optical fiber

American  

noun

1. a very thin, flexible glass or plastic strand along which large quantities of information can be transmitted in the form of light pulses: used in telecommunications, medicine, and other fields.

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optical fiber Scientific  

1. A flexible transparent fiber of extremely pure glass or plastic, generally between 10 and 200 micrometers in diameter, used especially to carry light signals for telecommunication purposes.

2. See more at fiber optics

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Etymology

Origin of optical fiber

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Corning announced a collaboration with Broadcom last year on co-packaged optics, or CPO, which connects AI chips using optical fiber instead of copper.

From Barron's • Mar. 5, 2026

It took nearly half a century for Corning to produce a billion miles of optical fiber.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 7, 2026

Corning secures a multiyear deal with Meta Platforms, valued at up to $6 billion, to supply cabling, optical fiber, and connectivity solutions for data centers.

From Barron's • Jan. 27, 2026

Coordinated by Saarland University, the QR.N network includes 42 partners from universities, research institutes, and industry who collaborate on developing and testing quantum repeater technology in optical fiber networks.

From Science Daily • Nov. 29, 2025

One day, however, your telephone, TV, fax machine and personal computer will be replaced by a single ``information processor'' linked to the worldwide Net by strands of optical fiber.

From Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet by Electronic Frontier Foundation