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Light Propagation In
Optical Fiber
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Introduction
An optical fiber is a very thin strand of silica glass in geometry quite
like a human hair. In reality it is a very narrow, very long glass
cylinder with special characteristics. When light enters one end of the
fiber it travels (confined within the fiber) until it leaves the fiber at the
other end. Two critical factors stand out:
Very little light is lost in its journey along the fiber
Fiber can bend around corners and the light will stay within it and be
guided around the corners.
An optical fiber consists of two parts: the core and the cladding. The
core is a narrow cylindrical strand of glass and the cladding is a tubular
jacket surrounding it. The core has a (slightly) higher refractive index
than the cladding. This means that the boundary (interface) between
the core and the cladding acts as a perfect mirror. Light traveling along
the core is confined by the mirror to stay within it - even when the
fiber bends around a corner.
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BASIC PRINCIPLE
When a light ray travelling in one material hits a different material
and reflects back into the original material without any loss of
light, total internal reflection is said to occur.
Since the core and cladding are constructed from different
compositions of glass, theoretically, light entering the core is
confined to the boundaries of the core because it reflects back
whenever it hits the cladding.
For total internal reflection to occur, the index of refraction of the
core must be higher than that of the cladding, and the incidence
angle is larger than the critical angle.


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What Makes The Light Stay in Fiber
Refraction
The light waves spread out along its beam.
Speed of light depend on the material used called refractive index.
Speed of light in the material = speed of light in the free
space/refractive index
Lower refractive index higher speed

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The Light is Refracted
This end travels
further than the
other hand
Lower Refractive index Region
Higher Refractive index Region
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Total Internal Reflection
Total internal reflection reflects 100% of the light
A typical mirror only reflects about 90%
Fish tank analogy
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Refraction
When a light ray encounters a boundary separating two
different media, part of the ray is reflected back into the
first medium and the remainder is bent (or refracted) as it
enters the second material. (Light entering an optical fiber
bends in towards the center of the fiber refraction)
Refraction
LED or
LASER
Source
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Reflection
Light inside an optical fiber bounces off the cladding -
reflection
Reflection
LED or
LASER
Source
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Critical Angle
If light inside an optical fiber strikes the cladding too steeply,
the light refracts into the cladding - determined by the critical
angle. (There will come a time when, eventually, the angle of
refraction reaches 90
o
and the light is refracted along the
boundary between the two materials. The angle of incidence
which results in this effect is called the critical angle).
Critical Angle
n
1
Sin X=n
2
Sin90
o

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Angle of Incidence
Also incident angle
Measured from perpendicular
Exercise: Mark two more incident angles


Incident Angles
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Angle of Reflection
Also reflection angle
Measured from perpendicular
Exercise: Mark the other reflection angle
Reflection Angle
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Reflection
Thus light is perfectly reflected at an interface
between two materials of different refractive
index if:
The light is incident on the interface from
the side of higher refractive index.
The angle is greater than a specific value
called the critical angle.
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Angle of Refraction
Also refraction angle
Measured from perpendicular
Exercise: Mark the other refraction angle
Refraction Angle
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Angle Summary
Refraction Angle
Three important angles
The reflection angle always equals the incident angle
Reflection Angle
Incident Angles
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Index of Refraction
n = c/v
c = velocity of light in a vacuum
v = velocity of light in a specific
medium
light bends as it passes from one medium to
another with a different index of refraction
air, n is about 1
glass, n is about 1.4

Light bends in towards normal -
lower n to higher n
Light bends
away from
normal - higher
n to lower n
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Snells Law
The angles of the rays are measured with respect to the
normal.
n
1
sin u
1
=n
2
sin u
2
Where
n
1
and n2 are refractive index of two materials
u
1
and u
2
the angle of incident and refraction respectively

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Snells Law
The amount light is bent by refraction is given by
Snells Law:
n
1
sinu
1
= n
2
sinu
2

Light is always refracted into a fiber (although there
will be a certain amount of Fresnel reflection)
Light can either bounce off the cladding (TIR) or refract
into the cladding
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Snells Law
Normal
Incidence
Angle(u
1
)
Refraction
Angle(u
2
)
Lower Refractive index(n
2
)
Higher Refractive index(n
1
)
Ray of light
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Snells Law (Example 1)
Calculate the angle of refraction at the air/core interface
Solution - use Snells law: n
1
sinu
1
= n
2
sinu
2

1sin(30) = 1.47sin(u
refraction
)
u
refraction
= sin
-1
(sin(30)/1.47)
u
refraction
= 19.89

n
air
= 1
n
core
= 1.47
n
cladding
= 1.45
u
incident
= 30
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Snells Law (Example 2)
Calculate the angle of refraction at the core/cladding interface
Solution - use Snells law and the refraction angle from Example 3.1
1.47sin(90 - 19.89) = 1.45sin(u
refraction
)
u
refraction
= sin
-1
(1.47sin(70.11)/1.45)
u
refraction
= 72.42

n
air
= 1
n
core
= 1.47
n
cladding
= 1.45
u
incident
= 30
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Snells Law (Example 3)
Calculate the angle of refraction at the core/cladding interface for
the new data below
Solution: 1sin(10) = 1.45sin(u
refraction(core)
)
u
refraction(core)
= sin
-1
(sin(10)/1.45) = 6.88
1.47sin(90-6.88) = 1.45sin(u
refraction(cladding)
)
u
refraction(cladding)
= sin
-1
(1.47sin(83.12)/1.45)
= sin
-1
(1.0065) = cant do
light does not refract into
cladding, it reflects back
into the core (TIR)

n
air
= 1
n
core
= 1.47
n
cladding
= 1.45
u
incident
= 10
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Critical Angle Calculation
The angle of incidence that produces an angle of refraction
of 90 is the critical angle
n
1
sin(u
c
) = n
2
sin(90)
n
1
sin(u
c
) = n
2

u
c
= sin
-1
(n
2
/n
1
)
Light at incident angles
greater than the critical
angle will reflect back
into the core

Critical Angle, u
c

n
1
= Refractive index of the core
n
2
= Refractive index of the cladding
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NA Derivation
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Acceptance Angle and NA
The angle of light entering
a fiber which follows the
critical angle is called the
acceptance angle, o

o = sin
-1
[(n
1
2
-n
2
2
)
1/2
]

Numerical Aperature
(NA)
describes the light-
gathering ability of a fiber

NA = sino
Critical Angle, u
c

n
1
= Refractive index of the core
n
2
= Refractive index of the cladding
Acceptance Angle, o
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Numerical Aperture
The Numerical Aperture is the sine of the largest angle contained
within the cone of acceptance.
NA is related to a number of important fiber characteristics.
It is a measure of the ability of the fiber to gather light at the
input end.
The higher the NA the tighter (smaller radius) we can have
bends in the fiber before loss of light becomes a problem.
The higher the NA the more modes we have, Rays can bounce
at greater angles and therefore there are more of them. This
means that the higher the NA the greater will be the dispersion
of this fiber (in the case of MM fiber).
Thus higher the NA of SM fiber the higher will be the
attenuation of the fiber
Typical NA for single-mode fiber is 0.1. For multimode, NA is between
0.2 and 0.3 (usually closer to 0.2).


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Acceptance Cone
There is an imaginary cone of acceptance with an angle o
The light that enters the fiber at angles within the
acceptance cone are guided down the fiber core
Acceptance Cone
Acceptance Angle, o
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Acceptance Cone
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Formula Summary
Index of Refraction



Snells Law



Critical Angle



Acceptance Angle


Numerical Aperture
v
c
n =
2 2 1 1
sin sin u u n n =
|
|
.
|

\
|
=

1
2
1
sin
n
n
c
u
( )
2
2
2
1
1
sin n n =

o
2
2
2
1
sin n n NA = = o
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Practice Problems
What happens to the light which approaches the fiber outside
of the cone of acceptance? The angle of incidence is 30
o
as in
Fig.1 (calculate the angle of refraction at the air/core interface,
ur/ critical angle, uc/ incident angle at the core/cladding
interface, ui/) does the TIR will occur?
Practice Problems (1)
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Practice Problems (2)
Calculate:
angle of refraction at the
air/core interface, u
r

critical angle , u
c

incident angle at the
core/cladding interface , u
i

Will this light ray propagate
down the fiber?
air/core interface
core/cladding interface
Answers:
u
r
= 8.2
u
c
= 78.4
u
i
= 81.8
light will propagate
n
air
= 1
n
core
= 1.46
n
cladding
= 1.43
u
incident
= 12

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Refractive Indices and Propagation Times
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Vacuum 1 3.336
Air 1.003 3.346
Water 1.333 4.446
Fused Silica 1.458 4.863
Belden Cable (RG-
59/U)
N/A 5.551
Refractive
Index
Propagation
Time (ns/m)
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Propagation Time Formula
Metallic cable propagation delay
cable dimensions
frequency
Optical fiber propagation delay
related to the fiber material

formula

t = Ln/c
t = propagation delay in seconds
L = fiber length in meters
n = refractive index of the fiber core
c = speed of light (2.998 x 10
8
meters/second)
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Temperature and Wavelength
Considerations for detailed analysis
Fiber length is slightly dependent on temperature
Refractive index is dependent on wavelength
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Classification of Optical Fiber
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Three common type of fiber in terms of the
material used:

Glass core with glass cladding all glass or
silica fiber
Class core with plastic cladding plastic
cladded/coated silica (PCS)
Plastic core with plastic cladding all plastic or
polymer fiber
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All glass fiber
The refractive index range of glass is limited which causes
the refractive index difference n
1
-n
2
to be small.

This small value then reduces the light coupling efficiency of
the fiber, i.e. large loss of light during coupling.

The attenuation is the lowest compared to the other two fibers
making it suitable for long and high capacity.

Typical size: 10/125m, 62.5/125m, 50/125m and
100/140m.
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Plastic Clad Silica (PCS)
This fiber have higher loss than the all glass fiber and is
suitable for shorter links.

Normally, the range of refractive index achievable with
plastic fibers are large.

A larger range for the value of refractive index difference.

Light coupling efficiency is better.

Typical size: 62.5/125m, 50/125m, 100/140m 200m.

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All-plastic fiber

This type has the highest loss during transmission.

Normally used for very short links.

Large core size, therefore light coupling efficiency is high

The core size can be as large as 1mm.
Plastic and Silica Fibers
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Other fibers
1. Dispersion compensating fibers
2. Dispersion flattened fiber
3. Polarization-maintaining fibers
4. Bend-insensitive and coupling fibers
5. Reduced-cladding fibers
6. Doped fibers for amplifiers and lasers
7. Fiber gratings and photosensitive fibers
8. Holey Fiber
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1. Dispersion compensating fibers: fiber with very high
negative waveguide dispersion used to cancel the positive
chromatic dispersion. Insert a DCF after a normal fiber.

2. Polarization-maintaining fibers, also known as polarization
preserving fiber: Fiber designed to cope with polarization
mode dispersion (PMD). Mainly used in sensors and optical
devices that require polarization control. Gyroscope,
modulators and couplers.

3. Bend-insensitive and coupling fibers. High coupling
efficiency and low bend loss. Used in pigtails, short
connection inside optical transmitters, receivers and other
devices. Can bend at sharper angle.

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4. Reduced-cladding fibers: Has smaller cladding diameter
(typically 80 m) to offer higher packing density and greater
flexibility than standard fibers.
5. Doped fibers for amplifiers and lasers: Fibers that are doped
with materials (Erbium, praseodymium, thulium, ytterbium
and neodymium) that can be stimulated to emit light. Used as
optical amplifiers and fiber lasers.
6. Fiber gratings and photosensitive fibers: Grating are optical
filter that reflects certain wavelength and allows transmission
of others. Photosensitive fibers are sensitive to UV light and
are used to fabricate fiber gratings.
7. Holey Fiber: hollow core surrounded by a photonic bandgap
cladding

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Step Index Fibers
The optical fiber with a core of constant refractive index n
1

and a cladding of a slightly lower refractive index n
2
is known
as step index fiber.

This is because the refractive index profile for this type of
fiber makes a step change at the core-cladding interface as
indicated in Fig which illustrates the two major types of step
index fiber.

The refractive index profile may be defined as

n(r) = n
1
r < a (core)
n
2
r a (cladding)
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Figure.2.6
(a)
(b)
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Fig 2.6(b) shows a multimode step index fiber with a core
diameter of around 50m or greater, which is large enough to
allow the propagation of many modes within the fiber core. It
illustrates the many different possible ray paths through the
fiber.

Fig 2.6(a) shows a single mode or monomode step index fiber
which allows the propagation of only one transverse
electromagnetic mode and hence the core diameter must be of
the order of 2-10m.

The propagation of a single mode is illustrated in Fig 2.6 (a)
as corresponding to a single ray path only (usually shown as
the axial ray) through the fiber.


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The single mode step index fiber has the distinct advantage of
low intermodal dispersion as only one mode is transmitted.

In multimode step index fiber considerable dispersion may
occur due to the differing group velocities of the propagating
modes.

This is turn restricts the maximum bandwidth attainable with
multimode step index fibers, especially when compared with
single mode fibers.


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Lower bandwidth applications multimode fibers have
several advantages over single mode fibers:

1. The use of spatially incoherent optical sources (e.g.
most light emitting diodes which cannot be efficiently
coupled to single mode fibers.
2. Larger numerical apertures, as well as core diameters,
facilitating easier coupling to optical sources.
3. Lower tolerance requirements on fiber connectors


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Single Mode Step Index fiber
The advantage of the propagation of a single mode within
an optical fiber is the signal dispersion caused by the delay
differences between different modes in a multimode fiber
may be avoided. Thus achieving a large BW.

In describing SMF, a parameter known as mode-field
diameter (MFD) is used. In a SMF light travels mostly within
the core and partially within the cladding. MFD is a function
of the wavelength.



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I llustration of Mode-Field Diameter (MFD)
Mode-field diameter is a measure of the
spot size or beam width of light
propagating in a single-mode fiber.
Mode-field diameter is a function of
source wavelength, fiber core radius, and
fiber refractive index profile. The vast
majority of the optical power propagates
within the fiber core, and a small portion
propagates in the cladding near the core
(Figure 1)
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The beams travel at distinct propagating angles
ranging from zero to critical value.
These different beams are called modes.
The smaller the propagating angle, the lower the
mode.
The mode traveling precisely along the axis is zero-
order mode or the fundamental.

Hence for the transmission of a single mode the fiber must be
designed to allow propagation of only one mode, whilst all
other modes are attenuated by leakage or absorption.




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This may be achieved through a suitable choice of
normalized frequency, V for the fiber. For single mode
operation, only the fundamental TE
01
mode can exist. The
cutoff normalized frequency for the TE
01
mode occurs at
V=2.405. Thus single mode propagation is possible over the
range:

0 V < 2.405

For single-mode operation, the normalized frequency should
be V 2.40.

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In an optical fiber, the normalized frequency, V also called the V
number, is given by


A AAA
2
1
2
2
2
1
n 2
n n
= A
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Multimode Step Index Fiber
Multimode step index fibers allow the propagation of a
finite number of guided modes along the channel.

The number of guided modes is dependent upon the
physical parameters :

1-Relative refractive index difference,
2- core radius (n
1
) of the fiber
3- The wavelength of the transmitted light.




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it can be shown that the total number of guided modes (or
mode volume) M
s
, for the step index fiber is related to the v
value for the fiber by approximate expression:

M
s
V
2

2


Which allows an estimate of the number of guided modes
propagating in a particular multimode step index fiber.







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Multimode Graded Index Fibers (GRIN)
GRIN fibers do not have a constant refractive index in the
core but a decreasing core index n(r) with a radial distance
from a maximum value of n1 at the axis to a constant value
n2 beyond the core radius, a in the cladding.

This index variation may b presented as:





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is the relative refractive index difference and is the
profile parameter which gives the refractive index profile of
the fiber core.

The equation above is a convenient method of expressing
the refractive index profile of the fiber core as a variation of
allows representation of

Step index profile when = , a parabolic profile when =
2 and a triangular profile when = 1.

This range of refractive index profile is illustrated in Fig
2.7.



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The graded index profiles which at present produce the best
results for multimode optical propagation have a near
parabolic refractive index profile core with = 2.

A multimode graded index fiber with a parabolic index
profile core is illustrated in fig 2.8. It may be observed that
the meridional rays shown appear to follow curved paths
through the fiber core.

Using the concepts of geometric optics, the gradual
decrease in refractive index from the center of the core creates
many refractions of the rays as they are effectively incident
on a large number of high to low index interfaces.




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Propagation in a Graded index fiber: showing a decreasing
number of refractive index changes n
1
to n
6
for the fiber axis to the
cladding. Result in a gradual change in the direction of the ray,
rather than the sharp change that occurs in a step index fiber
Figure 2.10 Two types of fiber: (Top) step index fiber; (Bottom)
Graded index fiber
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This mechanism is illustrated in Fig 2.9 where a ray is
shown to be gradually curved, with an ever-increasing angle
of incidence, until the conditions for total internal reflection
are met, and the ray travels back towards the core axis again
being continuously refracted.
Although many modes are exited into a graded index fiber,
the different group velocities of modes tend to be normalized
by the index grading.
Parameter defined for the step index fiber may be applied to
graded index fibers and give a comparison between them.
However, for the graded index fibers the situation is more
complicated since the numerical aperture is a function of the
radial distance from the fiber axis.



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Graded index fiber therefore accept less light than
corresponding step index fibers with the same relative
refractive index difference.

To support single mode transmission in a graded index
fiber, the normalized frequency is:





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For the parabolic profile, the numerical aperture is given by:




This shown that the NA is a function of the radial distance
from the fiber axis (r/a)

The NA drops to zero at the edge of the core.




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Therefore, it is possible to determine fiber parameters which
will give single mode operation.

For multimode graded index fibers, the total number of the
guided modes, Mg is also related to the V value for the fiber
by approximate expression