OPTICAL COMMUNICATION

UNIT-1
INTRODUCTION TO OPTICAL FIBERS

Prepared by
Dr.T.Jaya
Assistant Professor
Department of ECE
Vels Institute of Science ,Technology &Advanced Studies

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Optical Fiber

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 Why optical fiber?
When you are building a network that requires long distances, high
speeds, and/or heavy bandwidth connections, there is no question: 
fiber optic cables win the day.

To understand why, and where copper cables may still be the best
solution, it’s important to understand the differences between the two.

 Both cable types transmit data, but in very

different ways.
 Copper carries electrical pulses along its metal
strands
 Fiber optics, on the other hand, carry pulses of
light along flexible glass threads.
 This difference often equates to fiber being the
best solution for a new or upgraded network, and
therefore being worth the heavier up-front
investment.

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 Reasons To Choose Fiber optic Cables

1. Fiber optic transmission is faster

 Copper-based transmissions currently max out at 40 Gbps, whereas fiber optics can carry data
at close to the speed of light. 
 In fact, the bandwidth limits imposed on fiber are primarily theoretical, but have been tested
to be measurable in hundreds of terabits per second.

2. Fiber optic transmission can cover greater distances

 Both copper and fiber-based signaling suffers from attenuation, or a weakening of the
waveform signal over distance. However, fiber optic cables can transmit data over much longer
distances. In fact, the differences are vast.
 Copper cables are limited to lengths of 100 meters (.06 miles) (~330 ft.), per Longer distances
are theoretically possible, but may introduce other problems, preventing copper from being a
reliable transmission method at greater distances. Fiber optic cabling, depending on signaling
and type of cable, can transmit up to well over 24 miles! (38624.3 meters) .

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 Reasons To Choose Fiber optic Cables
3. Fiber optic cables are not affected by electromagnetic
interference (EMI)
 The light transmission in fiber optics does not generate any EMI, so fiber winds up being more
secure, and requires less retransmission, ultimately leading toward a stronger ROI.

4. Save space and enhance cable management

 Fiber optic strands are extremely narrow. In fact, they’re measured in microns, or millionths
of a meter. The most common fiber optic strand is the same diameter as a human hair. Yet as
we’ve seen, they can transmit incredible amounts of data, at much higher speeds, over much
longer distances than their less narrow copper counterpart. Fiber optic cables do require
protective sheathing, which “fattens” them up to a least two millimeters in width.
 A single standard category 6 copper cable is roughly four times that width, and carries a
fraction of the data. When you use fiber, it takes up much less space and is more flexible (and
therefore easier to manage).

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 Reasons To Choose Fiber optic Cables
5. Fiber optics are future-proof

 Everbandwidth requirements. Investing in a modern fiber optic

cabling infrastructure will allow your network to 
operate at future speeds without replacing the cabling.

 A solid multifiber backbone in a structured environment will last for

years, if not decades, and likely continue to support increasing
bandwidth needs. The average lifespan of a copper category
specification, on the other hand, is a little over five yeay year the
amount of data we consume increases, as do rs.

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What is Optical communication ?
Fiber Optic
Cable

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FIBER OPTIC COMMUNICATION

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Major elements of an Optical Fiber Transmission Link

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 Main Three Elements

The optical fiber consists of three

main elements:
 Transmitter
 Transmission channel
 Receiver

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 Transmitter
Input Signal
An electric signal is applied to the optical transmitter. The optical transmitter
consists of driver circuit, light source and fiber flylead.

Driver Circuit
Driver circuit drives the light source.

Carrier source

Light source converts electrical signal to optical signal. Carrier source

generates the wave on which the information is transmitted. This wave is
called the carrier. For fiber optic system, a laser diode (LD) or a light emitting
diode (LED) is used. They can be called as optic oscillators; they provide
stable, single frequency waves with sufficient power for long distance
propagation.

Fiber flylead is used to connect optical signal to optical fiber. Optical connector
is for temporary non-fixed joints between two individual optical fibers.

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Splicing of Optical Fibers
 Splicing of optical fibers is a technique used to join two optical fibers.

 This technique is used in optical fiber communication, in order to form

long optical links for better as well as long-distance optical signal
transmission. 

 Optical splice is used to permanently join two individual optical fibers

 Splicers are basically couplers that form a connection between two

fibers or fiber bundles.

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Optical Coupler
 Coupler feeds the power into the information channel.
For an atmospheric optic system, the channel coupler
is a lens used for collimating the light emitted by the
source and directing this light towards the receiver.

 The coupler must efficiently transfer the modulated

light beam from the source to the optic fiber.

 The channel coupler design is an important part of

fiber system because of possibility of high losses.

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Transmission channel
 It consists of a cable that provides mechanical and environmental
protection to the optical fibers contained inside.

 Each optical fiber acts as an individual channel.

 Optical coupler or splitter provides signal to other devices.

 Repeater converts the optical signal into electrical signal using optical
receiver and passes it to electronic circuit where it is reshaped and
amplified as it gets attenuated and distorted with increasing distance
because of scattering, absorption and dispersion in waveguides, and
this signal is then again converted into optical signal by the optical
transmitter.

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 Receiver
Optical signal is applied to the optical receiver. It consists of photo detector,
amplifier and signal restorer.

Optical detector

 The information being transmitted is detector.

 Photo detector converts the optical signal to electrical signal.
 The current developed by the detector is proportional to the power in
the incident optic wave.
 Detector output current contains the transmitted information. This
detector output is then filtered to remove the constant bias and then
amplified.
 The important properties of photo detectors are small size, economy,
long life, low power consumption, high sensitivity to optic signals and
fast response to quick variations in the optic power.

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Signal Restorers and Amplifiers
 Signal restorers and amplifiers are used to improve signal to
noise ratio of the signal as there are chances of noise to be
introduced in the signal due to the use of photo detectors.
Signal processing
 Signal processing includes filtering, amplification. Proper

filtering maximizes the ratio of signal to unwanted power.

 For a digital system decision circuit is an additional block. The

bit error rate (BER) should be very small for quality

communications.
Message output
 The electrical forms of the message emerging from the signal

processor are transformed into a sound wave or visual image.

Sometimes these signals are directly usable when computers
or other machines are connected through a fiber system.

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 Ray theory transmission
 Before studying how the light actually propagates through the
fiber, laws governing the nature of light must be studied.

 These was called as laws of optics (Ray theory). There is

conception that light always travels at the same speed.
 This fact is simply not true. The speed of light depends upon the
material or medium through which it is moving.

 In free space light travels at its maximum possible speed

i.e. 3 x 108 m/s or 186 x 103 miles/sec. When light travels through
a material it exhibits certain behaviour explained by laws of
reflection, refraction.

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 Ray theory transmission
 Reflection
 Refraction
 Refractive Index
 Snell’s Law
 Critical Angle
 Total Internal Reflection (TIR)
 Acceptance Angle

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 Reflection
 The law of reflection states that, when a light ray is
incident upon a reflective surface at some incident angle 1
from imaginary perpendicular normal, the ray will be
reflected from the surface at some angle 2 from normal
which is equal to the angle of incidence.

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 Refraction
 Refraction occurs when light ray passes from one medium to another i.e. the
light ray changes its direction at interface.
 Refraction occurs whenever density of medium changes. E.g. refraction occurs
at air and water interface, the straw in a glass of water will appear as it is bent.
The refraction can also observed at air and glass interface.
 When wave passes through less dense medium to denser medium, the wave is
refracted (bent) towards the normal.
 Fig. shows the refraction phenomena. The refraction (bending) takes place
because light travels at different speed in different mediums. The speed of light
in free space is higher than in water or glass.

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Optical Fiber
Structure

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 Refractive Index
 The amount of refraction or bending that occurs at the
interface of two materials of different densities is usually
expressed as refractive index of two materials.

 Refractive index is also known as index of refraction and is

denoted by n.

 Based on material density, the refractive index is expressed

as the ratio of the velocity of light in free space c to the
velocity of light of the dielectric material v(substance).

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 Snell’s Law
 Snell's Law states that the ratio of the sine of the angles of
incidence and transmission is equal to the ratio of the
refractive index of the materials at the interface.
 Snell‘s law states how light ray reacts when it meets the

interface of two media having different indexes of refraction.

Let the two medias have refractive indexes n1 and n2 where
n1 >n2.
 1and 2 be the angles of incidence and angle of refraction

respectively. Then according to Snell‘s law, a relationship

exists between the refractive index of both materials given
by,

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 Snell’s Law
 A refractive index model for Snell‘s law is shown in
Fig

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 Snell’s Law
 The refracted wave will be towards the normal when n1 < n2 and will
away from it then n1 > n2.

 This equation gives the relation between the angle of incidence and
angle of transmission equal to the refractive index of each medium. It
is given as,
Sin α1 / Sin α2 = n2/ n1

 Here ‘α1’ measures the angle of incidence

 ‘α2’ measures the angle of refraction
 ‘n1’ measures the refractive index of the first medium
 ‘n2’ measures the refractive index of the second medium.

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 Snell’s Law
The refracted wave will be towards the normal when n1 < n2
and will away from it then n1 > n2. Equation can be written
as,

This equation shows that the ratio of refractive index of two mediums is
inversely proportional to the refractive and incident angles. As refractive
index
substituting these values in equation

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 Critical Angle
 Critical Angle When the angle of incidence ( 1) is progressively
increased, there will be progressive increase of refractive angle ( 2).
 At some condition ( 1) the refractive angle ( 2) becomes 90o to the
normal. When this happens the refracted light ray travels along the
interface.
 The angle of incidence ( 1) at the point at which the refractive angle ( 1)
becomes 90 degree is called the critical angle.
 It is denoted by c. The critical angle is defined as the minimum angle of
incidence ( 1) at which the ray strikes the interface of two media and
causes an angle of refraction ( 2) equal to 90o. Fig shows critical angle
refraction

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 Critical Angle

The actual value of critical angle is dependent

upon combination of materials present on
each side of boundary.

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 Total Internal Reflection (TIR)
 When the incident angle is increase beyond the critical angle, the light ray does
not pass through the interface into the other medium.
 This gives the effect of mirror exist at the interface with no possibility of light
escaping outside the medium. In this condition angle of reflection ( 2) is equal
to angle of incidence ( 1).
 This action is called as Total Internal Reflection (TIR) of the beam. It is TIR that
leads to the propagation of waves within fiber-cable medium.
 TIR can be observed only in materials in which the velocity of light is less than
in air.
 The two conditions necessary for TIR to occur are: 1. The refractive index of
first medium must be greater than the refractive index of second one. 2. The
angle of incidence must be greater than (or equal to) the critical angle.

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 Acceptance Angle
 Acceptance Angle Applying Snell‘s law to external
incidence angle.

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Acceptance Angle

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 Numerical Aperture (NA)
 The numerical aperture (NA) of a fiber is a figure of merit which represents its
light gathering capability. Larger the numerical aperture, the greater the
amount of light accepted by fiber.
 The acceptance angle also determines how much light is able to be enter the
fiber and hence there is relation between the numerical aperture and the cone
of acceptance.

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 Numerical Aperture (NA)
 By the formula of NA note that the numerical aperture is effectively dependent
only on refractive indices of core and cladding material.
 NA is not a function of fiber dimension.
 The index difference (Δ) and the numerical aperture (NA) are related to the
core and cladding indices:

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Example-Problems

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Angle of refraction 33.46 degrees from normal.

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 Skew rays
 Skew rays are those rays which follow helical path but they are not
confined to a single plane. 
 Skew rays are not confined to a particular plane so they cannot be
tracked easily.
 Analyzing the meridional rays is sufficient for the purpose of result,
rather than skew rays, because skew rays lead to greater power loss.

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The two diagrams given above show the propagation of meridional rays inside the optical
fibre. The first diagram provides the ray path view along the fiber axis.

It is clear from the diagram that the light ray is crossing the fiber axis at each reflection. These
reflections are marked as 1, 2 and 3.

Another diagram is also of meridional ray propagation but with a different view. It is ray path
view along the plane normal to the fiber axis.

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Skew rays and Meridional rays

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Skew rays

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 Optical Fiber as Waveguide
 An optical fiber is a cylindrical dielectric waveguide capable of conveying
electromagnetic waves at optical frequencies.
 The electromagnetic energy is in the form of the light and propagates
along the axis of the fiber.
 The structural of the fiper determines the transmission characteristics.
 The propagation of light along the waveguide is decided by the modes of
the waveguides, here mode means path.
 Each mode has distinct pattern of electric and magnetic field distributions
along the fiber length.
 Only few modes can satisfy the homogeneous wave equation in the fiver
also the boundary condition a waveguide surfaces.
 When there is only one path for light to follow then it is called as single
mode propagation.
 When there is more than one path then it is called as multimode
propagation.

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 Optical Fiber as Waveguide
 A single fiber structure is shown in Fig. It consists of a solid dielectric cylinder
with radius ‗a‘. This cylinder is called as core of fiber.
 The core is surrounded by dielectric, called cladding. The index of refraction of
core (glass fiber) is slightly greater than the index of refraction of cladding.
 If refractive index of core (glass fiver) = n1 and refractive index of cladding =
n2 then n1 > n2.

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Modes in Optical Waveguides

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 Modes in planar Waveguides
 The planar guide is the simplest form of optical
waveguide.
 We may assume it consists of a slab of dielectric

with refractive index n1 sandwiched between two

regions of lower refractive index n2.
 In order to obtain an improved model for optical

propagation it is useful to consider the interference

of plane wave components within this dielectric
waveguide.

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 Modes in planar Waveguides
 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 .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 (a).

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Figure: 1-The formation of a mode in a planar dielectric guide:
(a) a plane wave propagating in the guide shown by its wave vector or equivalent ray – the
wave vector is resolved into components in the z and x directions; (b) the interference of
plane waves in the guide forming the lowest order mode (m = 0)

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Modes in planar Waveguides
 The transverse modes shown in Figure 2 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, as illustrated for the transverse electric modes
shown in Figure 2

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 Modes in planar Waveguides

Physical model showing the ray propagation and the corresponding

transverse  electric (TE) field patterns of three lower order models (m =1,
2, 3) in the planar dielectric guide

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Phase and group velocity

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 Phase and group velocity

 The envelope of the wave package or group of waves travels at

a group velocity υg With in 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 wave front.

 As a monochromatic light wave propagates along a waveguide

in the z direction these points of constant phase travel at a
phase velocity υp given by

--- ---(1)

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 Phase and group velocity

 where ω is the angular frequency of the wave. However, it is

impossible in practice to produce perfectly monochromatic
light waves, 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

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 Phase and group velocity

 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 :

--- ---(2)

 The group velocity is of greatest importance in the study of the

transmission characteristics of optical fibers as it relates to the
propagation characteristics of observable wave groups or packets of
light.

 If propagation in an infinite medium of refractive index n1 is

considered, then the propagation constant may be written as:

--- ---(3)

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 Phase and group velocity

 Where c is the velocity of light in free space. Equation (3)

follows from Eqs (4) and (5) where we assume propagation in
the z direction only and hence cos θ is equal to unity.

--- ---(4)
 It should be noted that in this case k is also referred to as the
free space wave number.
 The component of the phase propagation in the Z direction is
given by:
--- ---(5)

 The component of the phase propagation constant in the x direction

βx is:
--- ---(6)

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 Using Eq. (1) we obtain the following relationship for the phase
velocity:
--- ---(7)

 Similarly, employing Eq. (2), where in the limit δω/δβ becomes dω/dβ,
the group velocity:

--- ---(8)

The parameter Ng is known as the group

index of the guide.
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Phase and group velocity

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Classification of Optical Fiber

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Single Mode and Multi Mode

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Single Mode and Multi Mode

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Difference between Single Mode and Multi Mode Fiber

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