Fibre Optics (L1&L2)

Fibre optics or optical fibres refers to the technology that transmit information as light signal
or pulses through a thin glass or plastic fibre. The diameter of optical fibre can be as thin as
human hair. Therefore, an optical fibre is a transparent conduit, made of glass or plastic, which
can guide light waves along its length.

Principle:
An optical fibre works on the principle of total internal reflection. When light enters one end
of the fibre, it undergoes successive total internal reflections from sidewalls and propagates
through the length of the fibre along a zigzag path as shown in Fig. 1. A small fraction of light
may escape through sidewalls but a major fraction emerges out from the exit end of the fibre.

Fig. 1: Schematic diagram of the propagation of light through an optical fibre

Structure of an optical fibre:

Practically, the shape of an optical fibre is cylindrical in shape and has in general three coaxial
regions such as core, cladding and sheath or protective buffer coating as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2: (a) Side view and (b) cross sectional view of an optical fibre.

Core: It is the innermost cylindrical light guiding region. In general the diameter of the core
is of the order of 8.5 µm to 62.5 µm.

Cladding: It is the coaxial middle region which surrounds the core. The refractive index of
the cladding should be lower than the core. The primary object of the cladding is to confine the
light inside the core to propagate through the fibre.

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Moreover, the cladding maintains uniform size of the fibre, protects the walls of the fibre from
physical damage and reduces the size of the cone of light that will be trapped in the fibre.

Sheath or protective buffer coating: The outermost region of an optical fibre is called
the sheath or protective buffer layer. It is plastic coating applied during the manufacturing
process to provide physical and environmental protection for the fibre.

Critical angle and total internal reflection:

Fig. 3: Phenomenon of total internal reflection

When an electromagnetic wave travels from denser to rarer medium, it is bent away from the
normal in the rarer medium which is shown in the Fig. 3 (a).
Snell’s law for this can be written as
𝑛
Sin 𝜃2 = 𝑛1 Sin 𝜃1 , 𝑛1 > 𝑛2 (1)
2

Where 𝜃1 is the angle of incidence of light ray in denser medium (refractive index: 𝑛1 ) and 𝜃2
is the angle of refraction in the rarer medium (refractive index: 𝑛2 ).
The incidence angle, 𝜃1 in the denser medium at which the refracted ray glides along the
boundary surface so that 𝜃2 = 90° [Fig. 3(b)] is called critical angle, 𝜃𝑐 . If the angle of
incidence is greater than 𝜃𝑐 then all rays reflected back to the denser medium which is called
total internal reflection as shown in Fig. 3(c).
Now, when 𝜃1 = 𝜃𝑐 , 𝜃2 = 90°
Therefore, from equation (1), we get
𝑛1 Sin 𝜃𝑐 = 𝑛2 Sin 90°
𝑛
=> Sin 𝜃𝑐 = 𝑛2 (2)
1

Using equation (2), we can determine the critical angle for a particular core-clad interface of
an optical fibre.

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Propagation of light through an optical fibre:
Light propagates as an electromagnetic wave through an optical fibre. However, the light
propagation through an optical fibre can as well be understood on the basis of ray model.
According to the ray model, light rays entering the fibre strike the core-clad interface at
different angles. As the refractive index of the cladding is lower than that of the core, majority
of the rays undergo total internal reflection at the interface and the angle of reflection is equal
to the angle of incidence in each case. Thus the rays travel forward direction through the fibre
via a series of total internal reflection and emerge out from the exit end of the fibre which is
shown in Fig. 4. Since there is minimal loss of energy due to total internal reflection, optical
fibre can carry the light waves over very long distances.

Fig. 4: Propagation of light rays through an optical fibre due to total internal reflection.
To propagate light through an optical fibre, the following two conditions must be satisfied
 The refractive index of the core material (𝑛1 ) must be greater than that of the cladding
(𝑛2 ).
 At the core cladding interface, the angle of incidence between the incident ray and the
normal to the surface must be greater than the critical angle. The ray incident at smaller
angles than the critical angle are refracted into the cladding and are lost.

Acceptance angle and numerical aperture:

Fig. 5: Geometry for the calculation of acceptance angle of an optical fibre

Let us consider a step index optical fibre into which light is launched at one end as shown in
Fig. 5. Let the refractive indices for the core and cladding be 𝑛1 and 𝑛2 respectively (𝑛1 > 𝑛2 ).

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Let 𝑛0 be the refractive index of launching medium and 𝜃𝑖 be the incident angle at launching
medium. The ray refracts at an angle 𝜃𝑟 and strikes the core cladding interface at angle ϕ. If ϕ
> ϕc (critical angle) then light rays undergo total internal reflection at the interface.
Applying Snell’s law at the launching zone,
Sin 𝜃𝑖 𝑛1
=
Sin 𝜃𝑟 𝑛0
𝑛
=> Sin 𝜃𝑟 = (𝑛0 ) Sin 𝜃𝑖 (3)
1

If we increase 𝜃𝑖 , 𝜃𝑟 will also increase but ϕ will decrease and for a certain vale of 𝜃𝑖 , ϕ will
be less than the critical angle (ϕc) . At this point total internal reflection will not occur and the
light rays escape from the side walls of the fibre.
So, the largest value of 𝜃𝑖 occurs when ϕ = ϕc
Now, from ∆ ABC, we get
𝜃𝑟 = 90 − ϕ
=> Sin 𝜃𝑟 = Sin(90 − ϕ)
=> Sin 𝜃𝑟 = Cos ϕ
𝑛
=> (𝑛0 ) Sin 𝜃𝑖 = Cos ϕ (Using equation (3))
1

𝑛
=> Sin 𝜃𝑖 = (𝑛1 ) Cos ϕ (4)
0

If the launching zone is air, then 𝑛0 = 1 and if ϕ = ϕc, then 𝜃𝑖 = 𝜃𝑖(max) = 𝜃0

Therefore, equation (4) becomes Sin 𝜃0 = 𝑛1 Cos ϕ𝑐 (5)

Now critical angle at the core-cladding interface can be written as
𝑛2
Sin ϕ𝑐 =
𝑛1

Therefore, Cos ϕ𝑐 = √(1 − (Sin ϕ𝑐 )2 )

√(𝑛12 −𝑛22 )
=> Cos ϕ𝑐 = (6)
𝑛1

Substituting equation (6) in (5), we get

Sin 𝜃0 = √(𝑛12 − 𝑛22 ) (7)

=> 𝜃0 = sin−1√(𝑛12 − 𝑛22 ) (8)

The angle 𝜃0 is called the acceptance angle of the fibre.

Acceptance angle is the maximum angle of incidence at the interface of launching medium
and the core for which light ray propagate through the fibre. In other words, it is the maximum

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angle that a light ray can have relative to the axis of the fibre and propagate down the fibre. It
depends on the refractive indices of the core and cladding material.
In three dimensions, the light rays contained within the cone having a full angle 2𝜃0 are
accepted and transmitted along the fibre (shown in Fig 5). Therefore, the cone is called the
acceptance cone.
𝐒𝐢𝐧 𝜽𝟎 is the numerical aperture (NA) of the optical fibre. The physical significance of the
numerical aperture is the light gathering ability of an optical fibre.

As from equation (7), Sin 𝜃0 = √(𝑛12 − 𝑛22 ), therefore, numerical aperture depends only on the
refractive indices of the core and cladding materials and doesn’t depends on the physical
dimension of the fibre. A large NA implies that a fibre will accept large amount of light from
the source.

Numerical aperture (NA) in terms of index difference (∆𝑛):

Let 𝑛1 and 𝑛2 are the refractive index of the core and cladding of an optical fibre, such that
𝑛1 ∿ 𝑛2 and ∆𝑛 = 𝑛1 − 𝑛2 . So, 𝑛1 + 𝑛2 = 2𝑛1

Therefore from equation (7), 𝑁𝐴 = Sin 𝜃0 = √(𝑛12 − 𝑛22 )

=> Sin 𝜃0 = √(𝑛1 − 𝑛2 )(𝑛1 + 𝑛2 )

=> 𝐒𝐢𝐧 𝜽𝟎 = √𝟐𝒏𝟏 ∆𝒏

Numerical aperture (NA) in terms of relative/fractional refractive index (∆):

The fractional difference ∆ between the refractive indices of the core (𝑛1 ) and the cladding
(𝑛2 ) is known as the fractional refractive index change. It is express as
𝑛1 − 𝑛2
∆=
𝑛1
=> 𝑛1 ∆ = 𝑛1 − 𝑛2 (9)
Let, 𝑛1 ∿ 𝑛2 therefore, 𝑛1 + 𝑛2 = 2𝑛1

From equation (7) 𝑁𝐴 = Sin 𝜃0 = √(𝑛12 − 𝑛22 )

=> Sin 𝜃0 = √(𝑛1 − 𝑛2 )(𝑛1 + 𝑛2 )

=> Sin 𝜃0 = √𝑛1 ∆ (2𝑛1 ) (using equation (9))

=> 𝐒𝐢𝐧 𝜽𝟎 = 𝒏𝟏 √𝟐∆