R4ET4002S

Optical Communication and Networks

B.Tech. Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering
Semester-VII
Dr. Meenakshi Bhaisare

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• The component of the plane wave in the x direction is reflected at the interface between
the higher and lower refractive index media.
• After total phase change (i.e. after two successive reflections at upper and lower interfaces
P and Q) is equal to 2mπ.
• Where m is an integer, then constructive interference occurs and a standing wave is
obtained in the x direction.
• Interface is formed at the lowest order (m=0) standing wave, with electric field maximum at
the center of the guide decaying towards zero at the boundary.
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• The stable field distribution in x direction with only a periodic z dependence is known as a
mode.
• The specific mode is obtained only when the angle between the propagation vectors or rays
and the interface have a particular value.
• The modes have periodic dependence of exp(-jβzz) where βz be propagation constant for the
mode.
• Assuming time dependency for monochromatic electromagnetic light field with angular
frequency ω of exp(jωt), the combined factor
exp [j(ωt- βz)] describes a mode propagating in z direction.

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• Physical model showing the ray
propagation and corresponding TE
field pattern for models (m=1,2,3)
in the planar dielectric guide.
• The m also denotes the number of
zeros in this transverse field pattern
(mode number).
• When the E is perpendicular to the
direction of propagation (Ez=0),
hence corresponding H is in the
direction of propagation.
• The above mode is called
Transverse Electric (TE).
• Alternately when E is in direction of
propagation (Hz=0) its TM.
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 Phase and group velocity
• Within all EMW, there are points of constant phase. For plane waves these constant phase
points form a surface which is referred to as wave front.
• As monochromatic lightwave propagates along a waveguide in the z direction these points of
constant phase travel at a phase velocity vp :

• However it is impossible to produce perfectly monochromatic lightwaves and light energy

composed of sum of plane wave components for different frequencies.

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• When a group of waves with closely similar frequencies propagate so that their resultant
forms a packet of waves.
• The formation of such a wave packet resulting from the combination of two waves of slightly
different frequency propagating together, at group velocity

• The group velocity is of greatest importance in

study of the transmission characteristics of
optical fibers.
• It relates the propagation characteristics of
observable wave groups or packets of light.

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• If propagation in an infinite medium of refractive index n1 is considered, then the propagation
constant:

• Phase velocity

• Group velocity

The parameter Ng is known as group index of the guide.

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• The exponentially decaying evanescent field in the cladding of the optical waveguide.

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• Cladding should be transparent to light at the wavelength over which the guide is to operate.
• Ideally the cladding should consist of solid material in order to avoid both damage to the
guide and the accumulation of foreign matter on the guide walls.
• The cladding thickness must be sufficient to allow the evanescent field to decay to a low value
or losses from the penetrating energy may be encountered.

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 Linearly polarized mode
• Within the dielectric cylinder, two modes TE (Ez=0) and TM (Hz=0) is obtained with planar
guide.
• Two integers l and m are necessary to specify modes for cylindrical waveguides like TElm and
TMlm.
• The mode due to skew ray propagation within fiber can be designated as HElm and EHlm
depending on the large contribution of H or E to the transverse field.
• Weakly guiding structure with relative index difference Δ<<1, corresponds to small grazing
angle θ. E.g. for optical communication fibers Δ is less than 3%.
• The above condition is known as weakly guiding structures with dominant forward
propagation.
• The approximate solutions for full set of HE, EH, TE and TM modes may be given by the
linearly polarized components.

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• Linearly polarized modes are not exact modes of the fiber except for the fundamental modes
(lowest order).
• As Δ in weakly guiding fibers is very small, then HE-EH mode pairs occur which have almost
same propagation constants, known as degenerate modes.
• The superposition of these degenerating modes characterized by common propagation
constant correspond to particular LP modes regardless of HE,EH, TE or TM field configurations.

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 Electric field
intensity profile

• Lower order Linearly polarized modes and

traditional exact modes from which they are
formed.
• (a) LP mode designations, (b) exact mode
• (c) electric field distribution of the exact
modes
• (d) intensity distribution of Ex for exact modes
indicating the electric field intensity profile.
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• For HE and EH modes the subscript l in LP notation corresponds to HE and EH with labels l+1
and l-1.
• Electric field intensity profile for exact modes, showing the field strength in the transverse
direction (Ex or Ey) is identical for the modes belongs to same LP mode (linearly polarized).
• Propagation constants of the guided modes β ,
• Normalized frequency V

Here k is the propagation constant for light in a vacuum and a is the radius of the fiber core.
• When V is used in the context of planar waveguide, V is sometimes known as normalized film
thickness as it relates to thickness of the guide layer.
• Normalized frequency can be expresses in terms of numerical aperture (NA) and relative
refractive index difference Δ.

• Also called V number or value of the fiber.

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 Step index fibers
• Step index fiber because the refractive index profile makes a step change at core-cladding
interface.

• Multimode step index fiber and single-mode step index fiber.

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• For lower bandwidth applications multimode fibers have several advantages over single-mode
fibers:
• The use of spatially incoherent optical source (LED) which cannot be efficiency coupled to
single-mode fibers.
• Larger numerical apertures, as well as core diameters facilitating easier coupling to optical
sources
• Lower tolerance requirements on fiber connectors.

• Total number of guided modes or mode volume Ms for a step index, for multimode step index
fiber :

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• Graded index fibers do not have a constant refractive index in the core but a decreasing core
index n(r) with radial distance from a maximum value of n1 at the axis to a constant value n2
beyond the core radius a in the cladding.

• Here relative index difference Δ and α is the profile parameter which gives the characteristic
refractive index profile of the fiber core.
• For step index α = ∞ ,
• parabolic when α = 2 and triangular when α = 1.

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• Graded index fibers also referred to as inhomogeneous core fiber.
• In general graded index fibers are used with the parabolic refractive index profile.

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• For graded index fibers the numerical aperture is a function of radial distance from the fiber
axis.
• Graded index fibers accept less light than corresponding step index fibers with the same
relative refractive index difference.
• Total number of guided modes or mode volume Mg by graded index fiber

• The normalized frequency V for fiber when Δ<<1 is approximately

• Parabolic refractive index profile core fiber (α = 2), Mg~V2/4

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 Single-mode fibers
• The advantage is that the signal dispersion caused by the delay differences between modes in
a multimode fiber may be avoided.
• For transmission of single mode the fiber must be designed to allow propagation of only one
mode, while all other modes are attenuated by leakage or absorption.
• For single-mode operation, only fundamental LP01 mode can exist, hence the limit of single-
mode operation depends on the lower limit of guided propagation for LP11 mode.
• The cutoff normalized frequency for LP11 mode in step index fibers occurs at Vc= 2.405.
• Thus for single-mode propagation of LP01 mode in step index fibers is 0 ≤ V < 2.405.
• Single-mode in graded index fiber is given by :
/

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 Cutoff wavelength
• Theoretical cutoff wavelength λc for single-mode operation
/

• Here Vc is the cutoff normalized frequency and λc is the wavelength above which a particular
fiber becomes single-moded.

For step index fiber where Vc =2.405,

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 Effective refractive index
• Effective refractive index for single-mode fiber, also referred to as phase index or normalized
phase change coefficient neff

• Here wavelength of the fundamental mode λo1 is smaller than the vacuum wavelength λ by
the factor of 1/neff:

• The effective refractive index can be considered as an average over the refractive index of the
medium.

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