Module 2

Transmission characteristics of optical fiber

Dispersion
• Dispersion means spreading out of an optical pulse of light energy in
time as it propagates down a fiber.
• It is also called as Pulse spreading.
• Dispersion occurs because of the differences in the propagation time
taken by the light rays that traverse different propagation paths
between within the fiber.
• If the pulse spreading is sufficiently severe ,one pulse may interfere
with another
• Dispersion is defined as pulse spreading in an optical fiber. As a pulse
of light propagates through a fiber, elements such as numerical
aperture, core diameter, refractive index profile, wavelength, and
laser line width cause the pulse to broaden.
• Dispersion increases along the fiber length.
• The overall effect of dispersion on the performance of a fiber optic
system is known as Intersymbol Interference (ISI).
• Intersymbol interference occurs when the pulse spreading caused by
dispersion causes the output pulses of a system to overlap, rendering
them undetectable.
• Dispersion is generally divided into three categories: modal
dispersion, chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion.
• Dispersion is defined as pulse spreading in an optical fiber.
• As a pulse of light propagates through a fiber, elements such as numerical
aperture, core diameter, refractive index profile, wavelength, and laser line
width cause the pulse to broaden.
• Dispersion increases along the fiber length.
• The overall effect of dispersion on the performance of a fiber optic system is
known as Intersymbol Interference (ISI).
• Intersymbol interference occurs when the pulse spreading caused by
dispersion causes the output pulses of a system to overlap, rendering them
undetectable.
• Dispersion is generally divided into three categories: modal dispersion,
chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion.
• Signal dispersion in fiber optic cable is divided into 3 main catergories
i)Model/intermodal dispersion
ii)Chromatic dispersion
a) Material dispersion
b) waveguide dispersion.
iii) Polarization mode dispersion
• It is result from the finite spectral line width of the optical source.
• Propagation delay differences between the different spectral components of the
transmitted light signal causes broadening of each transmitted mode and hence
collectively known as intramodel dispersion.
• It may occur in all types of optical fibers.
• It is caused by the dispersive properties of the fiber material(material dispersion) and also
the guidance effects within the fiber structure(waveguide dispersion)
I. Modal dispersion is defined as pulse spreading caused by the time delay
between lower-order modes and higher order modes.
Modal dispersion is problematic in multimode fiber, causing bandwidth
limitation.
II. Chromatic Dispersion (CD) is pulse spreading due to the fact that different
wavelengths of light propagate at slightly different velocities through the fiber
because the index of refraction of glass fiber is a wavelength dependent quantity;
different wavelengths propagate at different velocities.
III. Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) occurs due to brief ringence along the
length of the fiber that causes different polarization modes to travel at different
speeds which will lead to rotation of polarization orientation along the fiber.
Dispersion in single mode step -Index fiber
• The light ray propagating in a single mode step index fiber
• Only a single transmission path is followed by all rays as they
propagate through the fiber.
• There is no intermodal dispersion and every light beam covers the
same distance in a given amount of time.
• The transmitted pulse is widened because a light pulse despite
propagating as a fundamental mode has a variety of spectral
components and the fundamental group velocity varies with
frequency.
Dispersion in multimode step index fiber
• Consider three different light rays propagating down a multimode step index fiber.
• Light ray-1 :the lowest order propagation mode takes the path parallel to the
central axis of the optical fiber.
• Light ray-2 : the middle order propagation mode bounces several time at the
interface till it reached propagates through fiber.
• Light –ray 3: the highest mode bounces many times back and forth as it
propagates the entire length.Hence light ray-3 has to travel more distance across
the fiber as compared to ray1 and ray2.
• When all three rays inject into fiber they will reach in different time at other end of
the fiber. This means the propagated light energy would spread out with respect to
time.this is called intermodal dispersion or modal dispersion. Since pulse is
stretched its amplitude get reduced at other end of fiber.
Dispersion in multimode graded index fiber
• Consider three different light rays travelling through a multimode
graded index fiber.
• Following are the observations:
All the three rays travel different mode and paths ,time taken for
Propagating through the optical fiber is approximately same.
This is because the index of refraction decreases with radial distance
from the center axis of the fiber core toward cladding.
Intermodal dispersion or mode dispersion
• This type dispersion occur in multimode fibers.
• Since light ray entering the fiber at different angles of incidence will
go through different paths /modes. Some of these light rays will travel
through the center of fiber optic cable while others will bounce off
the core/cladding boundary to zigzag their way along the waveguide .
• Whenever there is bounce off model dispersion happens. The longer
the path is higher the model dispersion will be .
• High order modes have more model dispersion than low order
modes.
• Multimode fiber can support up to 17 modes of light at a time
suffering from model dispersion.
• If the fiber is single mode fiber, there will be no modal dispersion
since there is only one mode and the light enters along the fiber axis
 (3)

Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of Electonics & Telecom. Engg. 2
Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of Electonics & Telecom. Engg. 2
Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of Electonics & Telecom. Engg. 2
Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of Electonics & Telecom. Engg. 2
Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of Electonics & Telecom. Engg. 2
Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of Electonics & Telecom. Engg. 2
Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of Electonics & Telecom. Engg. 2
Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of Electonics & Telecom. Engg. 3
Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of Electonics & Telecom. Engg. 3
Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of Electonics & Telecom. Engg. 3
Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of ___________________________________ 3
Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of ___________________________________ 3
Extra Practice problems for MODULE 1 & MODULE 2
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Extra Practice problems for MODULE 1 & MODULE 2
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Konkan Gyanpeeth College of Engineering, Karjat. Department of ___________________________________ 4
Extra Practice problems for MODULE 1 & MODULE 2
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