“Optical Fiber Communication”

What is ‘Communication’ ?

“Communication is the transfer

of information from one point
to another ”
 “An analog
signal changes
continuously,
while a digital
signal can be at
only a certain
number of
discrete levels.”
 Frequency ranges for wireless
transmission
1. 2 GHz - 40 GHz
Microwave frequencies
Highly directional beams for point-to-point communications
Also used for satellite communication
2. 30 MHz - 1 GHz
Broadcast radio range
Suitable for omnidirectional purposes
3. 3x1011 Hz - 2 x1014 Hz
Infrared portion of the spectrum
Useful for local point-to-point and multipoint applications within
conned areas
TV remote
Electromagnetic Spectrum
 Electromagnetic Radiation
• Carries energy through space (includes visible light, dental x-rays,
radio waves, heat radiation from a fireplace)
• The wave is composed of a combination of mutually perpendicular
electric and magnetic fields the direction of propagation of the wave
is at right angles to both field directions, this is known as an
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE
EM wave move through a vacuum at 3.0 x 108 m/s ("speed of light")

E  E (r , )e j ( t z )
H  H (r , )e j ( t z )

Speed of light
c  f 
in a vacuum
 “Historical Development”
• 1840s Telegraph
• 1880s Telephone
• 1890s Radio
• 1940s Microwaves
• 1950s bipolar transistors
• 1960s Lasers
• 1970s Optical fibres
• 1990s Er-doped fibre
 “Historical Development”
• Using of light signal for communication has been common for many
years (i.e. use of signal fire, reflecting mirror etc. )

• In 1880, sir Alexender Grham Bell reported the transmission of speech

using light beam.

• In 1884, the concept of ‘Photophone‘ was proposed by Sir Bell.

• In 1960, a renewed interest in optical communication was stimulated

with the invention of LASER.

• The proposal for optical Communication via dielectric waveguides

/optical fiber by atmosphere simultaneously in 1966 by sir kac and
Hockharn and Werts (they proposed Optical Fiber instead of Coaxial
Cable).
Advantages and Disadvantages
ADVANTAGES:
• Fiber optic cables have a much greater bandwidth than metal
cables.
• Fiber optic cables weigh and size is less than a copper wire cable.
• Because no electricity is passed through optical cable it is non-
flammable, and immune to lightning.
• It is free from RFI, EMI And EMP since optical fibers from dielectric
waveguide and thus there is no interference or crosstalk.
• Transmission loss is very low (only 0.2 bd/km).
• Optical fibers provide a very secured data transmission than
copper cables thus it is attractive for Military, Banking and general
data transmission.
• Data can be transmitted digitally.
• Optical fiber is attractive for the maximum system reliability and
ease of maintenance.
 Advantages and Disadvantages
DISADVANTAGES:

• Fibre optics are that the cables are expensive to install.

• The termination of a fibre optics cable is complex and requires

special tools.

• They are more fragile than coaxial cable.

“General System Vs Optical Fiber
Communication System”

An optical fiber communication system is similar in

basic concept to any type of communication
system.
Optical Fiber Communication
system
Major elements of an optical fiber link
Optical fiber cable installations
 Optical communication
TRANSMITTER RECEIVER
FIBRE

+ –
+ –
An optical communications link
DHAKA KHULNA

LONG DISTANCE
“Properties of Light”
 Snell’s Law:

Refraction and total internal reflection at a dielectric interface: a)

ray AA’ is refracted according to Snell’s law: n1 sin  = n2 sin ’; b)
ray BB’ is the critical ray: n1sin c = n2; c) ray cc’ is totally reflected
at the interface r = r’.
 Reflection and Refraction of
Light Medium 1

1 1 2 Refracted
n1 n2 ray
Boundary 2
1 1
n2 n1
Incident 1 1
2 ray
Reflected
Medium 2 ray
n1 < n2 n1 > n2
Using the Snell's law at the boundary we have:
n1 sin 1 = n2 sin 2 or n1 cos 1 = n2 cos 2

1 = The angle of incident

 Total Internal Reflection
• As 1 increases (or 1 n 1 > n2 n2

decreases) then there is no reflection

• The incident angle 1
1 =  c = Critical Angle c
n1

• Beyond the critical angle, light ray n 1 > n2 n2

becomes totally internally reflected
When 1 = 90o (or c = 0o) 1<c 1
1>c
n1 sin 1 = n2
n1
1  n2 
Thus the critical angle c  sin  
 n1 
 Ray Propagation in Fibre -
Bound Rays
 > c,  > max

5
c
3 a
2
 1
4
Core n1

Air (no =1) Cladding n2

From Snell’s Law: n0 sin  = n1 sin (90 - )

 = max when  = c Thus, n0 sin max = n1 sin c

 Propagation in Optical Fibre

AA’ is an axial ray; BB’ is the critical ray for total internal reflection at the n 1n2 interface; CC’ enters too
obliquely for reflection at the interface and passes into the cladding.
All rays entering the end of the fibre at an angle of incidence to the axes less than m will propagate
within the core of the fibre.
Rays propagating within the core travel different path lengths depending on their obliqueness. Over
an axial distance l, these will range from l for the axial ray to l/cosm for the most oblique ray (critical
ray BB’)
 Total Internal Reflection
Rays striking an interface between two dielectrics from the higher
index side are totally internally reflected if the refracted ray angle
calculated from Snell’s Law would otherwise exceed 90˚.

Refractive index = n1
Refracted ray
( < crit)
Total internal
crit reflection ( > crit)

Refractive index = n2 (n2 > n 1 )

n 
 sin 
 1 1 
n2 sin crit  n1 sin 1  n1 sin 90  n1   crit n 
  2 
If n1 = 1.470 and n2 =1.475, say, then crit = 85.28˚ within a fibre core
 Ray Propagation in Fibre -
contd.
Or n0 sin max = n1 (1 - sin2 c)0.5

1 
n2 
Since c  sin  
 n1 
0.5
  n 2 
Then n0 sin  max  n1 1   2    
n12  n2
2 0.5

  n1  

n12  n2
2 0.5
 Numerical Aperture ( NA)

NA determines the light

gathering
capabilities of the fibre
 Numerical Aperture of Fibers
• Light which strikes the core/cladding interface at less than
the critical angle will not propagate along the fibre.
• What we really need to understand, are the implications that
this has on the cone of light which the fibre can accept.
– In other words, what is the numerical aperture of the fibre?
• Light which is launched into the fibre core at an angle i will
be refracted at the air/glass interface and will proceed down
the fibre at an angle r until it strikes the core cladding
interface at an angle .
– Therefore, if the angle (90° - r) is exactly equal to the critical angle c,
the ray will be totally internally reflected.
– In this case, i will represent the upper limit at which rays can be
launched into the fibre.
 Numerical Aperture of Fibres
• Hence, at the boundary
between a medium of
refractive index, n, and
another of index ncore, the
condition of refraction is
expressed as
– n sini = ncore sinr
= ncore sin(90° -c)
= ncore cosc
= ncore sin(1-sin²c)
 Fibre types
refractive
index

SM
Single-Mode

MM-SI
Multi-Mode
Step Index

MM-GI
Multi-Mode
Graded Index
Skew rays
 What is Optical fiber?

• “Optical fiber consists

of solid cylinder of
transparent glass
material called core
surrounded by a
cladding of the similar
material”
 Standard Single-Mode (SM)
Fibre core
Fibre
SiO2+ GeO2
Ø 10 m
n  1.443

SiO2 Cladding
Ø 125 m
n  1.44
Primary coating (soft)
Ø 400 m

Secondary coating (hard)

Ø 1 mm
• Guiding light: Conventional Optical Fibres

nCladding<nCore Cladding

Core
nCore

nCore>nCladding
Total Internal Refection
 Optical fibres – threads of glass
Human hair
Air for comparison
Coating

Cladding 50 – 80 m

Typical refractive indices:

Core
Cladding: ncl = 1.4440
Core: nco = 1.4512
Light is guided along the core
by Total Internal Reflection
Cladding helps isolate light
~6-10 m from edge of fibre where
125 m losses and scattering are high
~250 m
Types of Fibers:

There are two main fibre types:

(1) Step index:

• Multi-mode
• Single mode

(2) Graded index multi-mode

 Types of Fibers:
Multi-mode step index
nc
multimode
step-index

nf
nc

Single-mode step index

singlemode
step-index

nc
nc

multi-mode graded index

nc
GRIN

nf
nc
 Step-index Single-mode Fibre

8-12 m Output pulse

Input
pulse 100-120m n1 =1.48-1.5
n2 = 1.46
Advantages: dn = 0.005, 5ps/km
• Only one mode is allowed due to diffraction/interference effects.
• Allows the use high power laser source
• Facilitates fusion splicing similar fibres
• Low dispersion, therefore high bandwidth (a few GHz).
• Low loss (0.1 dB/km)
Disadvantages:
• Costly
 Step-index Multi-mode Fibre

50-200 m Output pulse

Input
pulse 120-400m n1 =1.48-1.5
n2 = 1.46
Advantages: dn=0.04,100 ns/km
• Allows the use of non-coherent optical light source, e.g. LED's
• Facilitates connecting together similar fibres
• Imposes lower tolerance requirements on fibre connectors.
• Cost effective
Disadvantages:
• Suffer from dispersion (i.e. low bandwidth (a few MHz)
• High power loss
Graded-index Multi-mode Fibre

50-100 m
Input Output
pulse 120-140m pulse
n2 n1
Advantages: dn = 0.04,1ns/km
• Allows the use of non-coherent optical light source, e.g. LED's
• Facilitates connecting together similar fibres
• Imposes lower tolerance requirements on fibre connectors.
• Reduced dispersion compared with STMMF
Disadvantages:
• Lower bandwidth compared with STSMF
• High power loss compared with the STSMF