Chapter 1 Optical Fibers: Introduction

Introduction to Optical Fiber Communication

 Communication system with light as the carrier and fiber as a communication medium. Light is an EM
wave that can be detected.
 Optical Communication is the most modern mode of wired communication. It is also the youngest mode
of communication. However its capabilities supersede all other modes of communication.
 Communication in radio and microwave domain uses frequency range orders of magnitude lower than
the optical.
 As carrier frequency increases, bandwidth increase and data rate increases.
 Operates at wavelength 800nm to 1700nm

Need for Fiber-Optic Communications

(Ref: Govind P. Agrawal)
 The advent of telegraphy in the 1830s began the era of electrical communications.
o uses two electrical pulses of different durations (dots and dashes of the Morse code).
o The bit rate, B, ∼10 b/s using Morse code.
o use of intermediate relay stations allowed communication over long distances (∼1000 km).
 The invention of the telephone in 1876
o electric signals were transmitted in analog form.
o Analog electrical communication systems dominate for a century or so.
 Initially pair of wires were used to carry electrical signal
 The use of coaxial cables in place of wire pairs increased system capacity considerably.
o The first coaxial-cable system, put into service in 1940, was a 3-MHz system.
o The bandwidth is limited as cable losses, which increase rapidly for frequencies beyond 10 MHz.
 This limitation led to the development of microwave communication systems
o an electromagnetic carrier with frequencies in the range of 1–10 GHz is used to transmit the signal
by using suitable modulation techniques.
o The first microwave system operating at the carrier frequency of 4 GHz was put into service in
1948.

 bit rate–distance product, BL,: A commonly used figure of merit for communication systems, where B
is the bit rate and L is the repeater spacing.
o Higher BL product can be achieved if optical waves were used as the carrier
o Neither a coherent optical source nor a suitable transmission medium was available during the
1950s.
 The invention of the laser in 1960 solved the first problem.
 In 1966 optical fibers was suggested for guiding the light wave.
 Initially optical fibers have high loss (~1000 dB/km)
o In 1970 fiber losses reduced to below 20 dB/km in the wavelength region near 1µm.
o The BL product of modern lightwave systems can exceed by a factor of 107 compared with the
first-generation lightwave systems. [loss as low as 0.15 dB/km]

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 1/17
 Optical Fiber Communication system block diagram
(Ref: John M. Senior)
 An optical fiber communication system is similar in basic concept to general communication system.
o It consists of a transmitter or modulator linked to the information source, the transmission
medium, and a receiver or demodulator at the destination point.

 The information source provides an electrical signal derived from non-electrical message
 Transmitter generates signal suitable for propagation over the transmission medium (eg. modulation)
 The transmission medium transmits the signal to the receiver (copper pair, coaxial cable, radio link …)
 Receiver recovers original electrical information signal and pass to destination.

For optical fiber communications the system,

 The information source provides electrical signal
 Transmitter comprising an electrical stage which drives an optical source
 Optical source provides the electrical–optical conversion
o either a semiconductor laser or light-emitting diode (LED).
 The transmission medium consists of an optical fiber cable and
 Receiver consists of an optical detector which drives a further electrical stage and hence provides
demodulation of the optical carrier.
o Photodiodes (p–i–n or avalanche) is used as optical detector
 There is a requirement for electrical interfacing at either end of the optical link
o The signal processing is usually performed electrically.
The optical carrier may be modulated using either an analog or digital information signal.
 Analog modulation: variation of the light from the optical source is continuous, simpler to implement,
less efficient, require a far higher signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver.
o amplifiers are used for long distance communication system
 Digital modulation: discrete changes in the light intensity
o Repeaters can be used for long distance communication system
 Analog OF communication links are generally limited to shorter distances and lower bandwidth operation
than digital links.

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 2/17
 Attenuation history in optical communication
(https://nptel.ac.in/courses/117101054/downloads/lect1.pdf)
 In case of optical transmission the loss is wavelength dependent.
 Optical window: a specific band of wavelength where the signal attenuation is minimum.
o ‘First window': 850nm band (a low loss window from 800-900nm, centered around 850 nm);
Where the minimum signal loss is 4dB/km.
 Initially in early 1970s due to technology limitation, the optical fiber had a low loss
window around 850 nm.
 Also the semiconductor optical sources were made of GaAs which emitted light at that
range.

With improvement of glass purification technology, the concentration of hydroxyl ions and metallic impurities
in the fiber material reduced. Hence, true silica loss profile emerged in 1980s. The loss profile shows two low
loss windows, one around 1310nm and other around 1550nm.
o ‘Second Window': In 1980s the optical communication shifted to 1310nm band, so called the
‘Second Window' with lower attenuation of about 0.5 dB/km.
o ‘Third Window': In 1990s the communication was shifted to 1550nm window, so called ‘Third
Window' due to invention of the Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA). this window has
intrinsically lowest loss of about 0.2 dB/Km.
 The EDFA can amplify light only in a narrow band around 1550nm.

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 3/17
 Advantages of optical fiber communication
(Ref: John M. Senior)
a) Enormous potential bandwidth.
 The optical carrier frequency in the range 1013 to 1016 Hz yields a far greater potential transmission
bandwidth than
o metallic cable systems (i.e. coaxial cable operating around 20 MHz)
o microwave radio system (300MHz to 30 GHz/1 to 0.01 meter)
o millimeter wave radio systems (30GHz to 300 GHz/10mm to 1 mm)
 Use of wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) further increase bandwidth utilization of an optical fiber.
 Hence optical fiber has highest bandwidth – length (BL) product
b) Small size and weight
 Optical fibers have very small diameters and much lighter than corresponding copper cables.
o Portable, easy for ducting and installation, suitable for aircraft, satellites and ships.
c) Electrical isolation
 Optical fibers (fabricated from glass, or plastic), are electrical insulators
o No arcing, spark or short circuit hazard.
d) Immunity to interference and crosstalk
 Optical fibers form a dielectric waveguide. Therefore free from EMI1, RFI, or switching transients giving
EMPs.
o Unaffected by transmission through an electrically noisy environment
o Requires no shielding from EMI.
o Not susceptible to lightning strikes if used overhead rather than underground.
o No optical interference between fibers and hence, crosstalk is negligible, even when many fibers
are cabled together.
e) Increased Signal security
 The light from optical fibers does not radiate significantly => provide a signal security.
 Transmitted signal cannot be obtained from a fiber without drawing optical power
o Any attempt of tapping is detectable because cable leaks light, causing the entire system to fail.
 Attractive for military, banking and computer network applications.
f) Low transmission loss
 Optical fiber exhibit very low attenuation or transmission loss in comparison with the copper conductors.
o Fibers have been fabricated with losses as low as 0.15 dB km−1.
o Communication links with extremely wide optical repeater or amplifier spacing
 reducing both system cost and complexity.
g) System reliability and ease of maintenance
 Due to low-loss, fewer optical repeaters or amplifiers
o System reliability is enhanced compared to conventional electrical conductor systems.
h) Potential low cost
 Raw material for glass is sand – not a scarce resource.
o In comparison with copper conductors, optical fibers are low-cost solution
 Low-loss and wideband
o Overall system costs of long-haul links are less than equivalent electrical systems

1
EMI: electromagnetic interference; RFI: radio-frequency interference; EMP: electromagnetic pulses

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 4/17
 Basic laws and definitions
(Ref: G. Keiser and John M. Senior)
Refractive index
 Propagation of light within an optical fiber utilizing the ray theory model
o It is necessary to take account of the refractive index of the dielectric medium.
 Refractive index: the ratio of the velocity of light in a vacuum to the velocity of light in the medium.
 A ray of light travels more slowly in an optically dense medium than in one that is less dense, and the
refractive index gives a measure of this effect.

o n, Refractive Index of medium

 Typical values of n are 1.00 for air, 1.33 for water, 1.50 for glass, 2.42 for diamond.
o c, speed of light in free space = c = 3 x 108 m/s
o v, speed of light in dielectric or non-conducting medium
Reflection and Refraction
 When a light ray encounters a boundary of two different media,
o part of the ray is reflected back into the first medium and
o the remainder is bent (or refracted) as it enters the second material.
 The bending or refraction is a result of the difference in the speed of light

 The relationship at the interface of two medium is known as Snell’s law and is given by

 According to the law of reflection

o The angle 1 at which the incident ray strikes the interface is exactly equal to the angle the reflected
ray makes with the same interface.
o The incident ray, the normal to the interface, and the reflected ray all lie in the same plane, which
is perpendicular to the interface plane between the two materials.
 External reflection: When light traveling in a certain medium is reflected off an optically denser material
(one with a higher refractive index)
 Internal reflection: The reflection of light off of less optically dense material (such as light traveling in
glass being reflected at a glass-to-air interface)

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 5/17
 Total Internal Reflection
Consider a ray approaching the interface is propagating in a dielectric of refractive index n1 and is at an angle ϕ1
to the normal at the surface of the interface. If the dielectric on the other side of the interface has a refractive
index n2 which is less than n1, then the refraction is such that the ray path in this lower index medium is at an
angle ϕ2 to the normal, where ϕ2 is greater than ϕ1.

From Snell’s law of refraction:

Or:

 As n1 is greater than n2, the angle of refraction is always greater than the angle of incidence.
o As angle of incidence becomes greater, the angle of refraction also goes on increasing.
 When the angle of refraction is 90° and the refracted ray emerges parallel to the interface between the
dielectrics, the angle of incidence must be less than 90°. This is the limiting case of refraction and the
angle of incidence is now known as the critical angle ϕc.

 At angles of incidence greater than the critical angle all light is reflected back into the originating
dielectric medium with high efficiency around 99.9%, this phenomenon is called total internal
reflection.
 Hence, total internal reflection occurs at the interface between two dielectrics when
o Light is incident on the dielectric of lower index from the dielectric of higher index, and
o The angle of incidence of the ray exceeds the critical value.

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 6/17
This is the mechanism by which light propagate down an optical fiber with low loss. The ray has an angle of
incidence ϕ at the interface which is greater than the critical angle and is reflected at the same angle to the normal.

 Meridional ray: The light ray shown in above Figure is known as a Meridional ray
o It passes through the axis of the fiber core.
o The simplest ray to describe
 Generally used when illustrating the fundamental transmission properties of optical fibers.
 Skew ray: Another possible ray in optical fiber is Skew ray.
o Ray that travels in a non-planar zig-zag helical path which neither pass through the fiber axis nor
parallel to the fiber axis.

Acceptance Angle
 The geometry of launching a light ray into an optical fiber is

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 7/17
 o Ray A: a meridional ray A
o ϕc: critical angle within the fiber at the core–cladding interface.
o θa: angle made by ray A to the fiber axis
 Ray A is refracted at the air–core interface before transmission to the core-cladding interface at the critical
angle.
 Only rays with a sufficiently shallow grazing angle (i.e. with an angle to the normal greater than ϕc) at
the core–cladding interface are transmitted by total internal reflection.
o Rays (B) incident into the fiber core at an angle greater than θ a
 transmitted to the core-cladding interface at an angle less than ϕc,
 and will not be totally internally reflected
 rather refracted into the cladding and eventually lost by radiation.
 Acceptance cone: defined by the conical half angle θa
o For rays to be transmitted by total internal reflection within the fiber core they must be incident
on the fiber core within an acceptance cone. θa
 Acceptance angle (θa) of the fiber: the maximum angle to the axis at which light may enter the fiber in
order to be propagated.
o Incident meridional rays over the range 0 ≤θ≤θa will be propagated within the fiber.

Numerical Aperture
 Numerical Aperture of the fiber: Relationship between the acceptance angle and the refractive indices
of the core, cladding and air leads to the more generally used term, the numerical aperture of the fiber.
 Consider light ray incident on the fiber core at an angle θ 1 < θa to the fiber axis

o n0: air refractive index

o n1: fiber core refractive index, n1 > n2
o n2: fiber cladding refractive index
Consider the refraction at the air–core interface and using Snell’s law given by:

Considering the right-angled triangle ABC in above figure:

where ϕ is greater than the critical angle at the core–cladding interface. Substituting θ2 in Snell’s law equation2,

Using the trigonometric relationship sin2X+cos2X=1,

2
sin(pi/2 - X) = cosX

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 8/17
  At limiting case for total internal reflection ϕ becomes equal to ϕc,
o for the core–cladding interface which is sinϕc=n2/n1.
o Also in this limiting case θ1 becomes the acceptance angle for the fiber θa.
 With these substitutions,

Numerical Aperture (NA) is defined as:

 For air n0 = 1, it is simply equal to sinθa.

o Acceptance angle in air for the fiber can be calculated as,

The NA may also be given in terms of the relative refractive index difference Δ between the core and the cladding
which is defined as:

Taking under root,

Hence NA we can also be write as:

 for Δ<<1,

 The numerical aperture is a very useful measure of the light-collecting ability of a fiber.
o independent of the fiber core diameter

Question 1: A silica optical fiber with a core diameter large enough to be considered by ray theory analysis has
a core refractive index of 1.50 and a cladding refractive index of 1.47. Determine:
(a) the critical angle at the core–cladding interface;
(b) the NA for the fiber;
(c) the acceptance angle in air for the fiber.
Solution:
a) The critical angle ϕc at the core–cladding interface is given by,

b) The NA is:

c) The acceptance angle in air θa is given by:

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 9/17
Question 2: A typical relative refractive index difference for an optical fiber designed for long distance
transmission is 1%. Estimate the NA in air for the fiber when the core index is 1.46. Further, calculate the critical
angle at the core–cladding interface within the fiber. It may be assumed that the concepts of geometric optics
hold for the fiber.
Solution:
Relative refractive index difference, Δ=0.01
So, the NA is

The relative refractive index difference Δ gives:

Hence,
The critical angle at the core–cladding interface is:

Numerical Aperture for Skew Rays

Skew ray is transmitted without passing through the fiber axis and following a helical path through the fiber.

 The helical path in fiber gives a change in direction of 2γ at each reflection,

o where γ is the angle between the projection of the ray in two dimensions and the radius of the fiber
core at the point of reflection.
In order to calculate the acceptance angle for a skew ray it is necessary to define the direction of the ray in two
perpendicular planes.

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 10/17
  The geometry of the situation is illustrated in Figure below where
o a skew ray is incident on the fiber core at the point A,
o Ray A makes an angle θs to the normal at the fiber end face.
o The ray is refracted at the air–core interface before traveling to the point B in the same plane.
o The angles of incidence and reflection at the point B are ϕ, which is greater than the critical angle
for the core–cladding interface.

 One resolution of Ray AB:

o Component of ray AB to the radius BR = cosϕ.
 Incident ray (AB) reflected ray and normal (BR) lie on the same plane. And angle between
AB and BR is ϕ.
 For other resolution:
o Resolution to line BT = sin θ
 In triangle ABT, θ is the angle between AB and AT
o Resolution of line BT to BR = cos γ
 In triangle BRT, γ is the angle between BR and BT
o So, Component of ray AB to the radius BR = cos γ * sin θ.
Both of these resolution are that of the same ray AB. So, they should be equal

Using the trigonometric relationship, sin2X+cos2X=1.

 In limiting case, ϕ -> critical angle, ϕc

o For the core–cladding interface and sinϕc = n2/n1.
So,

Using Snell’s law at the point A,

Where,
o θa represents the maximum input axial angle for meridional rays and
o θ is the internal axial angle.

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 11/17
Substituting for sinθ from above equation gives:

where θas now represents the maximum input angle or acceptance angle for skew rays.
Thus the acceptance conditions for skew rays are:

and in the case of the fiber in air (n0=1):

Comparisons between Meridional Ray and Skew Ray

 Skew rays are accepted at larger axial angles in a given fiber than meridional rays, depending upon the
value of cos γ.
o For cosγ is equal to unity (γ=0) and θas = θa which represents meridional rays.
 Thus θa is the maximum conical half angle for the acceptance of meridional rays and it
defines the minimum input angle for skew rays.
 Skew rays tend to propagate only in the annular region near the outer surface of the core, and do not fully
utilize the core as a transmission medium
Skew rays increase the light-gathering capacity of the fiber. This increased light-gathering ability may be
significant for large NA fibers, but for most communication design purposes the meridional rays are considered
adequate.
Question 3: An optical fiber in air has an NA of 0.4. Compare the acceptance angle for meridional rays with that
for skew rays which change direction by 100° at each reflection.
Solution:
The acceptance angle for meridional rays with n0=1 is:

The skew rays change direction by 100° at each reflection, therefore γ=50°. Hence the acceptance angle for skew
rays is:

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 12/17
 Optical Fiber
(Ref: G. Keiser)
Structure of Optical Fiber
 Optical fiber acts as a waveguide or light pipe.

 In low-loss and medium-loss fiber

o Core is made from glass and cladding is made from either glass or plastic.
 But high loss fiber is made from plastic-core and plastic cladding.
 Cladding is further encapsulated in an elastic plastic material called buffer coating.
o It adds further strength to the fiber and
o Mechanically isolates or buffers the fibers from small geometrical irregularities, distortions or
roughnesses of adjacent surfaces.
 These perturbations could otherwise cause scattering losses induced by random
microscopic bends on installation.
Types of Optical fiber
On the basis of core-cladding refractive index profile
a) Step Index
b) Graded Index
On the basis of number of modes supported
a) Single mode
b) Multi Mode
Step Index Fiber
 A core of constant refractive index n1 and
 A cladding of a slightly lower refractive index n2.
 The refractive index profile makes a step change at the core–cladding interface.

The refractive index profile may be defined as:

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 13/17
Graded index fibers
 A core of decreasing refractive index n(r) with radial distance from a maximum value of n1 at the axis to
a minimum value n2 at core cladding interface
 A cladding of refractive index n2

This index variation may be represented as:

Where,
Δ= (n1-n2)/n1, is the relative refractive index difference and
α is the profile parameter which gives the characteristic refractive index profile of the fiber core

Refractive index profile of the fiber core can be expressed as a variation of α

 When α=∞ it represents the step index profile
 When α=2 it represents a parabolic profile
 When α=1 it represents a triangular profile
Single Mode Fiber (SMF)
 Single mode fiber has small core size and change in RI between core and cladding is less than that in
multimode fibers.
 Widely deployed single-mode fibers employ a step index profile design.
 Single mode fiber sustains only one fundamental mode of light propagation.
o All other modes are attenuated by leakage or absorption.

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 14/17
Advantages of single mode fiber
 They exhibit the greatest transmission bandwidths and the lowest losses of the fiber transmission media.
 They have a superior transmission quality over other fiber types because of the absence of modal noise.
 Suitable for long distance transmission.
Multimode Fiber
 Multimode fiber has a larger core diameter than that of single mode fiber,
o Large enough to allow the propagation of many modes within the fiber core simultaneously.
 When one pulse of signal is generated into multimode fiber
o Multiple modes enter the fiber core from different angles
o Each modes propagates at different speeds and
o Causes pulse broadening (modal dispersion).
 Generally it is used for short and medium distance.
Multimode step index
 It has a core diameter of around 50μm or greater and allows many different possible ray paths through
the fiber.
 Considerable dispersion may occur due to the differing group velocities of the propagating modes.
o This in restricts the maximum bandwidth attainable with multimode step index fibers,
especially when compared with single-mode fibers.

Multimode Graded-Index
 It contains a core in which the refractive index diminishes gradually from the center axis out toward
the cladding.
 The meridional rays appear to follow curved paths through the graded index multimode fiber core
rather than zigzagging off the cladding.
o 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.
o As a result ray is gradually curved and the ray travels back towards the core axis, again being
continuously refracted.

Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 1), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu Pg. 15/17
  Multimode graded index fibers exhibit far less intermodal dispersion than multimode step index fibers
o due to their refractive index profile.
 The rays traveling close to the fiber axis have shorter paths when compared with rays which travel
into the outer regions of the core.
o However, the near axial rays are transmitted through a region of higher refractive index and
therefore travel with a lower velocity than the more extreme rays. This compensates for the
shorter path lengths and reduces dispersion in the fiber.
 Hence, multimode graded index fibers with parabolic or near-parabolic index profile cores have
transmission bandwidths which may be orders of magnitude greater than multimode step index fiber
bandwidths.
Following table shows the different types of fibers and their dispersive characteristics.

Advantages of Multimode Fiber

 The larger core radii of multimode fibers make it easier to launch optical power into the fiber
 Lower tolerance required in fiber joints.
 Light can be launched into a multimode fiber using a light emitting diode (LED) source
o Although LEDs have less optical output power than laser diodes they are easier to make, are less
expensive, require less complex circuitry, and have longer lifetimes than laser, thus making them
more desirable in many applications.
Disadvantage of Multimode Fiber
 Multimode fiber suffer from intermodal dispersion where as in single mode fibers intermodal dispersion
effects are not present.
o When an optical pulse is launched into a fiber, the optical power in the pulse is distributed over
all of the modes of the fiber.
o Each modes that can propagate in a multimode fiber travels at a slightly different velocity.
o This means that the modes in a given optical pulse arrive at the fiber end at slightly different times,
thus causing the pulse to spread out in time as it travels along the fiber.
o This effect can be reduced by using a graded index profile in the fiber core.

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Application of OFC:
1. Telecommunication/Telephone applications:- voice telephone, video phones, various new services,
messages services and data networks all transmitted over the common carrier link.
2. Military application:- These include communication, command and control links on ships and
aircraft, data links for satellite earth stations and under-sea system for which EMI effect, weight and size,
signal leakage and attenuation plays a major role.
3. Space application:- Optical fibers offer the following significant advantages for space environment:
 high bandwidth( greater than 1 Ghz as compared to 1 Mhz for twisted pair),
 noise immunity,
 inherent radiation,
 reduce weight (90% weight savings over conventional wire system),
 low bit error rate,
 size and volume reduction,
 EMI immunity and lower cost.
4. Sensor application:- A fiber optic sensor is a sensor that uses optical fiber either as the sensing element
("intrinsic sensors"), or as a means of relaying signals from a remote sensor to the electronics that process
the signals ("extrinsic sensors").
 Intrinsic sensors Optical fibers can be used as sensors to measure strain, temperature, pressure
and other quantities by modifying a fiber so that the quantity to be measured modulates the
intensity, phase, polarization, wavelength or transit time of light in the fiber.
5. Under sea transmission cables:- Coaxial under-sea cable systems have been used as one of the major
transmission systems in international telecommunication networks over the past 25 years. But this
system has nearly reached a limit in its ability to increase the capacities. Therefore optical fiber under sea
cable system are considered to be very promising technology to over come these barriers.
6. Broad band applications: Application that are primilarly broadband services include broadcast tv, cable
tv (CTV, community antenna television), remote monitory, and surveillance system.
7. Computer application:- Fiber system are particularly suited for transmission of digital data, such as that
generated by the computers. Interconnections can be made between CPU and memories, CPU and
peripherals and between CPUs.
8. OFC for electric power companies:- Electric power companies are progressively installing the OFC
system for power system protections, supervision and control, measurements etc.
9. Miscellaneous:- These include biomedical applications. General home appliances application. Small
office building and so on.

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