OPTICAL FIBER

COMMUNICATION -1

Dr. Pallavi Khare

associate Professor

Outline
 Fiber Optics What is it?
 History
 Fiber Optic cables : Types
 Fiber Materials & Fabrication
 Optical Fiber structures & Waveguiding

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 Fiber Optics What Is It?
 Fiber Optics are cables that are made of optical
fibers that can transmit large amounts of
information at the speed of light.

History

FROM ANCIENT GREEKS

TO

21ST
CENTURY
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 History
 1961-“Industry researchers Elias Snitzer and
Will Hicks demonstrate a laser beam directed
through a thin glass fiber. The fiber’s core is
small enough that the light follows a single
path, but most scientists still consider fibers
unsuitable for communications because of the
high loss of light across long distances.”
 1970- Researchers find a way to super purify
glass fibers.
 1980- At&t installs first set of fiber optic
cables in major cities.
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History
 1988- First transatlantic cable

 1996- First transpacific cable

 1997- First Fiber Optic Link Around the

Globe (FLAG)

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 Present
 Telecommunications

 Internet Access

 Cable and Satellite Television

 Decorative Light Source

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The Cable
 Fiber Optic have three major
characteristics
 Composed of fibers either glass or plastic
and sometimes both

 Are very flexible

 Have different tips

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 Components
 Outside Jacket

 Cladding

 Core

Glass Fibers

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 Characteristics
 Glass Core

 Glass Cladding

 Ultra Pure Ultra Transparent Glass

 Made Of Silicon Dioxide

 Low Attenuation

 Popular among industries 11

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Plastic Fibers

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 Characteristics
Core Generally Consists Of Polymethyl
•

Methacrylate (Acrylic Glass) (PMMA)

Coated With A Fluoropolymer

• High Attenuation

• Used Mostly In Automotives

• Affordable

• Very Durable 13

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Plastic Clad-Silica
(PCS)
 Glass Fiber Core sometimes silicone

 Cladding is Plastic or silicone

 Silicone covering and insulators

 Not common

 Has Defects
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 The Future

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The Internet

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 OVERVIEW
Basic Electrical Communication System
Transmitter Communication Receiver
Channel

 Transmitter generates the message/data

 Information will be transferred over the
communication channel (EM carrier).
 At the receiver, information is removed from the
carrier and processed as desired.
 Amount of information transmitted is related to
frequency range of the carrier.
 Increasing the carrier frequency provides a larger
information capacity.
 Use of progressive higher frequencies led to the birth
of radio, television, radar, and microwave links. 17
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Communication Systems in the EM Spectrum

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 Why Fiber Optics ?
Theoretical information capacity of Optical
Communications are:

 1014Hz / 1GHz(BW of each MW channel)

= 1014 /109 = 105 MW channels.
 1014Hz/100MHz (each TV channel) = 1014 /100x106
= 10x106 = 10 million TV channels.
 1014 Hz/1000Hz(each voice channel) = 1011
= 100x1000x106 = Hundred thousand
million voice channels
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Advantages of Fiber Optic Links

 Enormous potential bandwidth
Fiber cable Metal Cable
No. of fibers/wires 144 fibers 900 twisted wires
Diameter(mm) 12.7 70
Each fiber/wire 672 calls 24 calls
carries
Total Capacity 96,768 calls 21,600 calls

Fiber Cable has nearly 4.5 time as much

capacity as the wire cable and cross sectional
area is 30 times less
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  Small size, weight and low transmission loss
Fiber Cable RG – 19/U
Coaxial Cable
Diameter(mm) 2.5 28.4
Weight (Kg/km) 2 1110
Loss (dB/km) 3 22.6

 Dielectric nature and electric isolation

 Signal security
 Potential low cost
 No permanent damage due to nuclear radiation 21

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Basic Network Information Rates

 Common Analog Systems

Message Bandwidth Comments

Type
Voice 4 kHz Single telephone channel
Music 10 kHz AM radio Broadcasting
Music 200 kHz FM radio Broadcasting
Television 6 MHz Television Broadcasting

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 Examples of Information rates for voice,
video, and data services

Type of service Data rate

Voice (single channel) 64 kb/s
Video on demand / interactive TV 1.5-6 Mb/s
Video Games 1-2 Mb/s
Remote Education 1.5-3 Mb/s
Electronic Shopping 1.5-6 Mb/s
Data transfer 1-3 Mb/s
Video Conferencing 0.384-2 Mb/s
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Digital Transmission Hierarchy

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 Digital Multiplexing levels used in North
America, Europe and Japan

Digital Number of Bit rate (Mb/s)

Multiplexing 64 kb/s North Europe Japan
level channels America
0 1 0.064 0.064 0.064
1 24 1.544 1.544
2 96 6.312 6.312
3 480 34.368 32.064
672 44.376
4 1920 139.264
4032 274.176

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Commonly used SONET and SDH

Transmission Rates
SONET Level Electrical Level Line Rate SDH
(Mb/s) equivalent
OC-1 STS-1 51.84 -
OC-3 STS-3 155.52 STM-1
OC-12 STS-12 622.08 STM-4
OC-24 STS-24 1244.16 STM-8
OC-48 STS-48 2488.32 STM-16
OC-96 STS-96 4976.64 STM-32
OC-192 STS-192 9953.28 STM-64

SONET – Synchronous optical network in North America.

SDH - Synchronous digital hierarchy in other parts of the world
OC- 1 – Optical carrier level 1
STS-1 – Synchronous transport signal-level 1
STM-1 – Synchronous transport module – level 1 26

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 Evaluation of Fiber Optics Systems

Operating Ranges of Components 27

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Increase of capacity of light wave systems

over the generations

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 Evaluation of Lightwave System

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

Generation Generation Generation Generation Generation
(1970-79) (1980-87) (1985-90) (1992-2000) > 2000
Laser GaAs InGaAsP InGaAsP ,SM 64 WDM s 27 WDM s
Source 800 nm 1300 nm 1550 nm C-band Soliton Pulses
& Amplifiers
Fiber MM MM & SM SM, dispersion Submarine
shifted cable
Capacity 45 Mb/s MM, 100Mb/s 2.5 Gb/s 2.5 Tb/s 20 Gb/s each
channel
Repeater 10 km 50 km 60-70 km 60-80 km > 100 km
Spacing
Total 2,50,000 km
Distance

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Major Elements of an Optical Fiber Link

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 Optical Fiber Cable Installations

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History of Attenuation

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 SONET/SDH Optical Network
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Fiber Applications
Voice Video
Telephone Trunk Broadcast TV
Interoffice Live Events
Intercity
TV mini-cameras
Transoceanic
CATV
Subscriber service
Fiber-to-the-home Source-to-headend trunk lines
Broadband service Distribution
Near power plants Subscriber taps
Along power lines Surveillance
Along Electric Railways Remote monitoring
Field Communications Fiber guided missile
Fiber-to-the-home

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 Data Sensors
Computers Gyroscope
CPU to peripherals Hydrophone
CPU to CPU Position
Interoffice data links
Temperature
Local-area networks
Electric and Magnetic
Fiber-to-the-home
Aircraft wiring Fields
Ship wiring
Satellite ground stations

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FIBER OPTIC CABLES

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 Types of Strengthening and
Protection Needed

 Tensile strength
 Crush Resistance
 Protection from excess bending
 Abrasion protection
 Vibration Isolation
 Moisture and Chemical protection

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Structures of Fiber Cables

 Single and Multi fiber cables
 Tightly packed and loosely held fibers
 Centrally & Externally located
strengthening members
 Dielectric & metallic strengthening
members
 Circular geometries and ribbon
geometries

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 Cable Design Examples

Designs for Light Duty Fiber Cables

Designs for Heavy Duty Fiber Cables

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Optical Fiber Cable for Duct Installation

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 Aerial Fiber Cables

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Telecommunications Cable

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 Loose Tube Cable

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Submarine Optical Cable

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 Ribbon Cable

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FIBER MATERIALS
AND
FABRACTION

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 Material Considerations

 It must be possible to make long, thin, and

flexible fibers from the material.
 The material must be transparent at a
particular wavelength to guide the light
efficiently.
 Requires physically compatible materials with
slightly different refractive indices for the core
and cladding.
 Materials that satisfy these requirements are
glasses and plastics. 47

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Why Silica-Based Glass ?

 Intrinsic low loss in NIR where Sources and

detectors are available.
 Minimum in material dispersion Coincides
with low loss wavelengths.
 Intrinsic high strength.
 Excellent chemical durability and stability.
 Low thermal expansion.
 High purity Chemicals available.
 Low cost and toxicity.

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 Other Systems Under Consideration

 Flouride glasses
(ZBLAN - ZrF4, BaF2, LaF3, AlF3 , NaF for core)
(ZHBLAN - partial replacement of ZrF4 by HaF4 for Clad)
 Active glass
(Rare earth dopents- Erbium and Neodymium in silica and halide
glasses for amplification and phas retardation)
 Plastic clad silica –PCS
(Silica core, and polymer- Silicon resign clad)
 Plastics
(Polymethylmehacrylate core and a copolymer clad)
 Chalgenide glass fibers
(As 40 S58 Se2 core and As2S3 clad fibers for Optical amplifiers, switches
and fiber lasers)
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Glass Fibers
Variation in Refractive Index with Doping

 GeO2 – SiO2 core; SiO2 cladding

 P2 O5 - SiO2 core; SiO2 cladding
 SiO2 core; B2O3 - SiO2 cladding
 GeO2 – B2O3 -SiO2 core; B2O3- SiO2 cladding
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 Fiber Fabrication
Major Preform fabrication methods

 Outside Vapor-Phase oxidation (OVPO)

 Vapor Phase Axial Deposition (VAD)

 Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition

(MCVD)
 Plasma – activated Chemical Vapor
Deposition (PCVD)

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Preform by Outside Vapor Phase

Oxidation (OVPO)

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 Preform by Vapor Phase Axial
Deposition (VAD)

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Preform by Modified Chemical Vapor

Deposition (MCVD)

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 Preform by Plasma Activated
Chemical Vapor Deposition (PCVD)

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Fiber Drawing from Preform

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 Double Crucible Method for Drawing
Fibers from Molten Glass

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Principle Types of Coating Materials

& Characteristics
 Primary-Soft, low modulus, Good adhesion to glass surface
Thermal or UV curable silicones
UV– Curable Acrylates
Thermoplastic Rubber Compounds

 Secondary–Tough, High Modulus, Surface protection

Thermal or UV Curable Silicones
UV – Curable Acrylates

 Hermetic - Amorphous Carbon, Diamond Like carbon

Metallic – Aluminum
Polyimide
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 Qualification Tests for Fibers

 Optical Tests
 Temperature – Humidity test
 Microbend Attenuation
 Bend loss
 Mechanical Tests
 Dynamic Strength
 Dynamic & Static Fatigue
 Temperature Humidity Aging
 Fluid Immersion
 Coating Strip Force
 Glass-Coating Adhesion

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Optical Fibers

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 OPTICAL FIBER STRUCTURES
AND
WAVEGUIDING

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Refraction and Reflection of a light ray at a

material boundary

Core and cladding interface

Refracted ray Normal
Cladding
Acceptance
Cone фc
Ѳr
Ѳ
n0 i Core
n1
n2

Air –core interface n1 > n2

Incident Ray
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 Acceptance Angle and Acceptance
Cone

Let  i  Angle of Incidence

 r  Angle of Refraction
 - Angle of incidance of refrated ray in the core
n 0  Refractive Index of air
n1  Refractive Index of Core
n 2  Refractive Index of Cladding
n0 sin  i  n1 sin  r
n0 sin  i  n1 sin(90   )

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Sin i n1

Sin r n0
The largest value of i occurs when  =c
from  ABC we have
Sinr  Sin(90   )  Cos 
n1
Sini  Cos
n0
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 But when  =c ,  i   max
n1
Sin max  Cosc
n0
But n1Sin c  n2 Sin(900 )
n2
i.e. Sin c  and
n1
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n 0 s i n  i  n1C o s c
n 0 s i n  i  n1 1  S i n 2 c
n 22
= n1 1 2
n1

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 n0 sini  n12  n22
n12  n22
sini 
n0
But if fiber surrounding medium is air then n0 =1
 Half angle of acceptance i  Sin1 n12  n22
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Representation of the Critical angle and total

internal reflection at a glass-air interface

Sin  c = n2/n 1 (for  2 = 900 )

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Phase shifts occurring from the reflection of

wave components normal (N) and parallel (P) to
the plane of incidence

 When light is totally internally

reflected, a phase change 
occurs in the reflected wave
(when  1 < /2 -  c ). It is
given by

tan N /2 = ( n2 cos2  1–1)/n sin 1

and

tan p /2 = n ( n2 cos2 1–1)/sin 1

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 Transmission by Cylindrical fibers
Meridional rays & Skew rays

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 Development of clad optical fibers is most significant in the technology

of fiber optics
 Fiber perturbations gives mode coupling
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 Fiber Types
Step Index fibers

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Graded Index Fiber

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 Launching Light into an Optical Fiber

NA = n0 sin  a =  ( n 1 2 - n 2 2 )
NA = Numerical aperture
 a = Acceptance angle of the fiber 75

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Modes in Optical Fibers

 Mode is a stable propagation state in an optical fiber

 If light travels along certain paths, the EM fields reinforce each other to form a field
distribution that is stable as it travels down the fiber.
 If the light tries to travel other paths, a stable wave will not propagate – thus no mode
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 Electric Field Configurations in Cylindrical Fiber
 Model Equation
(J+K) (k12 J+ k22 K)
= (/a)2 (1/u2 + 1/w2)2

 Condition for Bound Mode

n2 k = k2    k1 = n1k

 TM mode for Hz = 0 and Ez  0

 TE mode for Ez = 0 and Hz  0
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 Each mode has a characteristic number M.

A mode M is associated with all rays traveling at an angle M
M =  ((M+1)/2Dn1) radians
where  is the wavelength, D is core diameter, n1 is the
refractive index of the core and ‘a’ is the radius.
 The number of modes that can propagate through a step index
fiber is
Mm = V2 /2 , where V = (2 a/ ) ( n12 - n2 2 ) ½  2.405
V is the geometric parameter of the fiber.

For example, 100 m core SI MM fiber with NA = 0.29 would

transmit 5744 modes at 850nm.
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 Lowest Order Modes
Mode-field diameter in SM Fiber

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Polarizations of
fundamental
mode – HE11

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 81

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