Chapter 3

Attenuation, Bit rate, Dispersion, and Optical

bandwidth in Optical Fiber

Instructor:
Dr Ali A. Hammadi
 Attenuation
Long Distance Signal Transmission

attenuation and superior signal integrity found in optical systems The low
allow much longer intervals of signal transmission than metallic-based
systems. While single-line, voice-grade copper systems longer than a couple
of kilometers (1.2 miles) require in-line signal

repeaters for satisfactory performance, it is not unusual for optical

systems to go over 100 kilometers (km), or about 62 miles, with no active
or passive processing. Emerging technologies promise even greater
distances in the future
Optical power loss
 Power budget
A logical way to proceed with designing a fiber optic link involves
analyzing the fiber optic link power budget, also called an optical
link loss budget. Figure given below illustrates the key required
optical calculations for designing a fiber optic link. A practical link
must tolerate some range of optical loss. Ideally, but not always, it
should work back-to-back (i.e., with the shortest possible fiber).
And of course, it should work with some longer length of fiber. The
designer can often adjust any or all of these variables to create a
product that meets the needs of a given application.
Decibel (dB)
Exercise:

Given an optical fiber cable with a total loss of 10dB, If the power entering the fiber cable
is 5mW, then how much power is delivered to the receiver at the end of this combined
transmission line?
Attenuation (Exponential Decay) in Optical Fiber

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 Modal Dispersion

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 Modal Dispersion

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 Bit rate and Dispersion

In optical communications, signals are sent as light pulses along an optical

fiber. Information is first converted to an electrical signal in the form
of pulses that represent bits of information. The electrical signal drives
a laser diode whose light output is coupled into a fiber for transmission.
The light output at the destination end of the fiber is coupled to a
photodetector that converts the light signal back to an electrical signal.
The information bits are then decoded from this electrical signal.

Engineers are interested in the maximal rate at which the digital data
can be transmitted along a fiber. This rate is called the bit rate
capacity B (bits per second) of the fiber.

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Bit rate and Dispersion

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Optical and Electrical Bandwidth

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Exercise

A light pulse is injected in a silica optical fiber with core refractive index of 1.475 and cladding index
of 1.445, Calculate

a) Dispersion at the output side

b) the bit rate-distance product (BL), and

c) the optical and electrical bandwidths

Ali A. Hammadi