Types of Optical Fiber
What is an Optical Fiber?
Optical fiber is the technology that we used for the transmission of data as a light pulse traveling through a long plastic or glass fiber.
The transmitted light in optical fiber is transmitted by internal reflection within the coaxial tube. For long-distance transmission, we used single-mode fiber but the multimode fiber is used for long-distance transmission. A typical optical fiber represented below the picture,

Different types of optical fiber
According to the refractive index, fiber materials, and mode of propagation of light, optical fibers are classified into several types. It can be classified into step and graded-index fibers according to refractive index.
Step index fibers: Generally, it can be made by doping high-purity fused silica glass and different concentrations of other materials like titanium, germanium, or boron. Step-index fibers contain a uniform core and uniform cladding. The uniform core has one index of refraction but uniform cladding has a smaller index of refraction.
Graded index fibers: It is another type of optical fiber where the refractive index of the core is non-uniform. The refractive index of the core of graded-index fibers decreases with increasing radial distance from the optical axis of the fiber.
According to the materials used, optical fibers are two types like plastic and glass optical fibers.
Plastic fiber: In plastic fiber, we used polymethylmethacrylate as a core material. It can be used mainly for lighting, display, image transmission, and simple optical instrumentation technique.
Glass fiber: Glass fiber can be made with extremely fine glasses. It can be used mainly for thermal insulation, electrical insulation, sound insulation, fabrics production.
According to the mode of propagation of light, optical fibers are two types like single-mode fiber and multiple mode fiber.
Single-mode fiber: We used single-mode fiber for the long-distance transmission of signals. It can be used mainly in used in telecommunication companies, CATV companies, Colleges, and universities ' communication systems.
Multimode fiber: Multimode fibers are used for short-distance transmission. Multimode optical fiber is the best cost-effective choice for enterprise and data center where transmission range within 500–600 meter.