Ch2 Fundamentals of Light Wave - Optics

ECE 571
Optical Fiber Communication
Chapter 2:
Fundamentals of Light Wave
& Optics
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth - Dr.-Ing. Saleh Hussin
Misr International University

Ch 2: Fundamentals of Light Wave Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 1
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Ray Transmission Theory
• the optical energy in a wave follows narrow paths, called

rays. Because these rays are used to describe optical
effects geometrically, ray theory is called geometrical
optics.
• Light travels in a straight path, so we represent it using a
single line or ray.
• Rays are carried the beam energy, travelled at certain
speed or are reflected by objects. That means the
energy in the wave is traveling at that speed or is
reflected by the object.

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• Light can change directions under certain conditions:

1. Reflection from a surface
2. Refraction as the ray travels from one transparent medium to
another.
Refraction
Reflection

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• In a vacuum, rays travel at a velocity of

c = 3 X m/s.
• In any other medium, it’s travel at a slower speed, given
by
• Where n = 1 for free space, while n = 1.5 for silica glass.

• The velocity of light in a medium depends mainly on the
refractive index of that medium.

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Geometric Optic
• At
a plane boundary between two media, a ray is reflected
at an angle equal to the angle of incidence.
Where
: incident angle
: reflected angle
• Note that the angles are measured with respect to the

boundary normal that is, the direction perpendicular to the
surface.

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Bending of a Light Ray
• The
only angles having physical significance in the
preceding paragraphs are those lying between and .
• Snell’s Law is used to describe the relationship between
the angles of incidence and refraction, when referring to
light or other waves passing through a boundary
between two different isotropic media, such as water,
glass, or air.

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Bending of a Light Ray
•
• If , Snell’s law yields
• The ray is deflect away from the normal, as shown in figure.

• The transmitted ray is deflect away from the normal when
traveling from a medium having a high refractive index into a
medium with a lower refractive index.

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Example 1
•1. A light ray proceeds from air ( = 1) into glass (= 1.5).

Find the transmission angles () when and when .
If
If

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Example 2
• Consider
the situation illustrated in figure, find the
incident angle from air to glass , and the transmitted
angle from glass to air
0.26 =
0.26 =

Hussin
Critical Angle
• It
is the incident angle at which the transmitted angle
equals , i.e, the transmitted ray is parallel to the
boundary.
Substituting in Snell’s low

Hussin
Propagation of Light in Optical Fiber
• Optical fiber is basically a solid glass rod. The diameter

of rod is so small that it looks like a fiber.
• Optical fiber is a dielectric waveguide. The light travels
like an electromagnetic wave inside the waveguide. The
dielectric waveguide is different from a metallic
waveguide.
• The light gets guided inside the structure, through the
basic phenomenon of total internal reflection (TIR).
• The optical fiber consists of two concentric cylinders; the
inside solid cylinder is called the core and the
surrounding shell is called the cladding.

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Total Internal Reflection
• For
the light to propagate inside the fiber through total
internal reflections at core-cladding interface, the
refractive index of he core must be greater than the
refractive index of the cladding.
(optical fiber with core, cladding and total internally reflected ray)

Hussin
• A light ray is launched in a plane containing the axis of the

fiber. We can then see the light ray after total internal reflection
travels in the same plane i.e., the ray is confined to the plane in
which it was launched and never leave the plane. In this
situation the rays will always cross the axis of the fiber. These
are called the Meridional rays.
• Meridional rays: The rays which always pass through the axis of
fiber giving high optical intensity at the center of the core

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• The other possibility is that the ray is launched at some angle
such that it does not intersect the axis of the fiber, then after
total internal reflection it will go to some other plane. We can
see that in this situation the ray will never intersect the axis of
the fiber. The ray essentially will spiral around the axis of fiber.
These rays are called the Skew rays.
• Skew Rays : The rays which never intersect the axis of the
fiber, giving low optical intensity at the center and high
intensity towards the rim of the fiber.

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•
• A ray is launched from outside (air) at an angle from the

axis of the fiber. The ray is guided inside the core due to
total internal reflections at the core cladding boundary.
• Let the ray makes an angle with the axis of the fiber inside
the core, and let the ray make an angle with core cladding
interface. let be the angle of refraction in the cladding

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• If
critical angle the ray is refracted in cladding. The ray
which goes to cladding is lost and is not useful for
communication. The ray which is confined to the core is
useful for optical communication.
• Now as we increase the launching angle the angle also
increases.
• decreases and at some point becomes less than the critical

angle. When the critical angle, .
• The maximum launching angle then corresponds to

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• Let
us apply Snell's law at the launching point and at the
core-cladding interface for the maximum launching angle
, for this case let
For air core1 interface

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•
• The quantity of is called the numerical aperture (NA) of

the optical fiber.

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Example
• Consider
the situation illustrated in figure, find the
incident angle from air to glass , that insures total
internal reflection within the fiber cable. Provided n = 1; =
1.5; = 1.46
To ensure that total internal

reflection
=0.344

Hussin
Lenses
• A
lens is used to focus the light onto the fiber cable.
• A parallel (Collimated) beam of light is focused to a point.
• All the rays converge to the position shown, known as the

focal point.
• It lies a distance (called the focal length) away from the
lens.
• The lens itself has two spherical surfaces.

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Lenses

• The radii (or curvatures) of these spheres are and The lens
has diameter D and refractive index n. Its focal length is
found from
• For complete spherical lens:
• If =1.5 severe spherical aberrations

• Therefore,

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Lenses
• Collimation: A thin lens can collimate a beam that
emerges from a point. If the light source is located at the
focal point, then the transmitted beam travels parallel to
the lens axis.
• The central ray (a ray directed toward the center of the

lens) is undeviated by a thin lens because the ray enters
and leaves at surfaces that are nearly parallel.

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Lenses
• Parallel rays of light that are incident at some angle

relative to the lens axis are focused in the focal plane.
• The position of the focal point is determined by the
intersection of the central ray with the focal plane.

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Lenses
• The rules for tracing rays through a thin lens are:

1. Rays traveling through the center of the lens are
undeviated.
2. Incident rays traveling parallel to the lens axis pass
through the focal point after emerging from the lens.
3. An incident ray traveling parallel to a central ray
intersects that ray in the focal plane after transmission
through the lens.
4. An incident ray passing through the focal point travels
parallel to the lens axis after it emerges from the lens.

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Graded Index (GRIN) Rod Lens
• The graded-index rod has a refractive index that decreases

with distance from its axis. This causes light rays to travel
in sinusoidal paths.
• The length of one complete cycle is called the lens pitch P.

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Graded Index (GRIN) Rod Lens
• If a length of rod is cut equal

to a quarter pitch. The light
from a point source located
at the center of this rod will
be collimated.
• Collimated Light entering

this lens will be focused

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Numerical Aperture
• An important characteristic of an optic system is its ability
to collect light incident over a wide range of angles.
=0,< <>
• An optic receiver consisting of a lens and a photodetector.
The lens is much larger than the detector surface, so it
intercepts more rays than the detector would by itself.
• The lens focuses this light onto the detector.

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Numerical Aperture
• It is easy to locate the position on the detector where the

light is focused by extending the incident ray passing
through the center of the lens until it hits the detector.
• The photodetector placed in the focal plane of the lens.
– In (a), ray passing through the center of the lens will be collected at
the center of photodetector. Light is incident parallel to the lens
axis.
– In (b), the rays incident angle is varied, but still the focused rays is
collected at the lower part of the photo detector. The light rays are
at the extreme angle for reception (acceptance angle).
– In (c), the rays incident angle is varied more, the focused rays is
collected at out of the surface of the photo detector. The incident
rays are beyond the system acceptance angle.

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Numerical Aperture
• The
extreme angle for reception ( maximum acceptance
angle )
where is the diameter of the photodetector, is the lens

focal point distance.
• The numerical aperture (NA) is defined to be
where is the refractive index of the material between the

lens and the photodetector.

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Numerical Aperture
• The
numerical aperture is a measure of the ability to collect
light incident over a wide range of angles.
• Light rays incident at angles outside this cone (out of the

acceptance angle) will not propagate along the fiber but
instead will attenuate rapidly.

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Example
• A
receiver has a 10-cm focal length, a 1-cm
photodetector diameter, and air between the lens and
detector. Compute the receiver’s NA.
• Sol.:

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Diffraction
• It is the deviation of rays from the
predicted path due to the geometrical
optics.
• As a result of diffraction
– focusing a collimated uniform light beam is
not actually a strict point, instead it is a
wide spot.
• Transverse plane:
– is the plane perpendicular to the ray
direction.
• Uniform beam
– The beam having the same intensity
(power) over the transverse plane

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Diffraction
•1. Uniform light beam

– The central spot has diameter of
where : : wavelength , : The focal length, & : The lens diameter
• Example: find spot diameter for uniform light beam if

• Sol.:

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Diffraction
• Is
the above value of spot diameter acceptable in fiber
communications? Why?
• If a fiber core having a diameter less than . The coupling
efficiency will be low, because the focused spot is larger
than the fiber. Then, the fiber core must be larger d to
increase coupling efficiency.

Hussin
Diffraction
•2. Nonuniform light beam:

• Actually, light sources dose not produce uniform beams; It
produce nonuniform light beam.
• Intensity (I) of the light beam is Gaussian distribution.
𝑰
: Intensity at the spot center(r = 0) 𝑰 𝒐
: Radial distance from the spot center
: Radius of the incident beam spot

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Diffraction
• If
is the intensity at the center of the beam (maximum).
This pattern appears to be a circle of light. Continuous
spot circles
• Ifthe radial distance is called spot size.

• If, it will be at full width at maximum half (FWMH).

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Diffraction
• Focusing
a Gaussian light beam with a lens yields a
distribution of light in the focal plane that is also
Gaussian shaped.
• There are no surrounding rings like those that appear
when focusing a uniform beam.
• The focus spot size in the focal plane is
• The shape of the incident nonuniform beam does not

greatly change the degree to which uniform light can be
concentrated. How??

Hussin
Diffraction
•3. Divergence of Spot Beam
– The diffraction theory showed that when Gaussian small light
source is located at the focal point of convex lens, the rays will
go parallel direction only for a limited distance, then, the beam
will diverge at a constant full angle
At large distance z >> f, the spot size will increase, the Gaussian
beam intensity will be
And spot size is

Hussin
Example
• Consider
a Gaussian beam whose incident spot size () is
1mm when collimated. The wavelength is 0.82 m.
Compute the divergence angle. Also find the spot size at 10
m, 1 km and 10 km.
• Sol.:
If
If
If

Hussin
Beam Divergence Characteristics
• A
very small divergence angles are obtained when the
spot size is much larger than the wavelength .
• Optic wavelengths are so small that this condition is
easily achieved.
• The divergence of a beam radiated at any wavelength is
inversely proportional to the size of the radiator .
• Transmitter emits narrow wavelength beams at a very
high frequency with small size antenna.

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Atmospheric Communication System
• Because of divergence over a long path, the beam at the

receiver may be quite large.
• Much of the transmitted power will be lost in this case.
• Although atmospheric systems perform acceptably over
short paths, the desirability of more efficient power transfer
over long distances is apparent.
• Poor weather conditions decrease system performance.
• Over short paths they may be preferable to fiber systems.
• For long paths in which waveguides (fiber) cannot be
installed (for example, communications between satellites).

Hussin
Assignment
• Light
traveling in air strikes a glass plate at an angle ,
where is measured between the incoming ray and the
glass surface. Upon striking the glass, part of the beam
is reflected, and part is refracted. If the reflected and
refracted beams make an angle of with each other, what
is the refractive index of the glass? What is the critical
angle of this glass?

Hussin
Thanks for your attention

Hussin

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ECE 571

Optical Fiber Communication

Dr. Ashraf Eltholth - Dr.-Ing. Saleh Hussin

Misr International University

• the optical energy in a wave follows narrow paths, called

Misr International University

• Light can change directions under certain conditions:

Misr International University

• In a vacuum, rays travel at a velocity of

• Where n = 1 for free space, while n = 1.5 for silica glass.

Misr International University

• Note that the angles are measured with respect to the

Misr International University

Misr International University

• If , Snell’s law yields

• The ray is deflect away from the normal, as shown in figure.

Misr International University

•1. A light ray proceeds from air ( = 1) into glass (= 1.5).

Misr International University

Misr International University

Misr International University

• Optical fiber is basically a solid glass rod. The diameter

Misr International University

Misr International University

• A light ray is launched in a plane containing the axis of the

Misr International University

Misr International University

• A ray is launched from outside (air) at an angle from the

Misr International University

• decreases and at some point becomes less than the critical

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For air core1 interface

Misr International University

• The quantity of is called the numerical aperture (NA) of

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To ensure that total internal

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• All the rays converge to the position shown, known as the

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• For complete spherical lens:

• If =1.5 severe spherical aberrations

Misr International University

• The central ray (a ray directed toward the center of the

Misr International University

• Parallel rays of light that are incident at some angle

Misr International University

• The rules for tracing rays through a thin lens are:

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• The graded-index rod has a refractive index that decreases

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• If a length of rod is cut equal

• Collimated Light entering

Misr International University

Misr International University

• It is easy to locate the position on the detector where the

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where is the diameter of the photodetector, is the lens

where is the refractive index of the material between the

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• Light rays incident at angles outside this cone (out of the

Misr International University

Misr International University