Sagar Institute of Science & Technology, SISTec

Gandhi Nagar, Bhopal

Made By:
Prof. Manish Soni
(Associate Prof. ECE Deptt )


Optical Fibre Communication
Systems
What is optical source
The optical source is often considered to be
the active component in an optical fiber
communication system.
Its fundamental function is to convert
electrical energy in the form of a current into
optical energy (light) in an efficient manner
which allows the light output to be effectively
launched or coupled into the optical fiber.
Types of optical source
Three main types of optical light source are
available. These are:
(i) wideband continuous spectra sources
(incandescent lamps);
(ii) monochromatic incoherent sources (light-
emitting diodes, LEDs);
(iii) monochromatic coherent sources (lasers).
Major requirements for an optical source
These two sources fulfill the major requirements for an optical
fiber emitter which are outlined below:
1. Highly directional:- A size and configuration compatible with
launching light into an optical fiber.
2. Linear:- Must accurately track the electrical input signal to
minimize distortion and noise.
3. Should emit light at wavelengths where the fiber has low losses
and low dispersion and where the detectors are efficient.
4. Wide bandwidth:- Preferably capable of simple signal
modulation over a wide bandwidth extending from audio
frequencies to beyond the gigahertz range.
Major requirements....
5. Must couple sufficient optical power to overcome
attenuation in the fiber plus additional connector
losses and leave adequate power to drive the detector.
6. Very narrow spectral bandwidth (linewidth):- in order
to minimize dispersion in the fiber.
7. stable optical output:- Must be capable of maintaining
a stable optical output which is largely unaffected by
changes in ambient conditions (e.g. temperature).
8. It is essential that the source is comparatively cheap
and highly reliable in order to compete with
conventional transmission techniques.

Absorption and emission of radiation
Different energy states for the atom correspond to
different electron configurations, and a single
electron transition between two energy levels within
the atom will provide a change in energy suitable for
the absorption or emission of a photon.

when the atom is initially in the higher energy state E2 it can make
a transition to the lower energy state E1 providing the emission of a
photon at a frequency corresponding to Eq.
E = (E2 E1) = hf, where h = 6.626 1034 J s is Plancks constant
This emission process can occur in two ways:
(a) by spontaneous emission in which the atom returns to the lower
energy state in an entirely random manner;
(b) by stimulated emission when a photon having an energy equal to
the energy difference between the two states (E2 E1) interacts
with the atom in the upper energy state causing it to return to the
lower state with the creation of a second photon.
The random nature of the spontaneous emission process gives
incoherent radiation. A similar emission process in semiconductors
provides the basic mechanism for light generation within the LED.
This spontaneous emission of light from within the diode
structure is known as electroluminescence. The light is
emitted at the site of carrier recombination which is primarily
close to the junction, although recombination may take place
through the hole diode structure as carriers diffuse away from
the junction region (see Figure). However, the amount of
radiative, recombination and the emission area within the
structure is dependent upon the semiconductor materials
used and the fabrication of the device.
Figure An illustration of carrier recombination giving spontaneous emission
of light in a pn junction diode
Direct and indirect bandgap semiconductors
Direct bandgap:- The most useful materials for
electroluminescence purpose are direct bandgap
semiconductors in which electrons and holes on either
side of the forbidden energy gap have the same value
of crystal momentum and thus direct recombination is
possible. This process is illustrated in Figure (a) when
electronhole recombination occurs the momentum of
the electron remains virtually constant and the energy
released, which corresponds to the bandgap energy Eg,
may be emitted as light. This direct transition of an
electron across the energy gap provides an efficient
mechanism for photon emission.
Indirect bandgap:- In indirect bandgap semiconductors,
however, the maximum and minimum energies occur at
different values of crystal momentum (Figure (b)).


Direct and indirect bandgap semiconductors
Figure: Energymomentum diagrams showing the types of transition:
(a) direct bandgap semiconductor; (b) indirect bandgap semiconductor
Table:- Some direct and indirect bandgap semiconductors with
calculated recombination coefficients
Direct and indirect bandgap semiconductors
The semiconductor materials used for optical sources must broadly
fulfill several criteria. These are as follows:
1. pn junction formation. The materials must lend themselves to the
formation of pn junctions with suitable characteristics for carrier
injection.
2. Efficient electroluminescence. The devices fabricated must have a
high probability of radiative transitions and therefore a high internal
quantum efficiency. Hence the materials utilized must be either
direct bandgap semiconductors or indirect bandgap semiconductors
with appropriate impurity centers.
3. Useful emission wavelength. The materials must emit light at a
suitable wavelength to be utilized with current optical fibers and
detectors (0.8 to 1.7 m). Ideally, they should allow bandgap
variation with appropriate doping and fabrication in order that
emission at a desired specific wavelength may be achieved.
Optical Fiber communications, 3
rd
ed.,G.Keiser,McGrawHill, 2000
Spectral width of LED types
Optical Fiber communications, 3
rd
ed.,G.Keiser,McGrawHill, 2000
Rate equations, Quantum Efficiency & Power of LEDs
When there is no external carrier injection, the excess density decays
exponentially due to electron-hole recombination.


n is the excess carrier density,



Bulk recombination rate R:




Bulk recombination rate (R)=Radiative recombination rate +
nonradiative recombination rate






t /
0
) (
t
e n t n

=
[4-4]
lifetime. carrier :
density electron excess injected initial :
0
t
n
t
n
dt
dn
R = =
[4-5]
) 1 rate( ion recombinat ve nonradiati ) 1 ( rate ion recombinat radiative
) 1 ( rate ion recombinat bulk
r nr nr r
/ R / R
/ R
= + =
= =
With an external supplied current density of J the rate equation for the electron-hole
recombination is:
region ion recombinat of thickness : electron; the of charge :
) (
d q
n
qd
J
dt
t dn
t
=
[4-6]
In equilibrium condition: dn/dt=0
qd
J
n
t
=
[4-7]
r nr r
nr
nr r
r
R R
R
t
t
t t
t
q =
+
=
+
=
int
Internal Quantum Efficiency & Optical Power
[4-8]
region active in the efficiency quantum internal :
int
q
Optical power generated internally in the active region in the LED is:

q v q
q
hcI
h
q
I
P
int int int
= =
[4-9]
region active current to Injected :
power, optical Internal :
int
I
P
External Quantum Eficiency






In order to calculate the external quantum efficiency, we need to
consider the reflection effects at the surface of the LED. If we consider
the LED structure as a simple 2D slab waveguide, only light falling
within a cone defined by critical angle will be emitted from an LED.
photons generated internally LED of No.
LED from emitted photons of No.
ext
= q
| | t |
t
q
|
d T
c
) sin 2 ( ) (
4
1
0
ext
}
=
[4-11]
2
2 1
2 1
) (
4
) 0 ( t Coefficien on Transmissi Fresnel : ) (
n n
n n
T T
+
= ~ |
[4-12]
2
1 1
ext 2
) 1 (
1
1 If
+
~ =
n n
n q [4-13]
2
1 1
int
int ext
) 1 (
power, optical emitted LED
+
~ =
n n
P
P P q
[4-14]
Modulation of LED
The frequency response of an LED depends on:
1- Doping level in the active region
2- Injected carrier lifetime in the recombination region, .
3- Parasitic capacitance of the LED
If the drive current of an LED is modulated at a frequency of the
output optical power of the device will vary as:



Electrical current is directly proportional to the optical power, thus we
can define electrical bandwidth and optical bandwidth, separately.
e
2
0
) ( 1
) (
i
P
P
et
e
+
=
[4-15]
i
t
current electrical : power, electrical :
) 0 (
log 20
) 0 (
10log BW Electrical
I p
I
) I(
p
) p(
(

=
(

=
e e
[4-16]
(

=
(

=
) 0 (
) (
log 10
) 0 (
) (
log 10 BW Optical
I
I
P
P e e
[4-17]
Optical Fiber communications, 3
rd
ed.,G.Keiser,McGrawHill, 2000
Light Source Material
Most of the light sources contain III-V ternary & quaternary
compounds.
by varying x it is possible to control the band-gap energy
and thereby the emission wavelength over the range of 800 nm to
900 nm. The spectral width is around 20 to 40 nm.
by changing 0<x<0.47; y is approximately 2.2x, the
emission wavelength can be controlled over the range of 920 nm to
1600 nm. The spectral width varies from 70 nm to 180 nm when the
wavelength changes from 1300 nm to 1600 nm. These materials are
lattice matched.

As Al Ga
x x 1
y 1 y x x 1
P As Ga In

Table : Some common material systems used in the fabrication of
electroluminescent sources for optical fiber communications
Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
For photonic communications requiring data rate 100-200 Mb/s with
multimode fiber with tens of microwatts, LEDs are usually the best
choice.
LED configurations being used in photonic communications:
1- Surface Emitters (Front Emitters)
2- Edge Emitters

Optical Fiber communications, 3
rd
ed.,G.Keiser,McGrawHill, 2000
Cross-section drawing of a typical
GaAlAs double heterostructure light
emitter. In this structure, x>y to provide
for both carrier confinement and optical
guiding.
b) Energy-band diagram showing the
active region, the electron & hole
barriers which confine the charge carriers
to the active layer.
c) Variations in the refractive index; the
lower refractive index of the material in
regions 1 and 5 creates an optical barrier
around the waveguide because of the higher
band-gap energy of this material.

) eV (
240 . 1
m) (
g
E
=
[4-3]
Planar LED
The planar LED is the simplest of the structures that are available
and is fabricated by either liquid- or vapor-phase epitaxial processes
over the whole surface of a GaAs substrate.
This involves a p-type diffusion into the n-type substrate in order to
create the junction Forward current flow through the junction gives
spontaneous emission and the device emits light from all surfaces.
However, only a limited amount of light escapes the structure due
to total internal reflection and therefore the radiance is low.
Dome LED
A hemisphere of n-type GaAs is formed
around a diffused p-type region. The
diameter of the dome is chosen to
maximize the amount of internal emission
reaching the surface within the critical
angle of the GaAsair interface. Hence this
device has a higher external power
efficiency than the planar LED. However,
the geometry of the structure is such that
the dome must be far larger than the
active recombination area, which gives a
greater effective emission area and thus
reduces the radiance.
DH surface-emitting LED (SLED)
Figure: The structure of an AlGaAs DH surface-emitting LED (SLED)
This type of surface emitter LED (SLED) has been widely
employed in OFC.
These structures have a low thermal impedance in the active
region allowing high current densities and giving high-radiance
emission into the optical fiber. Furthermore, considerable
advantage may be obtained by employing DH structures giving
increased efficiency as well as less absorption of the emitted
radiation.
The internal absorption in this device is very low due to the
larger bandgap-confining layers, and the reflection coefficient at
the back crystal face is high giving good forward radiance.
The power coupled Pc into a multimode step index fiber may be
estimated from the relationship : Pc = (1 r)AR
D
(NA)
2

r = Fresnel reflection coefficient at the fiber surface, A = smaller
of the fiber core cross-section or the emission area of the
source & R
D
= radiance of the source.

Figure: Small-area InGaAsP mesa-etched surface-emitting LED structure.
Previous structure allows significant lateral current spreading
(for contact diameters less than 25 m) which results in a
reduced current density as well as an effective emission area
substantially greater than the contact area.
mesa structure is a technique which has been used to reduce
the current spreading in very small devices as illustrated in
Figure.
In this case mesas with diameters in the range 20 to 25 m at
the active layer were formed by chemical etching.
These InGaAsP/InP devices which emitted at a wavelength of
1.3 m had an integral lens formed at the exit face of the InP
substrate in order to improve the coupling efficiency
particularly to single-mode fiber.
Figure : Structure of a stripe geometry DH AlGaAs Edge-emitting LED
It is another basic high-radiance structure currently used in
optical communication.
It takes advantage of transparent guiding layers with a very
thin active layer (50 to 100 m) in order that the light
produced in the active layer spreads into the transparent
guiding layers, reducing self-absorption in the active layer.
Most of the propagating light is emitted at one end face only
due to a reflector on the other end face and an antireflection
coating on the emitting end face. The effective radiance at the
emitting end face can be very high giving an increased
coupling efficiency into small NA fiber.
edge emitters couple more optical power into low NA (less
than 0.3) than surface emitters, whereas the opposite is true
for large NA (greater than 0.3).
The stripe geometry allows very high carrier injection densities for
given drive currents. Thus it is possible to couple a milliwatt of optical
power into low-NA (0.14) multimode step index fiber operating at
high drive currents (500 mA)
Edge emitters have a substantially better modulation bandwidth of
the order of hundreds of megahertz than comparable surface-
emitting structures with the same drive level.
In general it is possible to construct edge-emitting LEDs with a
narrower linewidth than surface emitters.
a number of ELED structures have been developed using the InGaAsP/
InP material system for operation at a wavelength of 1.3 m. A
common device geometry which has also been utilized for
AlGaAs/GaAs ELEDs is shown in next figure . This DH edge-emitting
device is realized in the form of a restricted length, stripe geometry
referred to as truncated stripe ELEDs.
This short stripe structure (around 100 m long) improves the
external efficiency of the ELED by reducing its internal absorption of
carriers.


Figure : Truncated stripe InGaAsP edge-emitting LED
To provide both high-speed
transmission and significant
launch powers into single-mode
fiber the two device structures
shown in the next slide.
The ELED in fig.(a) comprises a
mesa structure with a width of 8
m and a length of 150 m for
current confinement. The tilted
back facet of the device was
formed by chemical etching in
order to suppress laser oscillation.
The ELED active layer was heavily
doped with Zn to reduce the
minority carrier lifetime and thus
improve the device modulation
bandwidth. In this way a 3 dB
modulation bandwidth of 600
MHz was obtained.


(a) mesa structure ELED
Fig.(b) displays another advanced
InGaAsP ELED which was fabricated
as a V-grooved substrate BH device.
In this case the front facet was
antireflection coated and the rear
facet was also etched at a slat to
prevent laser action. This device,
which again emitted at a center
wavelength of 1.3 m, was reported
to have a 3 dB modulation
bandwidth around 350 MHz, with
the possibility of launching 30 W
of optical power into single-mode
fiber
Another device geometry which is providing significant benefits over
both SLEDs and ELEDs for communication applications is the
superluminescent diode or SLD.
This device type offers advantages of:
(i) High output power (around four to five times higher than ELED
(ii) Directional output beam; and
(iii) Narrow spectral linewidth.
The SLD has optical properties that are bounded by the ELED and the
injection laser.
The output of the SLD is spectrally broad (i.e. 20 to 150 nm) and
therefore exhibit sufficient output signal power & can be used as
broadband optical power sources.
Potential drawbacks associated with the SLD in comparison with
conventional LEDs are:-
(i) the nonlinear output characteristic.
(ii) The increased temperature dependence of the output power.
(iii) The required current density is substantially higher (three times),
necessitating high drive currents.



For operation the injected current is increased until stimulated
emission, and hence amplification, occurs (i.e. the initial step towards
laser action), but because there is high loss at one end of the device, no
optical feedback takes place. Therefore, although there is amplification
of the spontaneous emission, no laser oscillation builds up. However,
operation in the current region for stimulated emission provides gain
causing the device output to increase rapidly with increases in drive
current. High optical output power can therefore be obtained, together
with a narrowing of the spectral width.
An early SLD is shown in fig.(a) which employs a contact stripe together
with an absorbing region at one end to suppress laser action. Such
devices have provided peak output power of 60 mW at a wavelength of
0.87 m in pulsed mode. Antireflection coatings can be applied to the
cleaved facets of SLDs in order to suppress resonance. Such devices
have launched 550 W of optical power in multimode graded index
fiber of 50 m diameter at drive currents of 250 mA and 250 W into
single-mode fiber using drive currents of 100 mA.
Figure: Superluminescent LED structures: (a) AlGaAs contact stripe SLD
(b) high output power InGaAsP SLD
The structure of an InGaAsP/InP SLD is illustrated in Fig.(b).
The device which emits at 1.3 m comprises a buried active
layer within a V-shaped groove on the p-type InP substrate.
This technique provides an appropriate structure for high-
power operation because of its low leakage current.
a light diffusion surface is placed within this device. It is
applied diagonally on the active layer of length 350 m. It
serves to scatter the backward light emitted from the active
layer and thus decreases feedback into this layer. In addition,
an AR coating is provided on the output facet.
The LED has a following number of distinct advantages

1. Simpler fabrication. There are no mirror facets and in some
structures no striped geometry.
2. Cost. The simpler construction of the LED leads to much reduced cost
which is always likely to be maintained.
3. Reliability. The LED does not exhibit catastrophic degradation and
has proved far less sensitive to gradual degradation than the
injection laser. It is also immune to self-pulsation and modal noise
problems.
4. Generally less temperature dependence. The light output against
current characteristic is less affected by temperature than the
corresponding characteristic for the injection laser. Furthermore,
the LED is not a threshold device and therefore raising the
temperature does not increase the threshold current above the
operating point and hence halt operation.


5. Simpler drive circuitry. This is due to the generally lower drive
currents and reduced temperature dependence which makes
temperature compensation circuits unnecessary.
6. Linearity. Ideally, the LED has a linear light output against current
characteristic unlike the injection laser. This can prove
advantageous where analog modulation is concerned.
Drawbacks of LED
An incoherent light source as the emitted photons have
random phases.
Much wider spectral linewidth (30-40 nm) (app. 100 times
more than the injection laser)
Low output power.
Lower optical power coupled into a fiber (in W).
Usually lower modulation bandwidth.
Low E/O conversion efficiency