Optical Fiber Communications

Sec2
Types of Optical Fibers:

1. With respect to fabricated material

2. w.r.t refractive index profile : ncore
3. w.r.t modes
4. w.r.t Activity
5. w.r.t λ
1. With respect to fabricated material:

 Glass core and glass cladding

Low loss – long distances – high cost

 Glass core with plastic cladding

Medium loss – Medium distances – Medium cost

 Plastic core and Plastic cladding

high loss – short distances – low cost
2. w.r.t refractive index profile : ncore
A. Step - index fiber

cladding n2

Core n1

n2
B. Graded - index fiber:
3. w.r.t modes:
Mode (Ray Optics): a particular light ray travelling in the fiber at a particular angle.

A. Single Mode fibers(SMF)

only one mode can propagate through it.
B. Multi-mode fibers (MMF)
More than one mode can propagate through it.

a. Multimode step index

b. Multimode graded index
4. w.r.t Activity:
losses
 Passive :
O.F
- Optical signal losses
- conventional O.F cable

 Active :
used in optical amplifiers (Ex: EDFA)
EDFA : Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier

5. w.r.t λ:
At 850 nm or 1310 nm or at 1550 nm
Compare between SMF and MMF?

Single mode Fiber (SMF) Multi mode Fiber (MMF)

•
Modes Support only one mode Support more only one
mode
Ref. index profile Step index Step index or graded index

Core diameter (2a) Small (≈ 8 μm) Large (≈ 50 μm)

NA Small Large
Optical source Laser diode (LD) LEDs
Coupling with opt. Difficult Easier
source
Dispersion No intermodal dispersion Large intermodal dispersion

Δ Very small, from 0.2 to 1 percent Large, from 1 to 3 percent

Applications. high data rates, Medium data rates,
very long-distance short-medium distance
SMF and MMF
Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF)

• A PCF has a geometric arrangement of air holes that run along the whole length of the
fiber.
• The core of the PCF can be solid or hollow

• Depending on the PCF structure, light is guided along the fiber either by TIR or by a
band gap effect.
• Advantages of PCF over conventional fibers:
 very low losses, the ability to transmit high optical power levels
 can support single mode operation 300- 2000 nm
Types of Modes in O.F:

1. Guided Modes
2. Radiation modes (Refracted modes or cladding modes)
3. Leaky modes (Evanescent modes)