For Hobbyists & Makers · Fiber Optics
Fiber Optics for a telescope
Built for hobbyists & makers exploring it for fun. Play with real physics and math, no license and no setup — just open and tinker. Simulate a telescope live below — adjust the inputs and watch it respond, right in your browser.
Fiber OpticsLive
total internal reflection
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An optical fiber traps light in a high-index core surrounded by lower-index cladding: rays hitting the boundary above the critical angle undergo total internal reflection and bounce down the fiber for kilometers. The numerical aperture sets the acceptance cone, and the core size decides whether it carries one mode (single-mode, for long-haul) or many (multimode).
Data Inspector
Critical angle80.6°
Numerical aperture0.242
Acceptance angle14.0°
Fiber typemultimode (~423)
Governing equation
Reading this result: Rays steeper than the 80.6° critical angle reflect and stay trapped; here V = 29.1 allows ~423 modes, so this behaves as multimode fiber — cheap and easy to launch, but modal dispersion caps the bandwidth.
Runs locally in your browser — free forever. Scale to the cloud when reality gets heavy.
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Frequently asked questions
- Is this good for hobbyists & makers?
- Yes — this version of "Fiber Optics for a telescope" is framed for hobbyists & makers exploring it for fun. Play with real physics and math, no license and no setup — just open and tinker.
- Do I need to install anything?
- No. It runs in any modern browser, free, with no account required.