ECE 4853: Optical Fiber Communication

Waveguide/Fiber Modes
(Slides and figures courtesy of Saleh & Teich)
(Modified, amended and adapted by R. Winton)

From the movie

Warriors of the Net

Waves bounded by geometry: optical

waveguide mode patterns
Optical Waveguide
mode patterns
seen in the end
faces of small
diameter fibers

Optics-Hecht & Zajac Photo by Narinder Kapany

E&M wave bound by two metallic planes:

Wave path analysis

The planar mirror waveguide can be

solved by starting with Maxwells Equations
and the boundary condition that the
parallel component of the E field vanish
at the mirror or by considering that plane
waves already satisfy Maxwells equations
and they can be combined at an angle so that
the resulting wave duplicates itself

Fundamentals of Photonics - Saleh and Teich

Mode number and wave context (metallic reflections)

Fundamentals of Photonics - Saleh and Teich

Mode velocity and polarization degeneracy

Group Velocity derived

by considering the mode
from the view of rays and
geometrical optics

TE and TM mode polarizations

Fundamentals of Photonics - Saleh and Teich

Planar slab dielectric wave guide

Geometry of planar dielectric guide

Characteristic equation and

self-consistency condition for
identifying allowed values of m
(Characteristic equation = consequence of either geometrical or E&M
wave propagation analysis)

Fundamentals of Photonics - Saleh and Teich

Planar slab dielectric wave guide modes

The m must be between that expected for
a plane wave in the core and that
expected for a plane wave in the cladding
Number of modes
vs frequency

Propagation Constants
Note: For a sufficiently
low frequency only 1
mode can propagate

Planar dielectric layer bound modes and

evanescent penetration into cladding

The field components have a transverse variation across the

guide. There are more nodes for higher-order modes. The
changed boundary conditions for the dielectric interface result
in an evanescent penetration into the cladding.
Fundamentals of Photonics - Saleh and Teich

Dielectric layer bounded waves

The ray model is mathematically accurate for dielectric

guides if the additional phase shift due to the evanescent
wave is acknowledged.

Waveguides obey Maxwell equations, which for simple,

isotropic dielectric material with no free charges are:

(Faraday law, Gauss law)

(Ampere law, Gauss law)

And the relationships between field types (for simple,

isotropic dielectric material with no free charges) are:

And if we put all of these equations together (vector analysis) we

end up with the wave equation:

which is the same for the magnetic field:

The rectangular cross-section has the simplest mathematics. The

wave equation in rectangular coordinates is

Which, using

or
or (simpler)

becomes

The mathematics that fit the rectangular geometry (shown) and this
equation are in the form of sin( ) and cos( ) functions.
For example the Ez = 0 (TE mode forms) will be:

And there are two mode numbers, one for each geometrical dimension:
m = mode number for x-direction = number of within boundaries x = [0, a]
n = mode number for y-direction = number of within boundaries y = [0, b]

Typical end-view representations of some of these modes

Two Dimensional Rectangular Planar Guide

In two dimensions the transverse field depends on both kx and ky

and the number of modes goes as the square of d/
The number of modes is limited by the maximum angle c that can
propagate
Fundamentals of Photonics - Saleh and Teich

Modes in cylindrical optical fiber are determined

by the wave equation(s) in cylindrical coordinates:
2 E z 1 E z
1 2 Ez
2

q
Ez 0
2
2
2
r r r
r
2 H z 1 H z
1 2H z
2

q
Hz 0
2
2
2
r r
r
r

Solutions to cylindrical wave equation

are separable in r, , and z. The and z functions are
exponentials of the form ei. The z function is a propagation
oscillation. The function in is an azmuthal function that must
have the same value at ( + 2) that it does at .
With the azmuthal coordinate separated, the residual wave
equation in the r coordinate is of the form

This is called Bessels equation and will have solutions that are
(a) Bessel functions of the first kind (for the core) and (b) of
second kind (for the cladding). The solutions for the core and
cladding regions must match at the boundary.

Solutions to the cylindrical wave equation

for core/cladding optical fiber profile
For r < a (core), Bessel function = first kind, J(ur),
where u2 = k2 2 and < ( k = k1) required.
For r > a (cladding), Bessel function = second kind = K(wr),
where w2 = 2 k2and < ( k = k2) required

Both kinds of Bessel functions are shown below, plots taken from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessel_function

Bessel functions (shown) are not unlike sin(mx) cos(mx) functions

associated with the rectilinear geometries, except their mahematical
profile is in the r coordinate. Jn(x) is not a closed function but one
generated by an infinite series.

D. Gloge, Weakly guided fibers, Applied Optics, Oct 1971, pp 2252 - 2257

Step index cylindrical waveguide: Bessel

function boundary matching

Step index cylindrical waveguide: Graphical

solutions to boundary matching

Roots defined by:

Defining parameters for cylindrical functions

For the Bessel equation q2 = 2 2

= k 2 2.

q2 is defined as u2 for r < a.

q2 is defined as -w2 for r > a.
= Z is the z component of the propagation constant k = 2/. The boundary
conditions for the Bessel equations can be solved only for certain values of , so
only certain modes exist.

A mode is guided if (n2k = k2) < < (k2 = n2k) where n1, n2 = refractive indices of
core and cladding, respectively.

Combined parameter (normalized frequency parameter)

An index value V, defined as the normalized frequency is used to
determines how many different guided modes a (fiber can support.

The normalized frequency is related to the cylindrical geometry by

V = (2ax(NA)
for which a = radius of the core.

- Mode Diagram

Straight lines of d/d correspond to the group velocity of the different

modes. The group velocities of the guided modes all lie between the phase
velocities for plane waves in the core or cladding c/n1 and c/n2

Types of cylindrical modes defined by

the cylindrical Bessel functions

The E field component is transverse to the z direction. Ez = 0 and it is a TEm

mode.

The H field component is transverse to the z direction. Hz = 0 and it is a

TMm mode.

If neither Ez nor Hz = 0 then it is a hybrid mode.

If transverse H field is larger, Hz < Ez and it is an HEm mode.
If transverse E field is larger, Ez < Hz and it is an EHm mode.

For weakly guided fibers (small ), these type of modes become degenerate
and combine into linearly polarized LPjm modes.

Each mode has a subscript of two numbers, and m. The first is the order
of the Bessel function and the second identifies which of the various roots
meets the boundary condition. If the first subscript = 0, the mode is
meridional. Otherwise, it is skew.

End view, cylindrical modes

Fiber Optics Communication Technology-Mynbaev & Scheiner

Cylindrical mode characteristics

Each mode has a specific
Propagation constant (=z)
Spatial field distribution
Polarization

Step index cylindrical waveguide: mode frequency

Fundamentals of Photonics - Saleh and Teich

Oblique view, cylindrical modes

Superposition gives linearly polarized modes

Composition of two LP11 modes from TE, TM and HE modes

Composition of LP (linearly polarized) modes

Mode degeneracy = modes that can

exist concurrently and independently
LP01 degeneracy:

LP11 degeneracy:

High Order Fiber Modes 2

Fiber Optics Communication Technology-Mynbaev & Scheiner

Below V=2.405, only one mode (= HE11) can be guided;

the fiber is then single-mode.

Number of Modes

Propagation constant of the lowest

mode vs. V number

V=k 0a(n1 -n2 )=2p

a
NA
0

an 2

1

0

Fundamentals of Photonics - Saleh and Teich

Graphical Construction
to estimate the
total number of Modes

Approximations:
Step index fiber:
The number of modes will be defined
(approximately) by
Low V,
higher V,

M4V2/2+2
MV2/2

Behavior of modes vs normalized propagation

constant /k and cutoff.

Cutoff conditions and evanescent content.

For each mode, there is some value of the normalized frequency V

below which the mode will not be contained (and guided) because the
Bessel function (of the second kind) for the cladding does not go to
zero with increasing r. The evanescent content of the mode is
increased as the boundary condition is approached.

Below V = 2.405, only one mode (= HE11) can exist in the fiber.
It is then called a single-mode fiber.

Based on V, the number of modes can be reduced by decreasing the

core radius and by decreasing the relative refractive index between
core and cladding.

Single-mode fibers: V < 2.405

The only mode that can exist is the HE11 mode.

Birefringence if n1x and n1y are different.

Graded-index Fiber:

n r n1 1 2

for r between 0 and a.

for which the number of modes is

akn1 2
M
2

Summary: comparison of the number of modes

The V parameter characterizes
the number of wavelengths that
can fit across the core guiding
region in a fiber.

1-D: reflecting metallic planes

1-D: Dielectric slab planes

For the metallic guide the

number of modes is just the
number of wavelengths that
can fit.

2-D: Rectangular Metallic guide

For dielectric guides it is the

number that can fit but now
limited by the angular cutoff
characterized by the NA of the
guide

2-D: Rectangular dielectric guide

2-D: Cylindrical Dielectric Guide

V=2p

a
NA
0

Power propagated along the core

For each mode, the radial profile of the Bessel function J(ua)
determines how much of the optical power propagates along the
core, with the rest going down the cladding.
The propagation is cited in terms of a weighted index. The
effective index of the fiber is the weighted average of the core and
cladding indices and is based on how much power propagates in
each regime.
For multimode fiber, each mode has a different effective index.
This is another way of understanding the different speed that
optical signals have in different modes.

Total energy (power dissipated) in the cladding

The total average power propagated in the cladding
is approximately equal to

Pclad
4

P
3 M

Power Confinement vs V-Number

This shows the fraction of the power

that is propagating in the cladding
vs the V number for different modes.
V for constant wavelength, and material
indices of refraction is proportional to
the core diameter a
As the core diameter is decreased, more
and more of each mode propagates in
the cladding. Eventually it all propagates
in the cladding and the mode is no longer
guided
(Note misleading ordinate label)

Macrobending Loss

One thing that the geometrical ray view point cannot calculate is the amount of bending loss
encountered by low order modes. Loss goes approximately exponentially with decreasing radius
untill a discontinuity is reached.when the fiber breaks!