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Explain Ray Theory of Propagation?

Explain the Laws of Geometrical Optics. What are Meridional and Skew Rays?

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Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

Mar 30, 2023

Ray theory of propagation is a simplified approach used to analyze how light waves propagate and transmit through the fiber. According to the theory,
light travels through the fiber in the form of rays, following a straight path along the axis of the fiber, and obeys laws of geometrical optics. It is used to
get a clearer picture of light propagation along a fiber and approximate optical fibers' light acceptance and guiding properties.

Laws of geometrical optics

The three laws that describe the propagation of rays:

Light rays in a homogeneous media are straight lines.

Laws of reflection: Upon reflection from the boundary between two media of different refractive indices, the angle of reflection (θr) equals the angle
of incidence (θi ) with respect to the plane of incidence.

Snell’s law of refraction: The refracted ray will lie in the plane of incidence at the boundary between two media of different refractive indices.

n1 = refractive indices of first medium

n2 = refractive indices of second medium

θ1 = incident angle

θ2 = refracted angle

An optical fiber can carry two types of rays: meridional and skew.

Meridional rays

Meridional rays always pass through the fiber axis and give high optical intensity at the center of the fiber's core. They are used to illustrate the
fundamental transmission properties of optical fibers. It can further be classified as bound or unbound rays. Bound rays are the rays that remain in the
core and propagate along the fiber axis by total internal reflection. At the same time, unbound rays are rays that are refracted out of the fiber core. The
unbound rays result due to imperfections at the core-cladding interface that cause a part of the bound rays to be refracted out of the core into the
cladding and eventually escape from the fiber. In general, meridional rays follow the laws of reflection and refraction.
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Figure 1: Bound and Unbound rays

Skew rays

Skew rays are transmitted without passing through the fiber axis, giving low optical intensity at the center and high intensity towards the rim of the fiber.
The acceptance angle for skew rays is larger than that of meridional rays. It can be used to calculate light acceptance in an optical fiber.

The addition of skew rays increases

the amount of light capacity of a fiber, especially in fibers with large numerical aperture (N.A.).
the amount of loss in fiber.

These rays tend to propagate near the edge of the fiber core. A significant fraction of the skew rays trapped inside the fiber core is considered to be
leaky rays. Leaky rays totally reflect at the core-cladding boundary. However, these rays partially refract due to the curved nature of the fiber boundary.

Figure 2: Skew rays

Limitations of Ray theory

The ray model gives the impression that the energy is confined to the core during total internal reflection. However, in reality, the optical energy
spreads in the cladding region.
The discrete field patterns for propagation inside the fiber are not considered.
The ray model breaks down when the core size becomes comparable to the wavelength of light. Therefore, it is not entirely justified for a single
mode fiber. The theory only describes the direction of a plane wave component in the fiber. It does not consider interference among such
components.

The limitations of the Ray model are overcome in the wave model.

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