistencies in what was then called the “Bellcore” OTDR Data Format. This group, called the OTDR Data Format Users Group (ODFUG), made progress. Since then, many OTDR developers continued to work with other developers to solve individual interaction problems and enable cross use between manufacturers. In 2011, Telcordia decided to compile industry comments on this data format into one document entitled Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) Data Format. This Special Report (SR) summarizes the state of the Bellcore OTDR Data Format, renaming it as the Telcordia OTDR Data Format. The data format is intended for all OTDR-related equipment designed to save trace data and analysis information. Initial implementations require standalone software to be provided by the OTDR supplier to convert existing OTDR trace files to the SR-4731 data format and to convert files from this universal format to a format that is usable by their older OTDRs. This file conversion software can be developed by the hardware supplier, the end user, or a third party. This software also provides backward compatibility of the OTDR data format with existing equipment.

The SR-4731 format describes binary data. While text information is contained in several fields, most numbers are represented as either 16-bit (2-byte) or 32-bit (4-byte) signed or unsigned integers stored as binary images. Byte ordering in this file format is explicitly low-byte ordering, as is common on Intel processor-based machines. String fields are terminated with a zero byte “\0”. OTDR waveform data are represented as short, unsigned integer data uniformly spaced in time, in units of decibels (dB) times 1000, referenced to the maximum power level. The maximum power level is set to zero, and all waveform data points are assumed to be zero or negative (the sign bit is implied), so that the minimum power level in this format is -65.535 dB, and the minimum resolution between power level steps is 0.001 dB. In some cases, this will not provide sufficient power range to represent all waveform points. For this reason, the use of a scale factor has been introduced to expand the data point power range.

title: Optical time-domain reflectometer


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Outside plant

In telecommunication, the term outside plant has the following meanings:

 * In civilian telecommunications, outside plant refers to all of the physical cabling and supporting infrastructure (such as conduit, cabinets, tower or poles), and any associated hardware (such as repeaters) located between a demarcation point in a switching facility and a demarcation point in another switching center or customer premises.
 * In the United States, the DOD defines outside plant as the communications equipment located between a main distribution frame (MDF) and a user end instrument.

The CATV industry divides its fixed assets between head end or inside plant, and outside plant. The electrical power industry also uses the term outside plant to refer to electric power distribution systems.

Context
Network connections between devices such as computers, printers, and phones require a physical infrastructure to carry and process signals. Typically, this infrastructure will consist of:
 * Cables from wall outlets and jacks run to a communications closets, sometimes referred to as station cable.
 * Cables connecting one communications closet to another, sometimes referred to as riser cable.
 * Racks containing telecommunications hardware, such as switches, routers, and repeaters.
 * Cables connecting one building to another.
 * Exterior communications cabinets containing hardware outside of buildings.
 * Radio transceivers used inside or outside buildings, such as wireless access points, and hardware associated with them, such as antennas and towers.

The portion of this infrastructure contained within a building is the inside plant, and the portion of this infrastructure connecting buildings or facilities is the outside plant. Where these two plants meet in a given structure is the demarcation point.

Outside plant cabling, whether copper or fiber, is generally installed as aerial cable between poles, in an underground conduit system, or by direct burial. Hardware associated with the outside plant must be either protected from the elements (for example, distribution frames are generally protected by a street side cabinet) or constructed with materials suitable for exposure to the elements. Installation of the outside plant elements often require construction of significant physical infrastructure, such as underground vaults. In older large installations, cabling is sometimes protected by air pressure systems designed to prevent water infiltration. While this is not a modern approach, the cost of replacement of the older cabling with sealed cabling is often prohibitively expensive. The cabling used in the outside plant must also be protected from electrical disturbances caused by lightning or voltage surges due to electrical shorts or induction.

Example: copper access network
In civilian telecommunications, the copper access network (also known as the local loop) providing basic telephone or DSL services typically consists of the following elements:
 * In-house wiring that connects customer premises equipment to the demarcation point, usually in residential installations contained in a weather protected box.
 * One or more twisted pairs, called a drop wire. The drop wires typically connect to a splice case, located in line for aerial cables, or in a small weather protected case for underground wiring, where the local cabling is connected to a secondary feeder line. These cables contain fifty or more twisted pairs.
 * Secondary feeder lines run to a streetside cabinet containing a distribution frame called a Serving Area Interface (SAI).
 * The SAI is connected to the main distribution frame, located at a Telephone exchange or other switching facility, by one or more primary feeder lines which contain hundreds of copper twisted pairs. An SAI may also contain a Digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) supporting DSL service.

Active equipment (such as a POTS or DSL line circuit) can then be connected to the line in order to provide service, but this is not considered part of outside plant.

Protecting equipment in the outside plant
The environment can play a large role in the quality and lifespan of equipment used in the outside plant. It is critical that environmental testing criteria as well as design and performance requirements be defined for this type of equipment.

There are generally four operating environments or classes covering all outside plant (OSP) applications, including wireless facilities.
 * Class 1: Equipment in a Controlled Environment
 * Class 2: Protected Equipment in Outside Environments
 * Class 3: Protected Equipment in Severe Outside Environments
 * Class 4: Products in an Unprotected Environment

Electronic equipment located in one or more of these environmental class locations is designed to withstand various environmental operating conditions resulting from climatic conditions that may include rain, snow, sleet, high winds, ice, salt spray, and sand storms. Since outside temperatures can possibly range from −40 °C (−40 °F) to 46 °C (115 °F), with varying degrees of solar loading, along with humidity levels ranging from below 10% up to 100%, significant environmental stresses within the enclosure or facility can be produced.

Telcordia GR-3108, Generic Requirements for Network Equipment in the Outside Plant (OSP), contains the most recent industry data regarding each Class described above. It also discusses what is currently happening in ATIS  and Underwriters Laboratories (UL).

The document also includes
 * Environmental criteria such as operating temperatures, humidity, particulate contamination, pollution exposure, and heat dissipation
 * Mechanical criteria such as structural requirements, packaging, susceptibility to vibration, earthquake, and handling
 * Electrical protection and safety including protection from lightning surges, AC power induction and faults, and Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), and DC power influences

Handholes and other below-ground splice vaults
Handholes and other below-ground splice vaults house telecommunications components used in an Outside Plant (OSP) environment.

Handholes are plastic or polymer concrete structures set below ground with their lids flush to the surrounding soil, turf, footpath, or road surface. They can be used to house and protect copper, coaxial, and optical fiber telephone cable splices and distribution elements. They safeguard and provide convenient access to cable termination and branch points, provide flexibility and access for installation operations (e.g., pulling or blowing cables), provide mechanical and environmental protection for splices, allow access for craftsperson work activities, and discourage access by unauthorized persons.

Handholes and other below-ground splice vaults are deployed in a variety of environments. The major distinctions in these environments focus on the strength and frequency of vehicular and foot traffic loading. There are four basic application environments:

 * Light Duty: Pedestrian Only
 * Medium Duty: Pedestrian and Light Incidental Vehicular Traffic (Up to Class 5 Vehicles)
 * Heavy Duty: Non-Deliberate (Incidental) Vehicular Traffic (Up to Class 7 Vehicles)
 * Heavy Duty: Non-Deliberate (Incidental) Vehicular Traffic (Up to Class 8 Vehicles)

Handhole-type products deployed in any environment are subjected to the following types of traffic loading: Vertical Cover Load, Vertical Sidewall Load, Lateral Sidewall Load, and Long-Term Lateral Sidewall Load.

Telcordia GR-902, Generic Requirements for Handholes and Other Below-Ground Splice Vaults, contains detailed industry requirements for handholes, and includes specific loading requirements for the defined application environments. It provides explicit correlations to other standards such as ANSI/SCTE-77, AASHTO specifications, and ASTM C857.

Corrosion resistance
Corrosion in outside plant telecommunications network components is caused by exposure to the effects of temperature, humidity, electrical power, and contaminants. Corrosion resistance criteria for these network components are based on the environments to which they are exposed.

Outside plant environments can be above-ground, underground, buried, or underwater. Industry requirements document Telcordia GR-2836 defines these environments and provides corrosion resistance criteria for the telecommunications equipment in each. It also includes references to various associated ASTM Standards.

Above-ground plant
Above-ground plant includes all the telecommunications equipment physically located on or above the ground. This includes enclosures such as huts, cabinets, and pedestals, and the equipment mounted therein. It also includes pole-mounted equipment and cases, and pole-line hardware.

Above-ground plant can be exposed to extreme temperatures, and to humidity that varies with the seasons and with daily temperature changes. When humidity condenses on the surfaces of outdoor apparatus or equipment, the corrosivity of the moisture layer can be increased by industrial pollutants that render the condensate moisture corrosive. In sea coastal areas, wind-borne, salt-laden water droplets can deposit on exposed components.

Near large cultivated areas, where fertilizers are applied by airplanes, the wind may carry nitrates, phosphates, and ammonium compounds to settle on metallic components of the above-ground telephone plant. Similarly, in residential areas, lawn fertilizers and herbicides can cause corrosion. In regions with snow, the salts used to melt snow and ice on roadways can accelerate corrosion. Under extreme conditions, pedestals and cabinets may be flooded with water that contains mud and corrosive salts. Corrosion of these flooded components may be accelerated by the presence of dc voltages used to power the networks. Secretions from insects can also accelerate corrosion. Finally, chewing by rodents may expose metallic components, normally protected by a polymer or paint coating, to a corrosive environment.

Underground plant
Underground plant includes all the telecommunications equipment installed in underground structures such as utility holes, Controlled Environment Vaults (CEVs), and ducts, along with associated hardware. Underground plant can be exposed to waters containing water-soluble salts of the native soil. Utility holes often show evidence of corrosion of support hardware and bonding ribbons that is caused by sulfate-reducing bacteria. The environment in utility holes and ducts can be made corrosive by man-made chemicals such as industrial effluent, fertilizers, and de-icing salts. Protective plastic coatings and cable jackets can rapidly deteriorate from leaking steam pipes present in many urban areas and from gasoline leaking from underground storage tanks.

The most aggressive contributor to corrosion of underground plant is dc stray current from electrified rail transportation systems, cathodic protection rectifiers, or welding and mining operations. Although such dc currents are mostly dealt with “after the fact” using protective systems (e.g., low resistance bonds, reverse current switches, cathodic protection), some of the protection has to be included at the manufacturing stage. This protection may include insulating covers on cable shields, or nonmetallic components or coatings for apparatus.

Buried plant
Buried plant consists of telecommunications equipment such as cables, splice closures, lower parts of pedestals, and grounding systems directly buried in the soil. Buried plant can be exposed to the same corrosive environment as underground plant. In addition, attack by gophers can expose underlying components to corrosion attack.

Underwater plant
Underwater plant includes all telecommunications equipment located beneath the surface of a body of water. This includes cables and repeaters. The water can range from relatively pure, to brackish, to badly contaminated with industrial effluent.

title: Outside plant


text:
Ovality

In telecommunications and fiber optics, ovality or noncircularity is the degree of deviation from perfect circularity of the cross section of the core or cladding of the fiber.

The cross-sections of the core and cladding are assumed to a first approximation to be elliptical, and ovality is defined to be twice the third flattening of the ellipse, $$2\frac{a-b} {a+b}$$, where a is the length of the major axis and b is the length of the minor axis. This dimensionless quantity is between $0$ and $1$, and may be multiplied by $100$ to express ovality as a percentage. Alternatively, ovality of the core or cladding may be specified by a tolerance field consisting of two concentric circles, within which the cross section boundaries must lie.

In measurements, ovality is the amount of out-of-roundness of a hole or cylindrical part in the typical form of an oval.

In chemistry
In computational chemistry, especially in QSAR studies, ovality refers to, a measure of how the shape of a molecule approaches a sphere (at one extreme) or a cigar shape (at the other). Ovality is described by a ratio of volume to area:

$$O = \frac {A}{4\pi(\frac{3V}{4\pi})^{\frac 2 3}}$$

where:

 * O = Ovality
 * A = Area
 * V = Volume

The ovality of the He atom is 1.0 and that of HC24H (12 triple bonds) is ~1.7.

title: Ovality


text:
Overfill

In telecommunications, overfill is the condition that prevails when the numerical aperture or the beam diameter of an optical source, such as a laser, light-emitting diode, or optical fiber, exceeds that of the driven element, e.g. an optical fiber core. In optical communications testing, overfill in both numerical aperture and mean diameter (core diameter or spot size) is usually required. In polygonal mirror scanners, an overfilled type is one which uses each mirror facet at least in one dimension completely.

title: Overfill


text:
Overflow

Overflow may refer to:

Computing and telecommunications

 * Integer overflow, a condition that occurs when an integer calculation produces a result that is greater than what a given register can store or represent
 * Buffer overflow, a situation whereby the incoming data size exceeds that which can be accommodated by a buffer.
 * Heap overflow, a type of buffer overflow that occurs in the heap data area
 * Overflow (software), a NASA-developed computational fluid dynamics program using overset (Chimera) grids
 * Overflow condition, a situation that occurs when more information is being transmitted than the hardware can handle
 * Overspill, a proof technique in non-standard analysis, is less commonly called overflow
 * Stack overflow in which a computer program makes too many subroutine calls and its call stack runs out of space

Other

 * Overflow (company), a Japanese video game developer
 * Overflow (magazine), a free quarterly in Brooklyn, New York, US
 * River overflow, a relatively long and significant increase in the water content of a river, causing a rise in its level
 * Sanitary sewer overflow, a condition whereby untreated sewage is discharged into the environment, escaping wastewater treatment

title: Overflow


text:
Overmodulation

Overmodulation is the condition that prevails in telecommunication when the instantaneous level of the modulating signal exceeds the value necessary to produce 100% modulation of the carrier. In the sense of this definition, it is almost always considered a fault condition. In layman's terms, the signal is going "off the scale". Overmodulation results in spurious emissions by the modulated carrier, and distortion of the recovered modulating signal. This means that the envelope of the output waveform is distorted.

Although overmodulation is sometimes considered permissible, it should not occur in practice; a distorted waveform envelope will result in a distorted output signal of the receiving medium.

title: Overmodulation


text:
Override

Override may refer to:

 * Dr. Gregory Herd, a Marvel Comics character formerly named Override
 * Manual override, a function where an automated system is placed under manual control
 * Method overriding, a subclassing feature in object-oriented programming languages.
 * Price override, in retail
 * Override, a character on the anime television series Transformers: Cybertron
 * Override (film), a 1994 science fiction short film
 * Override, a 2021 British science fiction thriller film
 * OverRide (video game)
 * Overrider, a Marvel Comics mutant
 * Overriders, an insurance term
 * Overriding aorta, a medical condition in which aorta emerge from abnormal position.
 * Veto override, a procedure employed by legislatures

title: Override


text:
Overshoot

Overshoot may refer to:

 * Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change, a 1980 book by William R. Catton, Jr.
 * Ecological overshoot, when the demands made on a natural ecosystem exceed its regenerative capacity
 * Overshoot (population), when a population exceeds the environment's carrying capacity
 * Overshoot (signal), when a signal exceeds its steady state value
 * Overshoot (microwave communication), the unintended reception of microwave signals
 * Overshoot (migration), when migratory birds end up further than intended
 * Overshoot (typography), the degree to which a letter dips below the baseline, or exceeds the cap height
 * Overshoot (aviation), a key concept in basic fighter maneuvers (BFM)
 * Overshoot (epidemiology), when the proportion of a population infected exceeds the herd immunity threshold
 * Overshooting model, a theoretical explanation for high levels of exchange rate volatility

title: Overshoot