EMO Lab (Spring 2021-22)

Optical Fiber Characterization

Name:Sunil Kumar

Roll No. 21PH40054

Aim :

To determine acceptance angle and numerical aperture of an optical fiber .

Theory and working formula :

A multi-mode optical fiber will only propagate light that enters the fiber within a certain
cone, known as the acceptance cone of the fiber. The half-angle of this cone is called the
acceptance angle, θa.

D
θa

Fiber I()θ

5%Level

Acceptance angle is calculated as-

θa = tan (D/z-1)

where, D is the diameter of far field intensity at 5% intensity level of the maximum attainable
intensity and z is the distance between the detector and the fiber output end.

The Numerical Aperture is given by –

NA = Sin θa
Observations: D (mm) Intensity (mA) D (mm) Intensity (mA)

9.0 0.002 10.3 4.4

9.1 0.002 10.4 5.5

9.2 0.003 10.5 6.0

9.3 0.003 10.6 6.1

9.4 0.003 10.7 5.8

9.5 0.006 10.8 4.9

9.6 0.028 10.9 3.2

9.7 0.0445 11.0 1.3

9.8 0.1289 11.1 0.5

9.9 0.3 11.2 0.108

10.0 0.6 11.3 0.027

10.1 1.1 11.5 0.0017

10.2 2.5 11.74 0.001

Graph : D vs intensity –
Calculation :

From the graph we can find D as-

Diameter of far field intensity at 5% intensity (0.3mA) level of the maximum attainable intensity,

D = (11.15 – 9.9 ) /2 = 0.625 mm

Distance between the detector and the fiber output end ,z = 2 mm

So , Acceptance angle,
θa = tan-1 (D/z) = 17.354 °
Then the numerical aperture is given by,
NA = Sin θa = 0.2983

Result:

The Numerical Aperture of the given optical fiber, NA = 0.2983