Ray Model

Dr. Kazi Abu Taher

Professor
Dept. of ICT
Bangladesh University of Professionals
Objectives
• Simple ray model
• Propagation of Meridional Rays
• Dispersion
• Different types of fibers
• Limitations of the Ray-model

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PROPAGATION OF LIGHT IN AN
OPTICAL FIBER (RAY MODEL)
• 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 which is used at microwave and
millimeter wave frequencies.
• In a metallic waveguide, there is a complete shielding of electromagnetic
radiation but in an optical fiber the electromagnetic radiation is not just
confined inside the fiber but also extends outside the fiber.
• The light gets guided inside the structure, through the basic phenomenon of
total internal reflection .
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Total internal reflection
• To consider the propagation of light within an optical fiber utilizing the ray
theory model it is necessary to take account of the refractive index of the
dielectric medium.
• The refractive index of a medium is defined as the ratio of the velocity of
light in a vacuum to the velocity of light in the medium.
• A ray of light travels more slowly in an optically dense medium than in one
that is less dense, and the refractive index gives a measure of this effect
• The angles of incidence φ1 and refraction φ2 are related to each other
and to the refractive indices of the dielectrics by Snell’s law of refraction,
which states that: n1 sin φ1 = n2 sin φ2

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• It may also be observed in Figure 2.2(a) that a small amount of light is
reflected back into the originating dielectric medium (partial internal
reflection). As n1 is greater than n2, the angle of refraction is always
greater than the angle of incidence. Thus when the angle of refraction
is 90° and the refracted ray emerges parallel to the interface between
the dielectrics, the angle of incidence must be less than 90°. This is
the limiting case of refraction and the angle of incidence is now
known as the critical angle φc
• At angles of incidence greater than the critical angle the light is
reflected back into the originating dielectric medium (total internal
reflection) with high efficiency (around 99.9%).

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Acceptance angle

For rays to be transmitted by total internal reflection within the fiber

core they must be incident on the fiber core within an acceptance cone
defined by the conical half angle θa. Hence θa is the maximum angle to
the axis at which light may enter the fiber in order to be propagated,
and is often referred to as the acceptance angle for the fiber

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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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• For the light to propagate inside the fiber through total internal
reflections at core-cladding interface, the refractive index of the core
must be greater than the refractive index of the cladding.
• That is n1 > n2.

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SIMPLE RAY MODEL

optical fiber with core, cladding and total internally reflected ray

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For propagation of light inside the core there
are two possibilities

1. 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.
2. The other possibility is that the ray is not launched in a plane
containing the axis of the fiber.

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• For example if 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.
• So it can be concluded that if the light is to propagate inside an optical
fiber it could be through two types of rays

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• a) Meridional rays: The rays which always pass through the axis of
fiber giving high optical intensity at the center of the core of the fiber.
• b) 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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Propagation of Meridional Rays

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• Let us consider figure 3. A ray is launched from outside (air) at an angle θ 0 ,
from the axis of the fiber. The question is, under what conditions the ray is
ultimately guided inside the core due to total internal reflections at the core
cladding boundary?

• Let the ray makes an angle θ1 with the axis of the fiber inside the core, and
let the ray make an angle Φ1 with core-cladding interface. Let Φ2 be the
angle of refraction in the cladding. If Φ1 < 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.

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• Now as we increase the launching angle θ0, the θ1 angle also
increases.
• Since,

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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

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• So the sine of the maximum angle at which the ray will be guided
inside the fiber is given by square root of the difference of squares of
the refractive indices of the core and cladding. The quantity sin θ0 max
is called the NUMERICAL APERTURE of an optical fiber.
• The NA is a measure of the power launching efficiently of an optical
fiber.

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Numerical Aperture
• This parameter tells us that if we take an optical fiber and put it in front of an
optical source then how much light is collected by the fiber from the source.
Smaller the value of N.A, smaller the value of θ0 max (maximum launching angle)
and smaller is the power accepted by the fiber. In other words, if the light is
available from various directions from the source, only a portion of light is
accepted by an optical fiber and the remaining part of the light is rejected by it.

• If we want good light launching efficiency then θ0 max should be as large as

possible. Since θ0 max is related to the difference of the squares of the refractive
indices of the core and the cladding, the difference of squares of the refractive
indices should be as large as possible.

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• So, for good launching efficiency, n12should be large compared to n22.
Since the material for the optical fiber has been chosen as glass, the
refractive index of the core is practically fixed to about 1.5.
• The only choice therefore we have is to reduce the refractive index of
the cladding for good launching efficiency. Since n2 = 1 (i.e., no
cladding) is the minimum possible value, it suggests that the cladding
is an undesirable feature. In the first look it then appears that the
cladding is only for mechanical support.

• ……………………………(2.8)

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• The NA may also be given in terms of the relative refractive index
difference Δ between the core and the cladding which is defined as:

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Example 2.1

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Example 2.2

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Skew rays
It is not easy to visualize the skew ray paths in two dimensions, but it may
be observed from Figure 2.6(b) that the helical path traced through the fiber
gives a change in direction of 2γ at each reflection, where γ is the angle
between the projection of the ray in two dimensions and the radius of the
fiber core at the point of reflection. Hence, unlike meridional rays, the point
of emergence of skew rays from the fiber in air will depend upon the
number of reflections they undergo rather than the input conditions to the
fiber. When the light input to the fiber is nonuniform, skew rays will
therefore tend to have a smoothing effect on the distribution of the light as
it is transmitted, giving a more uniform output. The amount of smoothing is
dependent on the number of reflections encountered by the skew rays.

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• In order to calculate the acceptance angle for a skew ray it is necessary to define the
direction of the ray in two perpendicular planes.
• The geometry of the situation is illustrated in Figure 2.7 where a skew ray is shown
incident on the fiber core at the point A, at an angle θ s to the normal at the fiber end face.
• The ray is refracted at the air–core interface before traveling to the point B in the same
plane.
• The angles of incidence and reflection at the point B are φ, which is greater than the
critical angle for the core–cladding interface.
• As the incident and reflected rays at the point B are in the same plane, this is simply cos
φ.
• However, if the two perpendicular planes through which the ray path AB traverses are
considered, then γ is the angle between the core radius and the projection of the ray onto
a plane BRS normal to the core axis, and θ is the angle between the ray and a line AT
drawn parallel to the core axis.
• Thus to resolve the ray path AB relative to the radius BR in these two perpendicular
planes requires multiplication by cos γ and sin θ.

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Substituting for sin θ from Eq. (2.13) into Eq. (2.14) gives:

Thus the acceptance conditions for skew rays are:

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Electromagnetic mode theory for optical
propagation
Electromagnetic waves:
The basis for the study of electromagnetic wave propagation is
provided by Maxwell’s equations. For a medium with zero conductivity
these vector relationships may be written in terms of the electric field
E, magnetic field H, electric flux density D and magnetic flux density B
as the curl equations.

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Modes in a planar guide
• The conceptual transition from ray to wave theory may be aided by
consideration of a plane monochromatic wave propagating in the
direction of the ray path within the guide (see Figure 2.8(a)). As the
refractive index within the guide is n1, the optical wavelength in this
region is reduced to λ/n1, while the vacuum propagation constant is
increased to n1k. When θ is the angle between the wave propagation
vector or the equivalent ray and the guide axis, the plane wave can be
resolved into two component plane waves propagating in the z and x
directions, as shown in Figure 2.8(a). The component of the phase
propagation constant in the z direction βz is given by:
• βz = n1k cos θ (2.34)
• The component of the phase propagation constant in the x direction
βx is: βx = n1k sin θ (2.35) 36
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The component of the plane wave in the x direction is reflected at the interface between the higher and lower
refractive index media. When the total phase change after two successive reflections at the upper and lower
interfaces (between the points P and Q) is equal to 2mπ radians, where m is an integer, then constructive
interference occurs and a standing wave is obtained in the x direction. This situation is illustrated in Figure
2.8(b), where the interference of two plane waves is shown. In this illustration it is assumed that the
interference forms the lowest order (where m = 0) standing wave, where the electric field is a maximum at the
center of the guide decaying towards zero at the boundary between the guide and cladding.

The stable field distribution in the x direction with only a periodic z dependence is known as a mode. A specific
mode is obtained only when the angle between the propagation vectors or the rays and the interface have a
particular value, as indicated in Figure 2.8(b). In effect, Eqs (2.34) and (2.35) define a group or congruence of
rays which in the case described represents the lowest order mode. Hence the light propagating within the
guide is formed into discrete modes, each typified by a distinct value of θ. These modes have a periodic z
dependence of the form exp(− jβzz) where βz becomes the propagation constant for the mode as the modal
field pattern is invariant except for a periodic z dependence. We denote the mode propagation constant by β,
where β = βz. If we now assume a time dependence for the monochromatic electromagnetic light field with
angular frequency ω of exp(jωt), then the combined factor exp[ j(ωt − βz)] describes a mode propagating in the
z direction.

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When light is described as an electromagnetic wave it consists of a periodically varying electric
field E and magnetic field H which are orientated at right angles to each other.
The transverse modes shown in Figure 2.9 illustrate the case when the electric field is
perpendicular to the direction of propagation and hence Ez = 0, but a corresponding
component of the magnetic field H is in the direction of propagation.
In this instance the modes are said to be transverse electric (TE). Alternatively, when a
component of the E field is in the direction of propagation, but Hz = 0, the modes formed are
called transverse magnetic (TM).
The mode numbers are incorporated into this nomenclature by referring to the TEm and TMm
modes. When the total field lies in the transverse plane, transverse electromagnetic (TEM)
waves exist where both Ez and Hz are zero. However, although TEM waves occur in metallic
conductors (e.g. coaxial cables) they are seldom found in optical waveguides.

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 Phase and group velocity
• Within all electromagnetic waves, whether plane or otherwise, there are
points of constant phase. For plane waves these constant phase points
form a surface which is referred to as a wavefront. As a monochromatic
lightwave propagates along a waveguide in the z direction these points
of constant phase travel at a phase velocity υp given by

• where ω is the angular frequency of the wave

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However, it is impossible in practice to produce perfectly monochromatic
lightwaves, and light energy is generally composed of a sum of plane wave
components of different frequencies. Often the situation exists where a group
of waves with closely similar frequencies propagate so that their resultant
forms a packet of waves. The formation of such a wave packet resulting from
the combination of two waves of slightly different frequency propagating
together is illustrated in Figure 2.10. This wave packet does not travel at the
phase velocity of the individual waves but is observed to move at a group
velocity υg given by

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 Goos–Haenchen Shift
• The phase change incurred with the total internal reflection of a light beam on a
planar dielectric interface may be understood from physical observation. Careful
examination shows that the reflected beam is shifted laterally from the trajectory
predicted by simple ray theory analysis, as illustrated in Figure 2.14. This lateral
displacement is known as the Goos–Haenchen shift, after its first observers.
• The geometric reflection appears to take place at a virtual reflecting plane which is
parallel to the dielectric interface in the lower index medium, as indicated in Figure
2.14. Utilizing wave theory it is possible to determine this lateral shift although it is
very small (d 0.06 to 0.10 μm for a silvered glass interface at a wavelength of 0.55
μm) and difficult to observe. However, this concept provides an important insight
into the guidance mechanism of dielectric optical waveguides

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 Cylindrical fiber
Modes:
• The exact solution of Maxwell’s equations for a cylindrical homogeneous core dielectric waveguide involves
much algebra and yields a complex result.
• In common with the planar guide, TE (where Ez = 0) and TM (where Hz = 0) modes are obtained within the
dielectric cylinder. The cylindrical waveguide, however, is bounded in two dimensions rather than one. Thus
two integers, l and m, are necessary in order to specify the modes, in contrast to the single integer (m)
required for the planar guide. For the cylindrical waveguide we therefore refer to TElm and TMlm modes. These
modes correspond to meridional rays traveling within the fiber. However, hybrid modes where Ez and Hz are
nonzero also occur within the cylindrical waveguide. These modes, which result from skew ray propagation
within the fiber, are designated HElm and EHlm depending upon whether the components of H or E make the
larger contribution to the transverse field.

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The electric field intensity profiles for the lowest three LP modes, together with
the electric field distribution of their constituent exact modes, are shown in
Figure 2.15. It may be observed from the field configurations of the exact modes
that the field strength in the transverse direction (Ex or Ey) is identical for the
modes which belong to the same LP mode. Hence the origin of the term
‘linearly polarized’.

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For the cylindrical homogeneous core waveguide under the weak guidance
conditions, the scalar wave equation can be written in the form

where ψ is the field (E or H), n1 is the refractive index of the fiber core, k is the
propagation constant for light in a vacuum, and r and φ are cylindrical
coordinates. The propagation constants of the guided modes β lie in the range:

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where in this case ψ represents the dominant transverse electric field
component. The periodic dependence on φ following cos lφ or sin lφ gives a
mode of radial order l. Hence the fiber supports a finite number of guided
modes of the form of Eq. (2.63).

Introducing the solutions given by Eq. (2.63) into Eq. (2.61) results in a
differential equation of the form

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 For a step index fiber with a constant refractive index core, Eq. (2.64) is a Bessel differential
equation and the solutions are cylinder functions. In the core region the solutions are Bessel
functions denoted by Jl. It may be noted that the field is finite at r = 0 and may be represented
by the zero-order Bessel function J0. However, the field vanishes as r goes to infinity and the
solutions in the cladding are therefore modified Bessel functions denoted by Kl. These
modified functions decay exponentially with respect to r. The electric field may therefore be
given by:

where G is the amplitude coefficient and R = r/a is the normalized radial coordinate when a is the
radius of the fiber core; U and W, which are the eigenvalues in the core and cladding respectively are
defined as

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U is also referred to as the radial phase parameter or the radial propagation constant, whereas W
is known as the cladding decay parameter. The sum of the squares of U and W defines a very useful
quantity which is usually referred to as the normalized frequency V where:

It may be observed that the commonly used symbol for this parameter is the same as that normally
adopted for voltage. However, within this chapter there should be no confusion over this point.
Furthermore, using Eqs (2.8) and (2.10) the normalized frequency may be expressed in terms of the
numerical aperture NA and the relative refractive index difference
Δ, respectively, as:

The normalized frequency is a dimensionless parameter and hence is also sometimes simply called
the V number or value of the fiber. It combines in a very useful manner the 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.
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 Mode coupling
Deviations of the fiber axis from straightness, variations in the core diameter, irregularities at the
core–cladding interface and refractive index variations may change the propagation characteristics of
the fiber which will have the effect of coupling energy traveling in one mode to another depending on
the specific perturbation.
Ray theory aids the understanding of this phenomenon, as shown in Figure 2.20, which illustrates
two types of perturbation. It may be observed that in both cases the ray no longer maintains the
same angle with the axis. In electromagnetic wave theory this corresponds to a change in the
propagating mode for the light. Thus individual modes do not normally propagate throughout the
length of the fiber without large energy transfers to adjacent modes, even when the fiber is
exceptionally good quality and is not strained or bent by its surroundings. This mode conversion is
known as mode coupling or mixing. It is usually analyzed using coupled mode equations which can
be obtained directly from Maxwell’s equations. Mode coupling affects the transmission properties of
fibers in several important ways, a major one being in relation to the dispersive properties of fibers
over long distances.

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Different types of fibers
• STEP INDEX FIBER (Refractive index profile).

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• For this fiber the refractive index of the core is constant (see Fig 5).
Since refractive index profile looks like a pulse or step, this kind of
fiber is called the STEP INDEX FIBER. This structure is useful for
analyzing propagation of light inside an optical fiber. Generally it is not
used in practice because data transfer rate in this fiber is the lowest.
• Just as a small exercise we can ask, what kind of pulse broadening
occurs in a step index fiber if we do not use cladding?

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So if we make a cladding-less optical fiber, its light launching efficiency is
excellent but it has hardly any bandwidth. Even an electrical cable is
better than the optical fiber. 59
• The cladding is an essential part of an optical fiber. It does not just
provide the mechanical support but increases the bandwidth of the fiber.

• Important: We can trade in the bandwidth for the length and vice versa.
That is, we can send low bit rate signals over long distances and high bit
rate signals only over short distances.

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• It can be shown that the total number of guided modes or mode
volume Ms for a step index fiber is related to the V value for the fiber
by the approximate expression:

• which allows an estimate of the number of guided modes propagating

in a particular multimode step index fiber.

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GRADED INDEX FIBER
• In a step index fiber since the refractive index is constant inside the
core, the velocity of all the rays is constant and hence there is travel
time difference between different rays. If we develop a system where
the rays which travel longer distances travel with higher velocities and
the rays which travel shorter distances travel with lower velocities,
the pulse spread on the fiber can be reduced and consequently the
bandwidth can be increased.

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• The ray which is at a higher angle, should speed up and the ray which is along
the axis of the fiber should travel with the slowest possible velocity. Since
velocity is inversely proportional to the refractive index, it can be manipulated by
changing the refractive index of the core. The refractive index of outer layers of
the core should be smaller compared to that of the inner layers, so the rays that
go in the outer layers, travel faster.
• So we find that for reducing dispersion, the refractive index at the center should
be maximum and it should gradually decrease from the center to the core-
cladding interface. The rays that go at higher angles speed up and the dispersion
gets reduced.
• In this fiber we grade the refractive index profile of the core and consequently it
is called the graded index fiber.

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Graded Index Profile

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• If we taper the profile optimally, we get the dispersion reduction
compared to that for a step index fiber, even by a factor of thousand.
The data rate of a typical graded index fiber is typically 10 to 100
times higher compared to a step index fiber.
• Therefore, in practice, even for LANs, we use GIF (Graded Index Fiber)
instead of SIF (Step Index Fiber).

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• If we define the mode boundary as the function m = f(l), then the
total number of guided modes M is given by:

• as each representation point corresponding to four modes occupies

an element of unit area in the mode plane. Equation (2.92) allows the
derivation of the total number of guided modes or mode volume Mg
supported by the graded index fiber. It can be shown that:

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SINGLE MODE OPTICAL FIBER
• The light basically consists of wave fronts. A line perpendicular to a
wave front is called the ray. Light is an electromagnetic wave and
when we say it travels like a ray it is a collection of wave fronts which
move.
• Let us take an optical fiber with light rays propagating in it. The rays
and the wave fronts which are perpendicular to the rays, are as
shown in figure

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Core of optical fiber, rays with wave fronts

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• Let us consider a phase front corresponding to the ray AB and passing
through the point. This phase front also meets the ray CD at point E.
In other words, the phase of the ray at B (just before the reflection) is
same as that of the ray at point E. That is to say that the phase change
corresponding to the distance BCE added with the phase of the
reflection coefficient at points B and C should be a multiple of 2π. This
is what is called the condition for the constructive interference.
• From simple geometric considerations we have

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• The above phase condition can be satisfied only by discrete rays entering the
structure i.e. rays at finite number of angles are accepted by the optical fiber.
The ensemble of rays entering at a specific angle from the axis of the fiber gives
discrete optical intensity distributions. These are called the modes of an optical
fiber.
• From the expression of the phase matching condition we find that as d increases,
the number of rays accepted by the optical fiber increases and as d decreases
the number of rays decreases.
• Since the dispersion is due to presence of multiple rays (modes), if only one ray is
made to propagate inside the fiber, there is no dispersion. So if we take a value
of d small enough such that it satisfies the phase condition only the lowest value
of m, only one mode will propagate inside the fiber.

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The lowest value of m corresponds to the ray traveling along the axis of
the fiber. In fact this ray does not have any constraint on the size of the
fiber etc., as it does not really go through the total internal reflection at
the core cladding boundary. This ray therefore always propagates.

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• The optical fiber in which only one ray travels along the axis of fiber is
called the single mode optical fiber .
• Single mode optical fiber is the best amongst the three types of fibers,
namely the step index fiber, GI fiber and the single mode fiber.
• In a long distance communication, we use single mode optical fiber,
whereas in LANs we generally use graded index optical fiber.
• Note: For single mode optical fiber however we have to use a source
like laser because the diameter of the fiber is very small and without a
highly collimated beam, sufficient light can not be launched inside the
fiber.

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OPTICAL FIBERS CORE DIAMETER

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Limitations of the Ray-model
• The ray model gives an impression that during total internal reflection
the energy is confined to the core only. However, it is not so. In reality
the optical energy spreads in cladding also.
• The ray model does not speak of the discrete field patterns for
propagation inside a fiber.
• The ray model breaks down when the core size becomes comparable
to the wavelength of light. The ray model therefore is not quite
justified for a SM fiber.
• The limitations of the Ray model are overcome in the wave model
discussed in the next module.
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Thank you!

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