Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!sci.ccny.cuny.edu!phri!cooper!gene
From: gene@cooper.cooper.EDU (Gene (the Spook) )
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: tapping into a fiber optic cable
Message-ID: <2696@cooper.cooper.EDU>
Date: 31 May 90 22:23:22 GMT
References: <46249@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Organization: The Cooper Union (NY, NY)
Lines: 17

in article <46249@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>, beckman@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Peter Beckman) says:
> Can a fiber optic cable be "tapped" into without disturbing the data
> being transmitted?  I would like to run some fiber optic cable through
> some expensive equipment to prevent theft.  Loss of the signal would
> mean the cable has been cut, and an alarm would sound.  A simple
> copper wire threaded through equipment could be easily spliced around.
> Could a fiber optic cable be similarly bypassed?  How easily?  -Pete

I remember a blurb in a recent issue of ECN about a "fiber tap", which
bends the fiber just enough to let a small amount of light leak through
and be picked up with (probably) a phototransistor.

Sorry I can't be of more help, but I trashed the magazine as soon as I
finished reading it.

						Spookfully yours,
						Gene