• Acceptance angle

•Numerical Aperture
 Acceptance Angle

• The maximum angle of incidence at the end face of an

Optical fiber for which the light ray can be propagated
along Core-Cladding interface is known as Acceptance
angle.
 Core-Cladding interface

θr
θ
Core n1
θr
θi A
C Fiber axis

Cladding n2
Incident light ray
Applying Snell’ s law for Air-Core media

n0 sin  i  n1 sin  r ..............(1)

from the right angle triangle ABC
 r    90 0

 r  90  
0

n0 sin  i  n1 sin( 900   )

n0 sin  i  n1 cos 
n1
sin  i  cos  .........(2)
n0
when   critical angle ( c )   i   m
n1
sin  m  cos  c ................(3)
n0
according to law of refraction
n1 sin i  n2 sin r
i   c  r  900
n2
sin  c  sin 900
n1
n2
sin  c 
n1
n2 2
cos  c  1  sin  c  1  ( )
2

n1

n1  n2
2 2

cos  c  ............(4)
n1
 substitute equation (4) in (3)

n1 n2
2 2
n1
sin  m 
n0 n1
if the medium surroundin g the fiber is air , then n0  1

sin  m  n1 n2
2 2

 max  sin 1
n1  n2
2 2

Which is required expression for Acceptance Angle in

optical fibers.
 Numerical Aperture
NA  sin  max
• The light gathering capacity of an
optical fiber is known as Numerical sin  max  n1  n2
2 2

Aperture and it is proportional to

Acceptance Angle. NA  n1  n2
2 2

• It is numerically equal to sine of NA  (n1  n2 )( n1  n2 )

Acceptance Angle.
  (n1  n2 ) / n1
NA   (n1  n2 )

The ratio between the difference n1  n2

in RI’s of Core and Cladding to that of RI of NA  n1 2
core is called the fractional change.
 Numerical Aperture
NA  sin  max
max
• It is the measure of the amount of
light that can be accepted by a fiber. sin  max  n  n2
2 2
1

NA  n11  n2
22 2
• It depends only on Refractive indices
of core and cladding and not on fiber
dimensions. NA  (n11  n22 )( n1  n2 )
  n(1n1nn2 2 ) / n1
• It is always <1 and ranges from 0.13 to
0.50. NA  (n1  n2 )
n11  n2
• A larger numerical aperture implies
that a fiber will accept a large amount NA  n112
of light from the source.