Optical Communication Questions

1. What is the basic structure of a modern optical ber?

The modern optical ber consists of an optical rod core coated with a cladding. The core and the
cladding have di erent optical characteristics.

2. What are the two principal photo detectors used in a ber optic line?

 PIN photo diode & Avalanche photo diode (APD)

3. What do you mean by numerical aperture of an optical ber?

 It is a measure of light collecting (gathering) capacity of the ber. It is a dimensionless quantity
and is less than unity, typical values ranging from 0.14 to 0.5.

4. What are the important speci cations of an optical ber?

(i)Numerical aperture (NA)

(ii) Core diameter

(iii) V-number

(iv) Material of the ber

(v) Attenuation

(vi) Core refractive index pro le (step index or graded index)

5. Which are the di erent types of bers?

(i) Plastic ber

(ii) Glass ber

(iii) Plastic clad glass ber

(iv) Halide glass ber

6. What is a graded index ber?

 If the refractive index of the core in a ber is made to vary as a function of the radial distance
from the centre of the ber, it is called graded index ber. i.e., refractive index decreases as
distance increases.

7. What is meant by modes?

The propagation of light energy in an optical ber takes place at distinct angles of propagation
called the modes of propagation or modes.

8. De ne internal quantum e ciency of an LED?

The internal quantum e ciency in the active region is the function of electron-hole pairs that
recombine radioactively. If the radiative recombination rate per unit volume is RT, and nonradiative
recombination rate is Rnr, , the internal quantum e ciency η is the ratio of the radiative
recombination rate to the total recombination rate. η = Rr/(Rnr + Rr)

9. What is the di erence between intermodal and intramodal dispersion?

Intermodal dispersion : Dispersion caused by the delay between di erent modes. Typically, it is
the delay between the shortest path (zero mode) and the longest path (critical mode).

Intramodal dispersion: Dispersion that is independent of modes, related to the line width of the
source and caused by variations in the refractive index as a function of wavelength. 

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 10. What is the di erence between photovoltaic mode and photoconductive mode of operation of
photo diode?

PIN photodiode is operated with zero reverse bias called photovoltaic mode of operation.

11. What type of material is used in the detector for regions 800-900 nm and 1100-1600 nm?

800-900 nm : Silicon

1100-1600 nm : InGaAs alloy.

12. De ne quantum e ciency of a detector.

Quantum e ciency (η) is de ned as the number of electron-hole pairs generated per incident
photon energy and is given by = No. of electron-hole pairs generated /No. of incident photons.

13. What are the advantages o ered by multimode ber than a single mode ber?

The advantages are:

(i) LED can be used as a source

(ii) It convenient for splicing.

(iii) A larger core radii of multimode bers makes launching optical power into the ber easier.

14. De ne V-number.

V-number is de ned by : V = 2πa/λ. N A. It is a dimensionless number gives a measure of the

number of modes a ber can support.

15. What are the advantages of plastic ber?

The toughness and durability of plastic allow these bers to be handled without special care. High
NA (0.6), large acceptance angle (70°) and large core diameter (110-1400 µm) permit the use of
inexpensive LED and make it economically attractive.

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