OPTICAL |

EC405|
COMMUNICATIO
N
 MODULE II : FIBER
MATERIALS OPTICAL Dr. Vishnu Rajan

SOURCES & DETECTORS

FIBER MATERIALS
1. Must be possible to make long, thin, flexible fibers
2. Material must be transparent at a particular optical
wavelength to guide light efficiently
3. Compatible materials that have slightly different
refractive indices for core and cladding must be
available
Example: Glass & Plastic
Majority of fibers are made using Silica (SiO 2) or Silicate
Glass fibers have more efficiency
Plastic fibers are used for short distance transmission in abusive
environments
FIBER MATERIAL
TYPES
1. Glass Fibers
 Made by fusing Metal oxides, Sulfides & Selenides.
 Randomly connected molecular network.
 No well defined melting point. Most common – Oxide glass – SiO 2.
 For making Cladding, fluorine or other oxides are doped

2. Halide Glass Fibers

 Low transmission loss , Fluoride glass 0.01 – 0.001 dB/Km
 Major Component: ZrF4, Cladding HaF4
 Need ultrapure materials for fabrication, Glass prone to devitrification

3. Active Glass Fibers

 Rare earth element usage gives new optical and magnetic properties
 Can do amplification, attenuation, retardation etc on light
 Erbium & Neodymium are commonly used for construction
FIBER MATERIAL
TYPES
4. Plastic Clad Glass Fibers
 Used for short distance applications (Few hundred
meters)
 High losses must be tolerable
 Silica Cores + Polymer (Plastic) Cladding
 Only used for step index fibers
 Larger core diameters are used compared with glass
fibers, Cheap

5. Plastic Fibers
 Used for short distance applications (Upto hundred
meters)
 Higher losses than plastic clad
 Cheaper
FIBER FABRICATION
2 basic techniques used for all glass OFC:
1. Direct Melt Method – Traditional – made from
molten silicate glass compounds
2. Vapor phase oxidation
2. VAPOR PHASE
OXIDATION
1. Highly pure vapors of metal halides like SiCl4,
GeCl4 react with oxygen to form a white powder
of SiO2 particles
2. The particles are then collected on the surface
of bulk glass and are then sintered to form a
rod or tube (preform)
3. It is 10 to 25mm in diameter and 60 to 120mm
long
4. Fibers are then made from this preform using
the fiber drawing apparatus
2. VAPOR PHASE
OXIDATION
5. Preform is precision fed and heated using
a drawing furnace.
6. Here preform is softened to a point where
it can be drawn into a very thin filament
which becomes the optic fiber
7. Turning speed of the takeup drum
determines how fast the fiber is drawn
and also thickness of the fiber
8. So a precise rotation rate must be
maintained
9. To protect the fiber from external
impurities like dust and water, an elastic
coating is applied immediately after it is
drawn
2. VAPOR PHASE
OXIDATION TYPES
1. Outside Vapor phase oxidation
2. Vapor Phase axial deposition
3. Modified chemical vapor deposition
4. Plasma activated chemical vapor deposition
5. Double crucible method
2.1 OUTSIDE VAPOR
PHASE OXIDATION
2.1 OUTSIDE VAPOR
PHASE OXIDATION
Corning Gorilla Glass works – 20dB/Km
1. Layer of SiO2 particles (soot) is deposited on to rotating graphite
or ceramic mandrel
2. Layer by layer cylindrical porous glass preform is builtup
3. By controlling the metal halide vapor stream, the glass
composition, dimension for core and cladding can be
incorporated into the preform.
4. Either step or graded index preform can be made
5. When deposition is complete, mandrel is removed, porous tube is
vitrified in dry atmosphere at a high temperature (above 1400 0C)
to a clear glass preform
6. It is subsequently mounted on a fiber drawing tower and made
into fiber. Central hole collapses during this operation
 2.2
VAPOR
PHASE
AXIAL
DEPOS
ITION
2.2 VAPOR PHASE
AXIAL DEPOSITION
1. Almost same as that of OVPO
2. SiO2 emerge from torches
3. They are deposited to the end of a silica glass rod which acts as
the seed
4. A porous preform is developed in the axial direction by moving
the rod upward
5. Rod is also continuously rotated to maintain cylindrical symmetry
6. As the preform is moved up, it is made to a solid transparent rod
preform by zone melting
7. All types of fibers can be made by VAD method
8. No central hole as compared to OVPO is there. Preform can be
made in continuous lengths. Cleaner system
2.3 MODIFIED
CHEMICAL VAPOR
DEPOSITION
2.3 MODIFIED
CHEMICAL VAPOR
DEPOSITION
Pioneered at Bell laboratories for making very low loss GI
Fibers
1. Glass particles arising from the reaction of metal halides
and O2 flow through a revolving silica tube
2. As SiO2 is deposited, it is sintered using a oxyhydrogen
torch which travels back and forth along the tube
3. When desired thickness is reached, Vapor flow is shut off
and tube is heated strongly to collapse it into a solid rod
preform
4. The fiber drawn from this preform will contain core of
vapor deposited material and cladding of original silica
tube
2.4 PLASMA
ACTIVATED
CHEMICAL VAPOR
DEPOSITION
2.4 PLASMA
ACTIVATED
CHEMICAL VAPOR
DEPOSITION
Invented by Philips research
1. Almost similar to MCVD but the burner is replaced by a
microwave plasma generator
2. Silica tube is held in temperature range of 1000-1200 0C
to reduce mechanical stress on growing glass films
3. A microwave resonator operating at 2.45 Ghz creates a
plasma inside the tube to activate the chemical reaction
4. This process deposits clear glass directly on the tube wall.
There is no soot formation & so no sintering is required
5. When desired glass thickness is reached, it is collapsed
into a preform just like in the MCVD
2.5 DOUBLE
CRUSIBLE METHOD
2.5 DOUBLE
CRUSIBLE METHOD
Both silica and halide fibers can be made using
this method
1. Glass rods of core & cladding are made
separately
2. Done by melting mixtures of purified powders
3. These rods are used as feedstock for 2
concentric crucibles
4. Careful attention should be paid to avoid
contaminants
FIBER OPTIC CABLES
In all practical applications, fibers are
incorporated into cables
Cables are used in variety of scenarios like:
1. Underground
2. Intrabuilding ducts
3. Buried in ground
4. Installed on outdoor poles
5. Submerged under water
FIBER OPTIC CABLES
Cable properties are designed according to the
application
1. Maximum allowable axial load & elongation
1. Extremely strong fibers tend to break even at 4%
elongation
2. Generally 0.5-1%
3. Should be limited to 0.1 – 0.2%
4. Steel wires are used as reinforcement

2. Brittleness
1. Outer sheath is designed to protect glass fibers from
impact
2. Side impact stability should be present for the sheath
 2 fiber cable

FIBER
OPTIC
CABL
ES
6 fiber cable
OPTICAL SOURCES
Sl. No LED LD
1 In coherent coherent
2 Resonant
Cavity
3 Non Directional
Directional
4 Broad Narrow
Spectral Spectral
width width
5 Low Cost High Cost
6 Low Power High Power
7 Less More
complex complex
LED
For less bitrates of 100 to 200 Mbps
Multimode fiber
10s of uW optical power
Less cost and complexity
Fabricated easily
High radiance output
Fast response/emission time
High quantum efficiency
LED STRUCTURE
To achieve high radiance & high quantum
efficiency, LED structure should confine charge
carriers to the active region of PN junction where
radiative recombination takes place
To obtain high carrier confinement, homojunctions
& double hetero junctions are widely used
Best configuration is double heterostructure
LED
CONFIGURATIONS IN
OFC
2 basic LED configurations in fiber optics:
1. Surface Emitters
2. Edge Emitters

3. Surface emitters
1. In surface emitter, plane of active light emitting region is
oriented perpendicular to the axis of the fiber
2. Here a well is etched through the substrate into which the OFC
is cemented
3. Active area is 50um in diameter, 2.5um thick
4. Emission pattern is isotropic with 120* HPBW (Lambertian
pattern)
LED
CONFIGURATIONS
1. Edge Emitters
1. Active region with 2 guiding layers
2. Guided layer index is lower than active region but higher
than surrounding material here.
3. So it acts as a waveguide channel to direct optical
radiation toward fiber core. (50-70um wide, 100-150um
length)
4. Lambertian
LASER DIODES
oIn the size of a grain to as big as a room
oGas/liquid/solid – lasing medium
oOFC – Semiconductor LASER
oFor bandwidths more than 200MBps, LASER is preferred
over LED
oResponse time of less than 1 ns
oSeveral mill watts of useful luminous power can be coupled
oCommon – multilayered heterojunction devices
oConstruction is more complex because of the presence of
more current confinement in a small lasing cavity
LASER ACTION
1. Photon absorption – E1 to E2 due to presence of
photon hv12

2. Spontaneous emission – E2 to E1 automatically

after a delay
3. Stimulated emission – E2 to E1 using another
photon hv12
LASER ACTION
oIn thermal equilibrium, density of exited electrons are very
small
oAll photons incident on the system may get absorbed so that
stimulated emission is negligible
oStimulated emission can exceed absorption only if the exited
electron count is higher than ground state count
oThis condition is called population inversion
oAs this is not an equilibrium condition, this is achieved by
several pumping mechanisms
oIn semiconductor laser, it is achieved by injecting electrons
into the material at the contacts to fill the lower energy
states of the conduction band
LASER DIODE
CONSTRUCTION
FABRY PEROT SEMICONDUCTER LASER
Radiation in semiconducter LASER is normally generated by
Fabry Perot resonator cavity
250–500um longitudinal, 5-15um (wide) transverse, 0.1-
0.2um (thick) transverse dimensions for the cavity
Pair of flat, partially reflecting mirrors enclose the cavity
Mirrors are constructed by making 2 parallel cleves in either
sides
Purpose is to give strong optical feedback and oscillation
Device will oscillate at a resonant frequency where gain is
more to overcome the losses
Sides are formed by roughening the surface which prevents
light leak
LASER DIODE
CONSTRUCTION
DISTRIBUTED FEEDBACK LASER
Here no reflective feedback mechanism is present
Lasing action happens due to BRAGG reflectors/gratings or
periodic variations in refractive index which are incorporated into
a multilayer structure along the length of the diode
Reflectivity greater than 98% can be obtained via a 6 layer cavity
Supports TE & TM modes – Longitudinal & Lateral
Longitudinal – principal structure of frequency spectrum, larger
than fundamental wavelength. So many can be present
Lateral – Sidewall preparation & width of the cavity, lateral profile
of LASER beam etc
Transverse – Beam profile in direction perpendicular to PN Junction

I(z) is optical field intensity, w is optical radian frequency, B is

propagation constant
LASER DIODE
STRUCTURE
Apart from transverse optical and carrier
confinement layers,
Current flow must be restricted laterally to a
narrow stripe along the length of the LASER
Possible by limiting number of lateral modes
3 common methods are present:
1. Gain guided LASER
2. Positive Index guided LASER
3. Negative Index guided LASER
 LASER DIODE WG in lateral direction

STRUCTURE Index controls modes

Supports transverse &
Longitudinal
OPTICAL CONFINEMENT METHODS

Narrow electrode strip Central region high index Central region low index
e Alters index of active region So all light is reflected Part of light is refracted
Injector carriers creates WGIf only 1 mode, single mode Radiation loss in far field
Optical power > 100mW Single, collimated beam Narrow side lobes
Strong instability Bell shaped Gaussian curve -ve Index guided LASER
Astigmatic 2 peaked beams More popular
Gain guided LASER +ve Index guided LASER
LASER DIODE STRUCTURE
CURRENT CONFINEMENT METHODS
LASER DIODE
STRUCTURE
CURRENT CONFINEMENT
METHODS
Current must be restricted along active region so
that more than 60% of current contributes to
LASING
Current in both sides of the active region has to
be blocked
Done by using high resistivity regions or reverse
biased PN jns
For structures with continuous active layer,
current can be confined above or below LASING
region
INDEX GUIDED
LASERS
CONSTRUCTION
Made using any of the 4 fundamental structures:
1. Buried heterostructure
2. Selectively diffused structure
3. Varying thickness structure
4. Bent layer configuration
 BURIED
HETEROSTRUCTURE
Narrow mesa stripe in double heterostrucure.
Mesa is embedded in high resistivity lattice
matched n type material
GaAiAs 800-900nm
InP 1300-1600nm
 SELECTIVELY DIFFUSED
STRUCTURE, VARYING
THICKNESS STRUCTURE, BENT
Dopant, LAYER CONFIGURATION
zinc for GaAiAs lASER & cadmium for
InGaAsP is diffused into active layer immediately
under metal contact
Dopant changes index to form a lateral WG
channel
Channel is etched
To the substrate
Layers are grown
Using liquid phase
Epitaxy
PHOTONIC CRYSTAL
FIBERS
Microstructure optical fiber
Fine array of air holes along fiber cladding
Total internal reflection is replaced by 2 effects
here
 Index guided fibers
 Photonic bandgap fibers
INDEX GUIDED
MICROFIBERS
Almost similar to conventional fiber
Cladding contains air holes with index, 1. So
greater contrast in refractive index between core
and cladding
Cladding index is a strong function of wavelength
For short wavelength, cladding index is only
slightly lower than core index & so signal remain
tightly confined to the core
For long wavelength, cladding index is much lower
than core index & so signal remains to a very
small cross section in the core
INDEX GUIDED
MICROFIBERS
High index contrast enables the PCF core to be
reduced from around 8 μm in conventional fiber to
less than 1 μm, which increases the intensity of
the light in the core and enhances the nonlinear
effects.
They provide extra characters to the fiber
PHOTONIC BANDGAP
FIBER
Microstructure fiber with periodic arrangement of
air holes
Existence of 2 dimensional photonic bandgap
Here light can be guided through the low index air
holes
It can also guide light in areas with higher
refractive index
Guides electromagnetic modes in air (98%+)
minimum attenuation of 2.6 dB km−1 at a
wavelength of 1.59 μm
MODAL, PARTITION &
REFLECTION NOISE
These noise can cause receiver output noise
Modal Noise – LASER – Multimode fiber – Modes gets excited
Due to this speckle pattern is observed at the o/p
Result of constructive & destructive interference between
propagating modes at a given plane
The number of speckles approximates to the number of modes
Modal noise in fibers occur when speckle pattern is present in
a link
Examples: splices, connectors, microbends, photodetectors etc
Noise occurs when speckle pattern changes according to time
LEDs or Single Mode fibers can be used to solve the problem
MODAL, PARTITION &
REFLECTION NOISE
Mode partition noise is associated with intensity
fluctuations in longitudinal modes of a LASER diode
This is the dominant noise in single mode fibers
More than 1 longitudinal modes will be in o/p
Intensity fluctuations may be present b/w modes
All these longitudinal modes are coupled in fiber
But each mode has diff attenuation & delay
In fibers with high fiber dispersions, this noise
will be higher.
MODAL, PARTITION &
REFLECTION NOISE
Some light can get reflected back from fiber joints
to cavity
The reflected power couples with lasing modes &
cause phases to vary
This cause a periodically modulated noise
spectrum that is peaked on low frequency side of
intrinsic noise profile
The frequency of this noise is got from the
roundtrip delay
Can be avoided by using isolaters between LD &
OFC or by using index matching fluid at gaps
AMPLIFIED SPONTANEOUS
EMISSION NOISE
ASE is produced when a laser gain medium
is pumped to produce a population inversion
Excess ASE is an unwanted effect in lasers, since it
is not coherent, and limits the maximum gain that
can be achieved in the gain medium
ASE creates serious problems in any laser with high
gain and/or large size
ASE is especially problematic in lasers with short
and wide optical cavities
It tends to limit the gain achievable in a single
stage of a fiber amplifier to the order of 40–50 dB
AMPLIFIED
SPONTANEOUS
EMISSION NOISE
Coupling – Seminar
LED & LD Modulation – Assignment