Fibres Optics and Photonics

 One of the most important and exciting applications of lasers lies in the field of communication. A
light beam acting as a carrier wave is capable of carrying far more information at very high speed.
 Light wave communications using hair-thin optical fibers as transmission media has become ubiquitous
with the ever increasing demand for higher and higher speeds of communication.
 Information signal is transmitted through a channel such as atmosphere in radio broadcast, or
electrical lines in telephone or wireless network in mobile communication, or optical fibers in a fiber-
optic communication system.
 Usually the channel through which the information propagates introduces loss in the signal and also
distortion in it to a certain extent.
Optical Fibers in Communication

Light waves have a large information-carrying capacity. For long-distance communication using light waves,
we need a medium of transmission and glass optical fibers are the preferred medium of transmission of
information carrying light waves. Light wave communication using glass fibers can transmit information at
capacities of larger than 1 Tb/s (which is roughly equivalent to transmission of about 15 million simultaneous
telephone conversations). This is certainly one of the extremely important technological achievements of the
twentieth century.
  Optical fibers are fine transparent glass or plastic fibers through which light can propagate.
 The light beam gets transmitted through the optical fiber due to the phenomenon of total internal
reflection (TIR). In this way light can be taken anywhere because fibers have enough flexibility.
This property makes them suitable for data communication, design of fine endoscopes, and micro
sized microscopes etc.
 Optical fiber is in the form of cylinder structure. The inner cylindrical part is core (refractive index
n1) and core is surrounded by a cladding (Refractive index n2). The index of refraction of the cladding
is less than that of the core i.e. n1>n2.

a - radius of the core

 Core is generally silica glass or plastic

A light-emitting diode (LED) or laser diode (LD) can
be used for the source of light.
 • Optical fibers work on the principle of total internal reflection
• The angle of refraction at the interface between two media is governed by Snell’s law:
Step index fibre
graded index fiber
n2 n2 < n 1

n1

Snell’s law at air and core interface i.e. at the point of

entrance of light in to the optical fiber

𝑛0 sin 𝑖 = 𝑛1 sin 𝜃 𝑎𝑛𝑑 φ = 90 − θ

Where n0 is refractive index of medium outside the

fiber. For air n0 =1.
𝜽𝒄 = 𝜽𝑰 = 𝑪𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝑛1 sin 𝜃𝑐 = 𝑛2 sin 𝜃2
When light travels from core to cladding it moves from is that angle of incidence in
denser to rarer medium and so it may be totally reflected denser medium for which angle 𝑛2
back to the core medium if φ exceeds the critical angle θc. 𝜃𝑐 = 𝑆𝑖𝑛−1
of refraction in 90 degree. 𝑛1
 At core cladding interface

𝑛1 sin φ𝑐 = 𝑛2 sin 90

𝑛2
sin 𝜑𝑐 =
𝑛1
Therefore, for light to be propagated within the core of optical
fiber as guided wave, the angle of incidence at core-cladding
interface should be greater than φc.

As i increases, θ increases and so φ decreases. Therefore, there is maximum value of angle of incidence (i)
beyond which, it does not propagate rather it is refracted in to cladding medium. This maximum value of i
say im is called maximum angle of acceptance and n0 sin im is termed as the numerical aperture (NA).
Lens NA=n0 sin I’m
NA=n0 sin im
im I’m

f f
 NA = 𝑛0 sin 𝑖𝑚 = 𝑛1 sin 𝜃

𝑁𝐴 = 𝑛1 sin(90 − 𝜑𝑐 ) = 𝑛1 cos(𝜑𝑐 )

2
𝑛2
𝑁𝐴 = 𝑛1 1 − 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 (𝜑𝑐 ) = 𝑛1 1−
𝑛1

𝑁𝐴 = 𝑛1 2 − 𝑛2 2 = 𝑛1 2∆

𝑛1 2 −𝑛2 2 𝑛1 −𝑛2
Where ∆= =
2𝑛1 2 𝑛1

Here in the last step, we have assumed 𝑛1 ≈ 𝑛2 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑠.

For a typical optical fibre 𝑛2 = 1.458, ∆= 0.01 ↔ 𝑁𝐴 ≈ 0.2. Thus, fiber would accept light incident
over a cone with a semi-angle 𝑠𝑖𝑛−1 0.2 ≈ 11.5𝑜 about the axis.
 Fibres are capable of sending information as large as TB/sec (15 million larger that telephonic
conversation).
 Fibres fabricated with recent developed technology exhibits very low losses (0.2dB/Km). So, the
distance between two successive repeaters (where revamping of attenuated signal is done) is approx. 250
km, while in copper cables repeaters are at few Km away.
 Losses in fibres: splice losses, losses at joint, bending losses and losses in development of fibre optical
devices.
Pulse Dispersion:
It determines the information carrying capability of optical fibres.
In digital communication, the information which is to be sent is coded in form of pulses (light pulses). These
pulses are transmitted through the fibres and at receiver the information is decoded. Larger the number of
pulses that can be sent per unit time and still be resolvable at receiver, the larger be the transmission
capability of the system. The pulse of light that is sent into the fibre broadens with the time as it propagate
through the fibre is known as pulse dispersion. This happen because different ray takes different time -
 Pulse dispersion for n1=1.46, Δ=0.01, L=1Km Step index fibre
Continue…. 𝑛1 𝐿 𝑛1
∆𝜏 = − 1 ≈ 50𝑛𝑠 n2
in propagating through the fibre. 𝑐 𝑛2

Smaller the pulse dispersion, more will be the information i n1

m
carrying capability of the optical fibre.
For a very high information carrying system, it is
The ray with larger angle with the axis will travel
essential to reduce the pulse dispersion. longer distance to reach the output end.
To reduce the pulse dispersion, the two solution exits – Input end

(1) Use of graded index fibre, and

(2) Single mode fibre
Multimode Graded Index Fibre
Note: In graded index fibre the refractive index
decreases in parabolic manner from centre of core to
the core cladding interface.
125 µm ∆= 0.01 125 µm ∆= 0.01
50µm 50µm
n n

Multimode step index fibre Multimode graded index fibre

In graded index fibre, the ray that enter the
fibre continuously bends towards the axis of
fibre because the ray experience gradual
decrement in the refractive index from the
centre. Such graded index fibre reduce the
transit time of ray travelling obliquely by
providing large velocity. It partially
compensate the relatively large optical path
that ray has to travel in step index fibre.

Single mode fibre

We have seen that a large number of optical rays propagates
through the fibre by bouncing back and forth at the core clad
interface. Such fibre which permits large number of guided
optical paths are known as multimode fibre.
Single mode fibre….. Continue
However, if the diameter shrinks or refractive index difference between core and cladding decreases, number of
possible paths for wave guidance reduces. Ray will propagate at specific discrete angles from z-axis. Each
discrete angle is a discrete mode of waveguide.

Waveguide Papameter (V- Number)

For step index fibre (n1<a & n2>a)

𝟐𝝅𝒂 𝟏/𝟐 𝟐𝝅𝒂𝒏𝟏

𝑽= 𝒏𝟏 𝟐 − 𝒏𝟐 𝟐 = 𝟐∆ 𝟏/𝟐
λ λ
If V < 2.4048 ⟾ Only one guided mode i.e. only one value of θ angle from z axis is possible and the fibre is
single mode fibre.
For single mode fibre, typical core diameter is 5-10 µm and Δ vary from 0.2% to 0.5%.
Thus a single ray path is possible in single mode fibre, the pulse dispersion which is caused by different times
taken by different rays in fibre is completely absent. Hence the information carrying capability is large in single
mode fibre than the multimode fibre. Despite the absence of temporal dispersion, dispersion due to material and
waveguide dispersion is still limited. In single mode fibre dispersion is of the order of few pico-second.
 Losses in Fibre
 Attenuation means loss of light energy as light pulse propagates from one end of the fibre/cable to
other end.
 It is also called as signal loss or fibre loss. Fibre loss defines the number of repeaters required
between the transmitter and receiver.
 Attenuation is directly proportion to the length of fibre.
 Attenuation is defined as ratio of optical output power to input power in fibre of length L.
 Attenuation is defined as ratio of output optical power (P0) to the input optical power (Pi) in the
fibre of length L.

𝑷𝟎 𝒅𝑩
 𝜶 = 𝟏𝟎𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝜶 − 𝑨𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕
𝑷𝒊 𝑲𝒎

The various losses in the cable are

 Bending Scattering
 Absorption Dispersion
Bending Loss

The losses that arise due to bending of optical fibre is called bending losses. There are two types of bending –

I) Macroscopic bending: In which complete fibre undergoes bend which cause certain modes not to be reflected
and therefore causes loss to the cladding.

II) Microscopic Bending: Either core or cladding undergoes slight bends at its surface. So light is reflected at angles
and there is no further reflection.

Macroscopic bending Microscopic Bending

Absorption Loss

This is the important factor responsible for signal loss. In this loss, light energy is converted into other form of
energy such as heat. Absorption of light energy (photons) by ion impurities in the optical fibre. Impurities occurs
during fabrication process of the fibre.
Absorption Loss……………………..Continued

Absorption in optical fibres is explained by three main factors.

 Imperfection in atomic structure of the fibre material. Imperfection in atomic structure induces absorption by
presence of missing molecules.

 Intrinsic absorption – Material properties. Interaction of photon with one or more components of glass. Intrinsic
absorption occurs when photon interacts with a electron in valance band and excited it to higher energy level
near UV.
Other intrinsic absorption can be due to the absorption of light photons by the vibrational atomic bonds of Si-O
bond i.e. light energy is transferred to atomic bonds in IR region.

 Extrinsic absorption: Due to impurities ions in fibre. It results from the presence of transition metal ions like
Iron, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper and OH ions from H2O.

 If the optical fibre were absolutely pure, the absorption would be all intrinsic.

 Generally silica (pure glass) is used in fabrication of optical fibre. Silica is used because it exhibits low intrinsic
absorption at wavelength of operation.
Scattering Loss
Due to the imperfection in core material scattering
arises and leads to loss of signal. For. Example
presence of obstacle will change the direction of
light and ray might escape to cladding material.
Non uniformity in the core material is also reason
of scattering.

Scattering loss is not included in the

specification/data sheet of fiber. This loss is
included in total attenuation report.

Note: Bending and scattering losses are due to the

violation of total internal reflection condition.

Scattering loss
Dispersion loss:
Pulse distortion or pulse broadening. Dispersion is of two types in the optical fibre –
I) Intermodal dispersion:
This is pulse broadening arising because different modes takes different time in propagating through the
multimode fibre from one end to other end.

II) Intra-modal dispersion:

This is pulse spreading that occurs in single mode fibre.

 Material dispersion
 Waveguide dispersion

Material dispersion : Also known as chromatic dispersion or spectral dispersion. It is refractive index variation of
core with the wavelength. Pulse broadening will be in the pulse even different wavelength travel the same path.
This is because the optical path length travel by the different wavelength will be different.

Waveguide dispersion: Whenever, optical signal is passed through the optical fibre 80% light is confined to the
core and rest 20% in the cladding.
 wavelength

Zero dispersion
wavelength