Cladding
Cladding turns up in 2 fields: fiber optics, building. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Cladding in fiber optics
The layer of slightly lower-index glass around the core that keeps light trapped inside it.
Solid glass bonded around the core with a refractive index about 0.4 percent lower in singlemode and 1 to 2 percent lower in multimode, which creates the boundary for total internal reflection. Almost every telecom and datacom fiber has a cladding diameter of 125 µm regardless of core size, which is why the same cleavers, strippers and ferrules work on singlemode and multimode. Light that leaks into the cladding is lost within a short distance.
"Ferrule hole's sized for 125 micron cladding, so if the fiber won't go in, you didn't strip all the coating off."
Cladding in building
The non-loadbearing exterior skin applied to a building to shed water and provide aesthetic appeal.
A layer of material attached to the outside of a structure to protect it from the weather. It does not carry any structural weight from the building itself, acting purely as a barrier against wind and rain. Common materials include brick veneer, metal panels, vinyl siding, and timber boards.
"We can't install the cladding until the building inspector signs off on the exterior weather barrier."