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 MODULE 3: OPTICAL FIBER
Optical fibers:
Optical fibers are essential light guides used in optical communications as waveguides. They
are transparent dielectrics and able to guide visible and infrared light over long distance.
Construction:
An optical fiber consists of two parts made up of same material such as glass or plastic but of
slightly different refractive index. The inner cylinder is called core and the outer cylinder is
called cladding. The refractive index of core is slightly more than that of cladding. The
cladding is enclosed in a polyurethane jacket to safeguard the fiber from chemical reactions
corrosion and crushing.
Many such optical fibers put together forms cable.

Polyurethane
Jacket

Cladding

Core

Working principle of an optical fiber:

The light which enters into the core strikes the core and cladding interface at large angle of
incidence. The signal undergoes reflection called as Total Internal Reflection where it is
incident on the interface. The signal sustains the strength and confines within the core during
propagation. Thus the optical fibers function as a waveguide.

Cladding Core

Light ray

Light ray

Expression for Numerical Aperture:

Let n0, n1, and n2 be the refractive indices of surrounding medium, core and the cladding of
the optical fiber respectively. Let OA be the incident ray,  0 be the angle made by OA at the
fiber axis. OB is the refracted ray by making an angle 1 . The refracted ray OB grazes the
core and cladding interface for the angle of incidence 90 − 1 = C . Where  C is called as
critical angle.
If the incident ray OA is rotated about fiber axis keeping  0 constant, it forms the conical
surface. The light rays which are funneled into the cone undergo total internal reflection.
Hence the angle  0 is called the waveguide acceptance angle or the acceptance cone half
angle and sine  0 is called Numerical Aperture.

n2
1 B C
n0
1
Acceptance 0 O
n1
cone A

By applying Snell’s law to the ray OA the incident ray and OB the refracted ray.
n Sin  = n Sin1 ---------> (1)
0 0 1
By applying Snell’s law to the ray OB and BC
n1 Sin(90 − 1 ) = n2 Sin90 90 − 1 = C
n1Cos1 = n2
n
Cos1 = 2 --------> (2)
n1
n
By equation (1), Sin 0 = 1 Sin 1
n0
n
Sin 0 = 1 1 − Cos 21 --------> (3)
n0
Put the value of (2) in (3),
n
Cos 21 = 2
n1
n n
n2 n2 − n2
Sin 0 = 1 1 − 22 = 1 1 2 2
n0 n1 n0 n1
1
Sin = n2 − n2
0 1 2
n0
If the surrounding medium is air, then n0=1
Sin0 = n12 − n22 or N.A = n12 − n22

Condition for propagation:

If  i is the angle of incidence of an incident ray, then ray will be able to propagate if,  i   0
Sini  Sin 0 or Sini  n12 − n22 or Sini  N.A.
Fractional Index Change (  ):
The ratio of the refractive indices differences between the core and cladding to the refractive
index of core.
n −n
= 1 2
n1
Relation between  and N.A:
n1 − n2
=  n1 = n1 − n2
n1

N.A = n12 − n22

N.A. = (n1 − n2 )(n1 + n2 )

N.A. = n1 (n1 + n2 )

Since n1  n2 N.A. = n1 (2n1 ) = 2n12

N.A. = n1 2
As  increases, N.A. also increases and thus the light gathering capacity of the fiber also
increases.  Value cannot be increased to a large value as it leads to intermodal dispersion
which causes signal distortion.
Modes of Propagation:
The light that enters into the core within the acceptance angle, only the light waves in terms
of certain no. of modes will be sustained for propagation in the fiber.

V- number:
The no. of modes supported for propagation in the fiber is determined by a parameter called
V-number denoted as V.

d n12 − n22
V=
 n0

Where, d----> diameter of core, > Wavelength of the incident light,

n1-----> Refractive index of core, n2 ----- > Refractive index of cladding,
n0 -----> Refractive index of surrounding medium
If the surrounding medium is air, then n0=1
d
V = n12 − n22

For V>>1, the no. of modes supported by the fiber is given by,
2
No. of modes  V
2
Types of optical fibers:
Optical fiber has been classified into 3 categories based on refractive index profile, the curve
which represents the variation of refractive index w.r.t. the radial distance from the axis of the
fiber. They are

1) Single mode fiber

2) Step index multimode fiber
3) Graded index multimode fiber
1) Single mode fiber:
The core and cladding has uniform refractive index, but refractive index of cladding is
slightly lesser than that of core. The diameter of the core is 8to10 m and diameter of
cladding is 60to70 m . As the core diameter is small it can guide a single mode, hence called
as single mode fiber. Its refractive index profile takes the shape of a step. They need laser
source, less expensive. It is very difficult to splice. It finds its application in submarine cable
system.
60to70 m

Refractive Index
8to10 m

Radial Distance

Cladding

Core

Single mode fiber

2) Step index multimode fiber:

The core and the cladding diameter of step index multimode fiber is 50to200 m and
100to250 m respectively. Since the core diameter is larger the propagation of light rays is
also in large no. of modes. Its refractive index profile is also similar to that of a single mode
fiber but with a larger plane region for core. It uses LED or laser light source. It is least
expensive and finds its application in data links.
100to250 m
Refractive index

50to200
m

R Distance
Radial
e
 Step index multimode fiber

Cladding

Core

3) Graded index multimode fiber (GRIN):

The core and cladding diameter are 50 to 200µm and 100 to 250 µm respectively. Its core
material has special feature that its refractive index value decreases in the radially
outward direction from the axis and becomes equal to that of the cladding at the interface.
But the refractive index of the cladding remains uniform. Either laser or LED source is
used. It is most expensive; splicing can be done with some difficulty. It is used in
telephone trunk between the central offices.
100to250 m

50to200 Refractive index

m

Radial distance

Cladding

Core

Graded index multimode fiber

Attenuation:
Attenuation is the loss of power suffered by the optical signal as it propagates through the
fiber. It is also called the fiber loss.
There are three mechanisms through which attenuation can take place, they are,
1) Absorption 2) Scattering 3) Radiation loss
 1) Absorption losses:

a) Absorption by impurities: The transition metal ions such as iron, chromium, cobalt and
copper are present as impurities in the fiber glass. When photons interacts with these
impurities the electrons absorb the photons and get excited to higher energy level, during
de-excitation the absorbed energy is emitted either as heat energy or light energy which is
of no use, as it is of different wavelength or of different phase. Hence it is a loss. The
other impurity like OH (hydroxyl) ion which enters into the fiber during fabrication, has
reduced absorption.

b) Intrinsic absorption: The absorption that takes place in the fiber material assuming that
there are no impurities in it and that the material is free of all homogeneities is called
intrinsic absorption.

2) a) Scattering Losses: The sharp variation in refractive index value inside the fiber glass is
due to structural inhomogeneity set into glass constitution during its solidification from
molten state. When light travels through a medium having scattering objects whose
dimension is smaller than the wavelength. This kind of scattering is called as Rayleigh
scattering.

Cladding

Core

b) Others: There are other defects in the fiber in the form of trapped gas bubbles, unreacted
materials and some crystallized region in the glass causes scattering. But the latest
manufacturing methods makes these losses negligible compared to the Rayleigh
scattering.

3) Radiation losses:
a) Macroscopic bends: They are the bends of much larger radii compared to the diameter of
the fiber. These bends occur during wrapping of the fiber on a spool or turning it around a
corner. The loss will be negligible for small bends but increases rapidly until bending
reaches certain critical value, where total internal reflection is completely absent.
b) Microscopic bends: This type of bends is due to repetitive small scale fluctuations in the
linearity of the fiber axis. These bends occurs due to non-uniformity in the manufacturing
or due to lateral pressure created during cabling of the fiber this bends causes irregular
reflections and some of the light rays even leak through the fiber. By providing
polyurethane jacket and by keeping the fiber straight this kind of loss can be minimized.

Attenuation Coefficient:

When light travels in a medium, there will always be a loss in its intensity obeying Lambert’s
law with the distance travelled.

Using Lambert’s law attenuation coefficient  is given by,

− 10
= log  Pout  dB/km (dB => decibel)
10  
L P
 in 

Application of Optical Fiber:

1) Point to point communication system using optical fiber

The transmission of data between two devices using optical fiber is called point to point
communication, and is used in telephone trunk lines.

In point to point communication system the analog information such as voice from a
telephone is converted into binary electrical signals by coder. This Binary signal is
converted into optical signal of LED or LASER light form by optical transmitter. The
 optical signal passes through the optical fiber and reaches the receiving end by total
internal reflection. The signal is detected by the photo detector at the receiving end and is
converted to binary electrical signal. This binary signal is decoded in the decoder and
converted to voice form, and is received in the receiver.
2) In sensing devices to measure voltage, pressure or current.
3) In local area networks for communication purpose.
4) In data link cables for communication within the short distance.

Advantages of optical communication system:

1) Optical fiber can carry large amount of information.
2) Material used for making of optical fiber such as SiO2 and plastic are of low cost.
3) Light weight, compact and easy to transport.
4) As optical signals are transmitted in it no sparks are generated. Hence no corrosion and
flammable environment.
5) There is no leakage of signals.
6) Fiber cables easily adjust with the electronic systems.

Disadvantages of optical communication system:

1) The optical connector used to connect two fibers (splicing) is highly expensive.
2) There is a loss in the signal due to bends.
3) When there is a line break, the re-establishment of connection is highly skillful and time
consuming.
4) Fibers undergo expansion and contraction with temperature that upset critical alignments
which lead to loss in signal power.
 1. Local area Network:

A Local area network (LAN) is a type of computer network that interconnects multiple computers and
computer driven devices in a particular physics location. Traditionally copper coaxial cables are used for
LAN.

2. Passive Optical LAN:

Passive here refers to the unpowered condition of the fiber and splitting/combining components. Passive
optical LANs are built entirely using Optical fiber cables. The passive optical LAN is complicated as it works
on the concept of optical network terminals (ONT) and passive optical splitters. Network switches act as
passive splitters and the commercial media converters act as optical network terminals in a real time
application of passive optical LAN