Optical fibres

BY SAGAR AGRAWAL
What are Optical fibres

 A thin flexible wire

 with a glass core
 Through which light signals can be sent
 Light signals that are sent experience very little loss in strength
How T.I.R works in fibre optics

 At a particular angle of incidence, the ray will not enter the second medium
 This is called the critical angle, at which the refracted ray travels along the boundary
between two medium
 Sin(theta c) = n2/n1
 Beyond the critical angle, total internal reflection occurs, and this is when the beam is
reflected entirely back into the first medium with the same angle of reflection as the angle
of incidence.
 Total internal reflection is used in this way to transmit light/EM signals through optical
fibres.
Difference between standard optical fibre and step index optical fibre (or graded
index optical fibre)

 Optical Fibre is a thin glass or plastic fibre that transmits light or infrared radiation
 Rays travel through the glass but are trapped inside by repeated internal reflection
 A step index optical fibre has a centre core with a uniform refractive index, while the
cladding has a smaller, different refractive index.
 By choosing a suitable material for the core and cladding, only certain wavelengths of
light or infrared radiation can travel through the step index fibre by TIR
Pros and Cons of graded index multi – mode
fibre

Pros:
1. Allows the use of non-coherent light sources (e.g. LED)
2. Reduced dispersion compared to Step Index Multi-Mode fibre (STMMF)
Cons:
3. Lower bandwidth compared with STSMF
4. Higher power loss compared with STSMF
Pros and cons of Step index Single-mode
Fibre

Pros:
1. Only one mode allowed due to diffraction/interference effects
2. Allow use of high power laser source
3. Lower dispersion, therefore higher bandwidth
4. Low loss
Cons:
1. Expensive
Definitions and examples

 A spectrum seen when using a prism is caused by dispersion.

 Different wavelengths of light travelling through the glass slow down by different amounts.
 Therefore, the refractive index varies with wavelength.
 Two types of dispersion occur in step index optical fibres:
1. Material Dispersion – occurs when the refractive index of the fibre varies with frequency. Different wavelengths of light travel at
different speeds.
*** Definition: Material dispersion is the spreading of a signal caused by the variation of refractive index for different wavelengths.
2. Pulse Broadening – As a result of material dispersion, the sharp pulse at the start broadens into a broader signal. Therefore, the
duration of the pulses increases, hence the term “pulse broadening”.
***Definition: Pulse broadening occurs when the duration of a pulse increases as a result of dispersion in an optical fibre
*Pulse broadening is a problem because it limits the maximum frequencies of pulses available and thus a reduced bandwidth.
3. Absorption – occurs when energy from a signal is absorbed by the optical fibre in which it travels
* Optical fibres are designed to minimise this effect
Modal dispersion

 Occurs when rays inside an optical fibre take slightly different paths.
 Rays taking longer paths take longer to travel through the optical fibre, so the pulse
broadens.
 Modal dispersion is significant in multimode fibres, as these are broad enough to allow
rays to take different paths
 This is why monomode fibres are usually used in communications, as they have a very
narrow core so do not allow light rays to take single paths, so little pulse broadening
occurs, and a higher bandwidth is available.
What else to consider

 Absorption of the optical fibre must be kept to a minimum

 We want data to be in exactly the same sequence at reception as it was in transmission, so we do not want
interference of rays through the optical fibre, as this would muddle the sequence of the data, leading to poor
reception of data
 The refractive index of the inner cladding might be as low as possible to maximise the chance for Total
Internal Reflection of rays from most angles of incidence.
 The angle of incidence would need to be taken into consideration, as it would determine the length of the path
it has to travel through the optical fibre
 Consideration of what type of optical fibre should be used for different purposes.
 The wavelength of light transmitted taken into consideration
 Bandwidth (range of frequencies within a given band that is used for transmission in an optical fibre) would
have to be taken into account