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ANJALAI AMMAL – MAHALINGAM ENGINEERING COLLEGE,

KOYILVENNI – 614 403
DEPARTMENT OF E.C.E
University Questions with answer
Part - A

Unit – 1
1. Why do we prefer step index single mode fiber for long distance communication?
As there is no intermodal distortion and support higher bandwidth it is preferred for long
distance communication link. The distance-bandwidth product is also large in case of step
index single mode fiber which makes it preferable for long distance communication.
2. What is the necessity of cladding for an optical fiber?
The cladding reduces scattering loss that results from dielectric discontinuities at the core
surface, it adds mechanical strength to the fiber, and it protects the core from absorbing
surface contaminations with which it could come in contact
3. Distinguish Meridional rays and skew rays
Meridional Rays
Meridional rays are the rays following zig- zag path when they travel through fiber and for every
reflection it will cross the fiber axis. The figure below shows the meridional rays.

Skew Rays
Skew rays are the rays which follows the helical path around the fiber axis when they travel through
the fiber. These rays never cross the fiber axis at any time. The figure below shows the propagation
of skew rays.

4. Sketch the cross sectional view of the transverse electric field vectors for the four lowest
order modes in a step index fiber.

5. State the reasons to opt for optical fiber communication

(1).Fiber optic transmission is faster. (2)Fiber optic transmission results in less attenuation in the
order of 10-12. (3)Fiber optic cables are impervious to electromagnetic interference (EMI).
6. What are the advantage of optical fiber?
Greater Bandwidth & Faster Speed—Optical fiber cable supports extremely high
bandwidth and speed. The amount of information that can be transmitted per unit of optical
fiber cable is its most significant advantage.
Less signal degradation—The loss of signal in optical fiber is less than that in copper wire.
Long Lifespan—Optical fibers usually have a longer life cycle for over 100 years.
or
Advantages: wide bandwidth, low losses, immune to cross talk, interference immune, light
weight, small size, more strength, security, long distance transmission, environment immune,
safe, easy installation and less cost Disadvantages: high initial cost, maintenance and
repairing cost, jointing and test procedures, tensile stress, short links, fiber losses
7. What are the conditions for light to be propagation inside a fiber?
The conditions for light to propagate inside the fiber are:
a. The ray should travel from denser to rarer medium i.e. from core to clad region of the
optical fiber.
b. The angle of incidence in the denser medium should be greater than the critical angle
of that medium.
8. Define numerical aperture
Numerical Aperture (NA) of the fiber is the light collecting efficiency of the fiber and is
the measure of the amount of light rays that can be accepted by the fiber. It is equal to the
sine of acceptance angle θa
NA= sin θa = (n1 2-n2 2)1/2
where n1 and n2 are the refractive indices of core and cladding respectively.

9. What is total internal reflection in a fiber?

As the angle of incident ϕ1 in an optically denser material becomes larger, the refracted angle
ϕ2 approaches pi/2. Beyond this point no reflection is possible and the light rays become
totally internally reflected.

10. Define phase and group velocity

Phase Velocity
As a monochromatic light wave propagates along a waveguide in the z direction the points of
constant phase travel at a phase velocity Vp given by Vp = / 𝜷 where ω is the angular
frequency and β is the propagation constant
Group Velocity
Group of waves with closely similar frequencies propagate so that their resultant forms
packet of waves. This wave packet does not travel at the phase velocity of individual but it
moves with the group velocity Vg given by Vg = 𝝏𝝎/ 𝝏𝜷 where ω is the angular frequency
and β is the propagation constant
11. State Snell’s law
The Snell’s law is an expression that describes the relationship between the angles of incidence 1
and refraction 2 and to the refractive indices of the dielectrics, when referring to waves passing
through a boundary between two isotropic medium.
 n1 sin1 = n2 sin 2

where n1 is the refractive index of the core and n2 is the refractive index of the cladding.

12. Define acceptance angle and numerical aperture of a fiber

The acceptance angle of the fiber is given by 𝜃𝑎 = 𝑠𝑖𝑛−1 √𝑛12 − 𝑛22 and the numerical
aperture is given by NA= sin θa = (n1 2-n2 2)1/2

13. List any two advantages of single mode fibers

1 There is no intermodal dispersion which gives the advantage of minimum dispersion
and can be used in long distance communication link.
2 The mode field diameter for single mode fiber is good so it carry’s maximum amount
of light through it.
3 It has higher bandwidth as compared with multimode fiber

14. Determine the critical angle and numerical aperture for n1=1.55 and n2=1.52
15. A graded index fiber has a core with a parabolic refractive index profile which has a diameter
of 50 μm. The fiber has a numerical aperture of 0.2. Estimate the total number of guided
modes propagating in the fiber when it is operating at a wavelength of 1 μm.
16. A multimode silica fiber has a core refractive index 1.48 and cladding refractive index 1.46.
Find the numerical aperture of the fiber.
17. Calculate the critical angle of incidence between two substances with different refractive
indices where n¬1 = 1.5 and n¬2 = 1.46.
18. A multimode fiber has core diameter of 50micrometer and cladding refractive index of 1.45 .
if its modal dispersion is 10ns/km, find the numerical aperture.
19. The refractive index of the core and cladding of a silica fiber are 1.48 and 1.46 respectively
.Find the acceptance angle for the fiber.
20. Determine the normalized frequency at 820nm for a step index fiber having a 25µm radius.
The refractive indexes of the cladding and the core are 1.45 and 1.47 respectively. How
many modes propagate in this fiber at 820nm?
21. For n1=1.55 and n2=1.52, calculate critical angle and Numerical aperture.
22. Calculate the cutoff wavelength of a single mode fiber with core radius as 4 µm and
∆=0.003
23. For a fiber with refractive index as 1.54 and fractional refractive index difference as 0.01
calculate its numerical aperture.
24. The relative refractive index difference (∆) for an optical fiber 1% Determine the critical
angle of the core cladding interface if the core refractive index is 1.46
25. A step index fiber has a normalized frequency (V) of 26.6 at 1300 nm. If the core radius is 25
µm, find the numerical aperture
26. What is the energy of a single photon as the light whose wavelength λ=1500 nm, in ev?
27. Assume that there is a glass rod of refractive index 1.5, Surrounded by air. Find the critical
incident angle.
28. Calculate the cut-off wavelength of an optical signal through a fiber with its core refractive
index of 1.50 and that as cladding 1.46.The core radius of 25µm. The normalized frequency
is 2.405
Unit – 2

1 How does impurity absorption loss occur?

Impurity absorption losses occur either because of electronic transitions between the energy
levels associated with the incompletely filled inner subshell of these ions or because of
charge transitions from one ion to another.

2 What is elastic and inelastic scattering? Give examples.

Elastic Scattering
Linear scattering mechanisms cause the transfer of some or all of the optical power contained
within one propagating mode to another (leaky or radiation) mode.
Inelastic Scattering
The nonlinear scattering causes the optical power from one mode to be transferred in either
the forward or backward direction to the same, or other modes, at a different frequency. It
depends critically upon the optical power density within the fiber and hence only becomes
significant above threshold power levels.

3 Define polarization mode dispersion and write the expression for it.
A varying birefringence along the fiber length will cause each polarization mode to travel at a
slightly different velocity.The resulting difference in propagation times Δτ between the two
orthogonal polarization mode will result in pulse spreading. This is the polarizationmode
dispersion (PMD).

If the group velocities of the two orthogonal polarization modes are υgx and υgy then the
differential time delay Δτpol between the two polarization components during propagation of
the pulse over a distance L is

4 Define Attenuation
As light travels along a fiber, its power decreases exponentially with distance. If P(0) is the
optical power in a fiber at the origin (at z = 0), then the power P(z) at a distance z further
down the fiber is

Where

is the fiber attenuation coefficient given in units of, for example, km-1.

5 What are intermodal dispersion?

 As the different modes which constitute a pulse in a multimode fiber travel along the channel
at different group velocities, the pulse width at the output is dependent upon the transmission
times of the slowest and fastest modes. This result in a propagation delay differences
between modes within a multimode fiber causes pulse broadening referred as intermodal
dispersion

6 Define group delay

As the signal propagates along the fiber, each spectral component can be assumed to travel
independently, and to undergo a time delay or group delay per unit length in the direction of
propagation given by

Here, L is the distance traveled by the pulse, k is the propagation constant along the fiber axis,
k = 2π/λ and τg is the group velocity

7 What are the causes of absorption?

Absorption is caused by three different mechanisms:
i. Absorption by atomic defects in the glass composition.
ii. Extrinsic absorption by impurity atoms in the glass material.
iii. Intrinsic absorption by the basic constituent atoms of the fiber material.

8 What are bending losses? Name any two types

Radiative losses occur whenever an optical fiber undergoes a bend of finite radius of
curvature. Fibers can be subject to two types of bends:
macroscopic bends having radii that are large compared with the fiber diameter, for
example, such as those that occur when a fiber cable turns a corner, and
random microscopic bends of the fiber axis that can arise when the fibers are incorporated
into cables.
9 Define dispersion in multimode fibers? What is its effect?
As the different modes which constitute a pulse in a multimode fiber travel along the channel
at different group velocities, the pulse width at the output is dependent upon the transmission
times of the slowest and fastest modes. This result in a propagation delay differences
between modes within a multimode fiber causes pulse broadening referred as intermodal
dispersion

10 What is Rayleigh scattering?

Rayleigh scattering results from in-homogeneities of a random nature occurring on a small
scale compared with the wavelength of the light. These inhomogeneities manifest themselves
as refractive index fluctuations and arise from density and compositional variations which are
frozen into the glass lattice on cooling. The subsequent scattering due to the density
fluctuations, which is in almost all directions, produces an attenuation proportional to l/λ4 .
For a single-component glass this is given by:
 where γR is the Rayleigh scattering coefficient,
λ is the optical wavelength,
n is the refractive index of the medium,
p is the average photoelastic coefficient,
βc is the isothermal compressibility at a fictive temperature TF and
K is Boltzmann's constant.

11 What is meant by mechanical splice?

Mechanical splicing, in which the fibers are held in alignment by some mechanical means,
may be achieved by various methods including the use of tubes around the fiber ends (tube
splices) or V-grooves into which the butted fibers are placed (groove splices).

12 What are the two reasons for chromatic dispersion?

The two main causes of intramodal ( chromatic) dispersion are as material dispersion and
waveguide dispersion.

13 What are most important non-linear effects as optical fiber communications?

The nonlinear scattering causes the optical power from one mode to be transferred in either
the forward or backward direction to the same, or other modes, at a different frequency. It
depends critically upon the optical power density within the fiber and hence only becomes
significant above threshold power levels. The most important types of nonlinear scattering
within optical fibers are stimulated Brillouin and Raman scattering.

14 A fiber has an attenuation of 0.5dB/km at 1500nm. If 0.5mW of optical power is initially

launched into the fiber, estimate the power level after 25Km. Give the measure of
information capacity in optical wave guide.
15 An optical signal has lost 55% of its power after traversing 3.5Km of fiber. What is the loss
in dB/Km of this fiber?
16 A fiber has an attenuation of 0.5dB/Km at 1500nm. If 0.5mW of optical power is initially
launched into the fiber, what is the power level in after 25Km?
17 A fiber has an attenuation of 1.5dB/Km at 1300nm. If 0.5mW of optical power is initially
launched into the fiber, what is the power level in microwatts after 9Km?
18 A continuous 12kms-long optical fiber link has losses as 1.5 dB/km. what is the minimum
optical power that must be launched into the fiber to maintain an optical power level of
0.3µw at the receiving end? (2)
19 A 30 Km long optical fiber has attenuation as 0.8 dB/km. If -7dBm of optical power is
launched into the fiber, determine the output optical power in dBm.

Unit – 5
1. Distinguish between fundamental and higher order solitons
Solitions pulses that do not change its shape are called fundamental solitions and those that
undergoes periodic shape changes are called higher – order solitions.

2. What is EDFA?
Thhe active medium in an optical fiber amplifier consist of a normally 10 to 30 m length of
optical fiber that has been lightely doped with a rare-earth element, such as erbium(Er).
3. Mention the nonlinear effects of optical fiber
Nonlinear inelastic scattering processes, which are interactions between optical signals and
molecular or acoustic vibrations in a fiber.Nonlinear variations of the refractive index in a
silica fiber that occur because the refractive index is dependent on intensity changes in the
signal.The nonlinear inelastic scattering processes present in the networks are stimulated
Raman scattering (SRS) and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). The nonlinear effects
arises from intensity-dependent variations in the refractive index are self-phase modulation
(SPM), crossphase modulation (XPM), and four-wave mixing (FWM).

4. Define the basic signal rate of SONET

The fundamental SONET frame has a of 125-μs duration. Thus, the transmission bit rate of
the basic SONET signal is STS-l = ((90 bytes/row) * (9 rows/frame)*(8 bits/byte))/ (125 μs
/frame) = 51.84 Mbps .This is called an STS-l signal, where STS stands for synchronous
transport signal.
Raw rate = 8000 frames/s x 9 x 90 x 8 = 51.84 Mbps
SPE rate = 8000 frames/s x 9 x 87 x 8 = 50.112 Mbps
User rates =8000 frames/s x 9 x 86 x 8 = 49.536 Mbps
5. Mention the drawbacks of broadcast and select networks for wide area network
applications
Two problems arise in broadcast-and-select networks when extend to wide-area networks are
(i)More wavelengths are needed as the number of nodes in the network grows.
(ii)Without the use of optical booster amplifiers, a large number of users cannot be
interconnected with a broadcast-and-select network.
6. Write a short note on solitons or What is a soliton?
Solitons are very narrow, high-intensity optical pulses that retain their shape through the
interaction of balancing pulse dispersion (GVD) with the nonlinear properties (SPM) of an
optical fiber. If appropriate pulse shape is chosen, the pulse compression resulting from SPM
can exactly offset the pulse broadening effect of GVD.

7. Draw the basic structure of STS-1 SONET frame

8. Mention any 2 nonlinear effects present in optical fiber

Nonlinear inelastic scattering processes, which are interactions between optical signals and
molecular or acoustic vibrations in a fiber.Nonlinear variations of the refractive index in a
silica fiber that occur because the refractive index is dependent on intensity changes in the
signal.The nonlinear inelastic scattering processes present in the networks are stimulated
Raman scattering (SRS) and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). The nonlinear effects
arises from intensity-dependent variations in the refractive index are self-phase modulation
(SPM), crossphase modulation (XPM), and four-wave mixing (FWM).
9. What is an optical layer
The photonic layer· mainly deals with the transport of bits across the physical fiber medium.
Its main function is the conversion between STS-N and OC-N signals. Its functions include
wavelength launching, pulse shaping, and modulation of power levels.
10. What are the key parameters required for analyzing the optical link?
 Link power budget and rise time budget are the two parameters required fir analysis the
optical link
11. How do you ensure that the required system performance is met or not?
The performance of a system is ensured by BER and SNR parameters .
12. Name two popular architectures of SONET /SDH network
The two main architecture of the SONET are
UPSR(Unidirectional path switched Ring architecture)
BLSR(Bidirectional Line switched Architecture)
13. What is optical CDMA?
The principle concept of optical CDMA is to spread the energy of the optical signal over a
frequency band that is much wider than the minimum bandwidth required to send the
information. This spreading is done by a code that is independent of the signal itself. Thus,
an optical encoder is used to map each bit of information into a high-rate (longer code-length)
optical sequence. The symbols in the spreading code are called chips.

14. Distinguish SONET and SDH

SONET SDH
Synchronous optical networks Synchronous digital hierarchy
Electrical frame is STS-N Electrical frame is STM-N
Bit rate is 51.84 Mbps Bit rate is 155.52 Mbps

15. What is SONET?

The SONET standards define bit rate, format, Physical layer NE architectural features, and
network operational criteria of SONET .

16. List out the benefits of SONET over PDH networks

In PDH, digital multiplexer's inputs(bit streams) are of same bit rate and are derived from
different clocks from different oscillators. Each will differ within tolerance of few clock
periods. Hence it is called plesiochronous. But the SONET on the other hand utilizes single
clock signal between transmitter and receiver. So in SONET the droping a signl channel is
easy as comparing to PDH network
17. Obtained the transmission bit rate of the basic SONET frame in Mbps.
The fundamental SONET frame has a of 125-μs duration. Thus, the transmission bit rate of
the basic SONET signal is STS-l = ((90 bytes/row) * (9 rows/frame)*(8 bits/byte))/ (125 μs
/frame) = 51.84 Mbps .This is called an STS-l signal, where STS stands for synchronous
transport signal.
Raw rate = 8000 frames/s x 9 x 90 x 8 = 51.84 Mbps
SPE rate = 8000 frames/s x 9 x 87 x 8 = 50.112 Mbps
User rates =8000 frames/s x 9 x 86 x 8 = 49.536 Mbps
18. Illustrate inter-channel cross talk that occurs in a WDM System.
Interchannel crosstalk arises when an interfering signal come from a neighboring channel that
operates at a different wavelength. This nominally occurs when a wavelength-selecting
device imperfectly rejects or isolates the signals from other nearby wavelength channels.
Crosstalk then arises since these spurious neighboring signals could fall partially within the
receiver passband.Figure12-36 shows an example of crosstalk in a demultiplexer.
19. What is a broadcast and select network?
Figure 12-14 shows two alternate physical architectures for a WDM-based local network.
Here, N sets of transmitters and receivers are attached to either a star coupler or a passive bus.

Each transmitter sends its information at a different fixed wavelength. All the transmissions
from the various nodes are combined in a passive star coupler or coupled onto a bus and the
result is sent out to all receivers.Each receiver sees all wavelengths and uses a tunable filter to
select the one wavelength addressed to it.
20. What where the problems associated with PDH networks?
As PDH was not scalable to support high capacity bandwidth and hence was not suitable to
accomodate growing traffic need. SONET was developed as American Standard while SDH
as European Standard.SDH supports various topologies such as point to point, ring, star,
linear bus etc. It uses TDM and octet multiplexing. It uses extremely precise timings. It
employs both electrical and optical specifications.
21. Enumerate the various SONET/SDH layers
The four layers of SONET are path layer ,line layer , section layers, and photonic layer
22. What are the three common topologies used for fiber optical network? Give the
schematic of any one network?
The three common topology used in optical networks are linear , ring and star topology.

23. Calculate the number of independent signals that can be sent on a single fiber in the
1525-1565 nm band. Take the spectral spacing as per ITU-T recommendation G.692.