Properties of Light

Reflection

Refraction

Dispersion

Diffraction

Polarization

Interference
Q1: What does the refractive index of a dielectric material refer to?

Ans: The refractive index of a material is defined as the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum
to the speed of light in that material (of greater density).

Q2: How do you calculate refractive index?

Ans: n=c/v

Q3: What is unit of refractive index?

Ans: It has no units (because it is a ratio).

Q4: On what factors refractive index depends?

Ans: Refractive Index of a medium depends upon:

The wavelength of the light
Density of the medium
Temperature.
 Light travels more quickly through water than through glass.

Which is optically denser: water or glass?

Light travels more slowly in an optically dense medium than in one that is less dense
Q5: Which medium has highest refractive index?
Ans: The highest refractive index is of Diamond = 2.42
Refractive index of ruby is 1.77
Refractive index of glass is 1.5
Refractive index of water is 1.33
Refractive index of air is 1

Q6: What does a high refractive index mean?

Refractive index is a measure of how much speed of light changes when it enter the medium
from air.

Ans: The higher the refractive index the slower the light travels, which causes a
correspondingly increased change in the direction of the light within the material.
An optical fiber communication system is similar in basic concept to any type of communication
system.

A block schematic of a general communication system is shown in Figure (a)

(a) The general communication system.

For optical fiber communications the system shown in Figure (a) may be considered in detail,
as given in Figure (b).

(b) The optical fiber communication system

The information source provides an electrical signal to a transmitter.

The optical source [ may be either a semiconductor laser or light-emitting diode (LED) ]
provides electrical–optical conversion.

The transmission medium consists of an optical fiber cable .

The receiver consists of an optical detector which provides demodulation of the

optical carrier.

Photodiodes [ p–n, p–i–n or avalanche ], phototransistors and photoconductors are

used for the detection of the optical signal and the optical–electrical conversion.
(a) Enormous bandwidth.

(b) Small size and weight.

(c) Electrical isolation.

(d) Immunity to interference and crosstalk.

(e) Signal security.

(f) Low transmission loss.

(g) Ruggedness and flexibility.

(h) System reliability and ease of maintenance.

(i) Low cost.

• optical fibers are utilized as a communications medium

• optical fiber (transparent dielectric rod, typically of silica glass) with dimensions
approximating to those of a human hair
• Figure 2.1 shows a transparent core with a refractive index surrounded by a transparent
cladding of lower refractive index .
❖ To consider the propagation of light within an optical fiber utilizing the ray theory,
It is necessary to take account of the refractive index of the medium.
When a ray is incident on the interface between two dielectrics of differing refractive indices
(e.g. glass–air), refraction occurs, as illustrated in Figure 2.2(a).
 core-cladding interface

Total internal reflection: is the mechanism by which light propagate down an optical fiber.
θa is the maximum angle (or acceptance angle) at which light enter the fiber to be propagated.
• a ray A enters the fiber core at an angle θa and is refracted at the air–core interface before
transmission to the core–cladding interface at the critical angle.

• Hence, any rays which are incident into the fiber core at an angle greater than θa will be
transmitted to the core–cladding interface at an angle less than φc, and will not be totally
internally reflected. This situation is illustrated, where the ray B at an angle greater than θa is
refracted into the cladding and lost by radiation.

Thus for rays to be transmitted by total internal reflection, they must be incident
on the fiber core within an acceptance cone defined by the conical half angle θa.