Module 1

• Recollection of basic principles of optics:

ray theory- critical angle- total internal
reflection - Optical wave guides -
Propagation in fibre- expression for
acceptance angle-numerical aperture- V
number – modes, mode coupling - SI fibre
and GI fibre - single mode fibers
 What Is Fiber Optics ?
• Transmitting
communications signals
over hair thin strands of
glass or plastic
• Not a "new" technology
• Concept a century old
• Used commercially since
1980
 Why Fiber Optics?
Fiber is the least
expensive, most
reliable method for
high speed and
long distance
communications
AT&T promotional
photo from 1970s
 Fiber Is Everywhere!
It’s how we communicate…
 Fiber Optic Applications

• Fiber is the least expensive, most reliable method

for high speed and/or long distance
communications
• While we already transmit signals at 100 Gigabits
per second speeds, we have only started to utilize
the potential bandwidth of fiber
 Fiber Optic Applications
• Outside Plant vs Premises Installations
Fiber Technology

A glass optical fiber is about twice

the size of a human hair.
Fiber Technology

Fiber uses reflection (L) to

contain light inside the core
of the fiber (below).

Core
Cladding
How Fiber Works
Fiber Optic Data Links
 Light Used In Fiber Optics
• Fiber optic systems transmit using infrared
light, invisible to the human eye, because it
goes further in the optical fiber at those
wavelengths.
 Wavelength-Division
Multiplexing
Allows Transmitting Multiple
Signals
 Fiber Optic Cable
• Protects the fibers
wherever they are
installed
• May have 1 to >1000
fibers
 Fiber Optic Connectors
• Terminates the fibers
• Connects to other fibers or transmission
equipment
 Jobs In Fiber Optics
• Designing components
• Manufacturing fiber, lasers, etc.
• Designing systems
• Installing networks
• Training and teaching
Fiber Optic Manufacturing
Fiber Optic Installation - Outside Plant
 Advantages of OFC
• Enormous potential BW
• Small size & light weight
• Electrical Isolation
• Immunity to Interference & crosstalk
• Signal Security
• Low Transmission loss
• Ruggedness & Flexibility
• System Reliability & Ease of maintenance
• Potential low cost
FREQUENCY OF OPERATION
FREQUENCY OF OPERATION
Fig. 1-3: Operating ranges of components
Fig. 1-5: Major elements of an optical fiber link
Fig. 1-6: Optical fiber cable installations
Fig. 1-7: History of attenuation
 ATTENUATION OF SIGNAL
OFC Transmits all wavelengths from 800nm to 2.5μm.
Attenuation offered by different wavelengths are different.
Windows of wavelengths are used.
Earlier minimum attenuation sensed at 800nm to 900nm.
Concentration of hydroxyl ions and metallic ions impurities reduced
later .
Glass is further purified.
1100nm to 1600nm region gave lesser loss.
Two popular windows centered around 1300nm and 1550nm.
Fig. 1-8: Optical multiplexing
Fig. 2-9: Single fiber structure
 Refractive index
• Ratio of velocity of light in vacuum to
velocity of light in a medium
• n = 1.00(air)
• n = 1.33(water)
• n = 1.50(glass)
• n = 2.42(diamond)
Fig. 2-6: Refraction and reflection

Snell’s Law
n1sinφ1 = n2sinφ2
Fig. 2-12: Meridional ray representation
Ray Theory Transmission - TIR
Transmission of light in an OF
Acceptance Angle
Numerical Aperture
Skew ray – helical path
Propagates without
passing through core
of fiber.
Not confined to
single plane, but
follow helical path
along fiber.
Difficult to track
these rays as they do
not lie in single
plane.
 Skew Rays
• Direction of ray changes by angle 2γ at each
reflection where γ is angle between projection of
ray in two dimensions and radius of fiber core.
• Skew rays show smoothening effect on
distribution of light transmitted even if light
launched in fiber is not uniform.
• Numerical aperture of skew rays is greater than
meridional rays.
Skew ray
ACCEPTANCE ANGLE
OF SKEW RAYS
 Problems
• A silica optical fiber with a core diameter
large enough to be considered by ray theory
• analysis has a core refractive index of 1.50
and a cladding refractive index of 1.47.
• Determine: (a) the critical angle at the core–
cladding interface; (b) the NA for the
• fiber; (c) the acceptance angle in air for the
fiber.
Solution
 Problems
• An optical fiber in air has an NA of 0.4.
Compare the acceptance angle for
meridional rays with that for skew rays
which change direction by 100° at each
reflection.
Solution
 MODE THEORY

Three categories of mode:

Bound modes are those modes which are confined in core
of waveguide.
Refracted modes are those which are scattered out of clad
due to roughness of surface or absorbed by coating of clad.
Leaky modes are those which are partially confined to core
region
attenuate continuously, radiating their power out of core as
they propagate.
Due to tunnel effect.
 Modes in planar guide

•Optical wave is confined within guide and electric field distribution

in x direction does not change as wave propagates in z direction
•Stable field distribution in x direction with only a periodic z
dependence is known as a MODE
•Specific mode is obtained when angle b/w propagation vector &
interface have particular value
Modes in planar guide
TE field pattern of three modes

m – order of
mode/mode
number
Electric field distribution
 Mode remains guided
For a particular mode to be confined , the condition is:
• β is propagation constant.

β=nk 2
Cut off condition – point at which a mode is no longer bound to
the core region
• If β < n2k, power leaks out of core into cladding region.
•Significant power loss due to leaky modes.
•Modes that sustain have very small loss throughout fiber
propagation.
Phase velocity & Group velocity
Phase velocity & Group velocity

Ng – Group index of the

guide
 Evanescent field
Amplitude of field in cladding decay exponentially in x
direction – field exhibiting exponential decaying amplitude
Choice of cladding material-
requirements
• Cladding should be transparent to light
• Cladding should consist of a solid material to
avoid both damage to the guide and the
accumulation of foreign matter on guide
walls.
• Cladding thickness must be sufficient to
allow the evanescent field to decay to a low
value
 Goos – Haenchen shift
Lateral displacement of light beam on reflection at a dielectric interface

Reflected beam is shifted laterally from trajectory

Lateral displacement – Goos Haenchen Shift
 Waveguide modes
• Field patterns of some commonly used waveguide modes
• Modes in waveguides can be further classified as follows:
• Transverse electromagnetic (TEM) modes: neither electric nor magnetic field in
the direction of propagation.
• Transverse electric (TE) modes: no electric field in the direction of propagation.
These are sometimes called H modes because there is only a magnetic field along
the direction of propagation (H is the conventional symbol for magnetic field).
• Transverse magnetic (TM) modes: no magnetic field in the direction of
propagation. These are sometimes called E modes because there is only an
electric field along the direction of propagation.
• Hybrid modes: non-zero electric and magnetic fields in the direction of
propagation.
Cylindrical fiber - modes
Electric field configurations
Mode coupling / Mode conversion
(a)Irregularities at core cladding interface
Wave perturbation that
causes energy transfer
between different modes and
change propagation
characteristics of fiber. This
perturbation, interpreted as
an interaction between the
modes, is what is called
"mode coupling"

(b)Deviation of fiber axis from straightness (c) Refractive Index variation

 V number /value of the fiber
• normalized frequency is a dimensionless
parameter
• V determines how many modes the fiber can
support
• information about three important design
variables for the fiber: namely, the core
radius a , the relative refractive index
difference Δ and the operating wavelength λ.
CUT-OFF CONDITION
Each mode can
exist only for the
value of V that
exceeds the limiting
value
•Mode is cut-off
when β/k = n2
V number / Normalized frequency
DESIGN OF SINGLE MODE FIBER

From β/k Vs V graph, there is only one mode HE11 till V = 2.405

PROB – A step index fiber

has normalized frequency of
26.6 at wavelength
1300nm.If the core radius is
25m, find numerical
aperture.
NUMBER OF MODES M IN MM FIBER
NUMBER OF MODES M IN MM FIBER
Mode volume/No of guided
modes
 Mode volume for GI

(α = 2), which is half the number supported by a step

index fiber (α = ∞) with the same V value.
 Single mode fibers
Cut off normalized frequency
Step index fibers

Graded index fibers

Cut off wavelength
 Problem
• A multimode step index fiber with a core
diameter of 80 μm and a relative index
difference of 1.5% is operating at a
wavelength of 0.85 μm. If the core
refractive index is 1.48, estimate: (a) the
normalized frequency for the fiber; (b) the
number of guided modes.
• V = 75.8 & Ms = 2873
 Problem
A graded index fiber has a core with a
parabolic refractive index profile which has a
diameter of 50 μm. The fiber has a numerical
aperture of 0.2. Estimate the total
number of guided modes propagating in the
fiber when it is operating at a wavelength
of 1 μm.
V= 31.4 & Mg = 247
 Problem
A graded index fiber with a parabolic
refractive index profile core has a refractive
index at the core axis of 1.5 and a relative
index difference of 1%. Estimate the
maximum possible core diameter which
allows single-mode operation at a
wavelength of 1.3 μm.
α = 2 ; V=3.39 ; a = 3.3 μm ; d = 6.6 μm
 Problem
• Determine the cutoff wavelength for a step
index fiber to exhibit single-mode operation
when the core refractive index and radius
are 1.46 and 4.5 μm, respectively,
with the relative index difference being
0.25%.
λc = 1.214 μm = 1214 nm
Refractive Index profile
Step index fiber
Step index fiber
 Graded index fiber

where

α - profile parameter which gives the characteristic RI profile

of the fiber core
Δ - Relative RI difference
RI profiles for different α

•α=∞
• parabolic profile α = 2
• triangular profile when α =
1
RI profile & ray transmission in
MM graded index fiber
Expanded ray diagram – refraction
at various index interfaces
Helical skew path – graded index fiber
 Single mode fibers
• Greatest transmission BW
• Lowest losses
• Superior transmission quality – absence of modal
noise
• Upgrade capability
• Compatible
• adequate performance - will not require replacement
over its anticipated lifetime of more than 20 years.
 Fiber materials

• Possible to make long, thin flexible fibers

• Material must be transparent at particular optical

wavelength for light to be guided efficiently

• Compatible materials having slightly different RI

for core & cladding must be available

 Single mode fiber design to
increase V value above 2.405

RI profile for single mode W fiber

SM fibers step index profiles