Optical fibres (which are made of glass or plastic), consist of a central core surrounded by cladding that has a lower refractive index (of the glass or plastic). The central core is so narrow that light signals passing through the core always hit the cladding boundaries at angles higher than C (critical angle). This means that the light is always totally internally reflected. This total internal reflection will only not occur if the optical fibre is bent too sharply.
Optical fibres are used to transmit information. Total internal reflection is very useful in optical fibres as no information is lost (it is all reflected back into the core), also, light travels very fast.
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