Attenuators enable the fine-tuning of adjustable signal power and ensure that the signal power reaching the receiver is within its dynamic range, preventing saturation and maintaining the signal-to-noise ratio. An optical attenuator, or fiber optic attenuator, is a device used to reduce the power level of an optical signal, either in free space or in an optical fiber. The basic types of optical attenuators are fixed, step-wise variable, and continuously variable. Usually, such attenuators either have a housing equipped with some type of fiber connectors (e. They do not modify the signal content, wavelength, or transmission path.
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