MEKELLE UNIVERSITY(CNCS)

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
FIBER OPTIC SYSTEM
Presented by: [HAFTAY GEBRE]

Summer MSc 2024

Advised by Dr. Hagos w/gebriel

Saturday, March 22, 2025

 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
BRIEF FLOW OF PRESENTATIION
What is Communication?
Optical Fiber Communication System
What is fiber optics?
Construction Of Optical Fiber Cable
Principle of Optical Fiber Communication
Block diagram of Optical Fiber Communication system
Working of Optical fiber communication system
Types of Optical Fiber
Advantages of optical fiber communication
Disadvantages of optical fiber communication
Application of optical fiber communication
Saturday, March 22, 2025
WHAT IS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM?
 The term communication may be defined as the transfer of
information from one point (source) to another point
(destination).
 the information is transferred made possible by
modulating or superimposing the information onto an
electromagnetic wave which acts as a carrier for the
information signal.
 This modulated carrier is then transmitted to the required
destination where it is received and the original
information signal is obtained by demodulation.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
A communication system that uses light as the carrier of
information from a source to a destination through a guided fiber
cable (glass or plastic) is called an optical fiber communication
system.
 The optical fiber communication takes place between 0.8µm to 1.7µm wave
length (𝝀) of electromagnetic spectrum.
The information-carrying capacity of a communication system is
directly proportional to its bandwidth, i.e the wider the bandwidth,
the greater its information-carrying capacity.
Light frequencies used in fiber optical systems are between 10 4 and
4 x 1014 Hz as a result they have higher information-carrying
capacity.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
CON’T
 In addition to the capability of carrying a tremendous
amount of information, fibers have an extremely low loss
of about 0.2dB/km i.e., 0.5% of power loss over a distance
of 1 km.
 Because of high information-carrying capacity and low
attenuation, nowadays fibers are finding a wide
application in telecommunication, local area networks,
sensors, computer networks, etc.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
WHAT IS FIBER OPTICS?
Is the science of light transmission through very fine glass
or plastic fiber.
A means to carry information from one point to another or
serves as transmission medium (optical fiber).
A technology that uses thin strand of glass ( or plastic)
threads (fibers) to transmit data.
Uses fiber optic cable consists of a bundle of glass threads,
each of which is capable of transmitting data.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
Con’t
 Optical fiber is a transmission medium to send signals from
one location to another in the other form of light guided
through thin fibers of glass or plastic.
 An optical fiber is a dielectric waveguide capable of
carrying light energy.
 Optical fiber operates from 800 nm to 2550 nm wave
length. Specially at 1300 and 1550 nm. (optical frequency
lie in 1012-1016Hz).
 Its function is to guide visible and infrared light over long
distance.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
STRUCTURE OF OPTICAL FIBER
An optical fiber is composed of three main parts: the core,
the cladding, and the protective buffer coating.
 Core:
 The core is the central part of the fiber and is made of high-
purity glass or plastic.
 This is where the light pulses travel, carrying data from one end
of the fiber to the other.
 The core’s diameter determines the fiber type, with single-mode
fibers (SMF) having a small core and multi-mode fibers (MMF)
having a larger one.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
Con’t
 Cladding:
Surrounding the core is the cladding, which has a lower
refractive index than the core.
This difference in refractive index allows the light entering the
fiber to be confined to the core by total internal reflection,
preventing it from escaping the fiber
 Buffer Coating:
The buffer coating protects the delicate glass or plastic fiber
from moisture, physical damage, and environmental factors.
This layer can vary in thickness based on the fiber's application.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Saturday, March 22, 2025

 PRINCIPLE OF OPTICAL FIBER
COMMUNICATION
The transmission of light in an optical fiber involves the
phenomena of total internal reflections at the interface between
the core and cladding..
When light enters one end of a glass fiber under the right
conditions, most of the light will propagate or move down the
length of the fiber and exit from the far end.
A small part of the light will escape through the sidewalls of
the fiber, and some will be lost due to internal absorptions.
But, a portion of the light will be contained and guided to the
far end. Such fiber is called a “light pipe” or “light guide”.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
CON’t
The refractive index n1 of the core must always be greater
than the refractive index n2 of the cladding.
The light must approach the wall with an angle of the
incident 𝜙 0, ϕ0 that is greater than the critical angle 𝑐

Saturday, March 22, 2025

CON’T
Light enters the fiber at a specific angle called the
acceptance angle.
The light continuously reflects off the core-cladding
boundary without escaping, as long as the angle of incidence
exceeds the critical angle.
This process allows the light to travel through the fiber
minimal loss.
The angle of refraction at the interface between two media
is governed by Snell’s law.
n1 sinθ1 = n2 sinθ2
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 BLOCK DIAGRAM OF OPTICAL FIBER
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
Fiber optic communication link is the transmission of information
by the propagation of the optical signal through optical fibers over
a required distance.
This involves deriving an optical signal from an electrical signal at
the transmission end and conversion of the optical signal back to
an electrical signal at the receiving end.
The important components of fiber optic communication links are:
1. Transmitter
2. Fiber optic cable
3. Receiver
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 CON’t

Blok diagram of optical fiber communication system

Saturday, March 22, 2025
CON’T
1. Transmitter
The transmitter consists of an analog or digital interface, a
voltage-to-current converter, a light source, and a source-to-
fiber connector or coupler.
its main function is to transmit the information signals in the
form of light signals.
As shown above, the information at input is converted in
digital signals by coder or converter circuit.
This circuit is actually ADC (analog to digital converter).

Saturday, March 22, 2025

 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
Con’t
Thus, it converts analog signals in to proportional digital
signals.
Thus, this total unit is used fiber optic communication
system.
However if the distance between transmitter and receiver
is very large, then REPEATER UNITS are used.
Due to repeaters, signals attenuation is compensated. For
this, light signals at far end are converted in to electrical
signals, amplified and retransmitted. Such repeater unit is
also called RELAY STATION.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
CON’T
2. Fibre Optic Cable
The fiber optic cable is either an ultra-pure glass or plastic
cable.
IS fibers packaged and bundled together for maximum
mechanical and physical protection.
When light pulses are fed to one end of fiber optic cable, they
are passed onto other end.
The cable has VERY LESS attenuation (loss due to absorption
of light waves) over a long distance.
Its bandwidth is large; hence, its information carrying capacity
is high.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
CON’T
3. Receiver
The receiver includes a fiber-to-detector coupler, a light detector,
a current-to-voltage converter followed by an amplifier, and an
analog or digital interface.
 The main component of an optical receiver is a photo
detector which converts light signal into electric signal using the
photoelectric effect.
 It consists;- Coupler, Photo detector and demodulator
 The primary photo detectors for telecommunications are made
from Indium gallium arsenide.
 The photo detector is typically a semiconductor-based photodiode
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 WORKING OF OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION
SYSTEM
The message’s origin may take several physical forms. A suitable
transducer can be used to convert a non-electrical message into an
electrical signal. Example microphones ,cameras
In some cases, such as data transfer between computers or parts of a
computer the message is already in electrical form.
In any case, the information must be in the electrical form before
transmission for either electronic or optic communication.
In a fiber optical transmitter, the light source can be modulated by a
digital or an analog signal.
 For analog modulation, the input interface matches impedances and
limits the input signal amplitude.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
 CLASSIFICATION OF OPTICAL FIBER
The optical fibers can be classified into different types based on
I. The Material type:-
 Plastic core with plastic cladding.
 Glass core with plastic cladding (PCS fiber, plastic-clad-silica)
 Glass core with Glass cladding (Also called SCS fiber, silica-elad-silica)
II. The number of modes
Single mode fiber(SMF)
 Multi-mode fiber(MMF)
III. The refractive index:-
 Step index optical
Graded-index optical fiber
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 CON’T
I. Types Of Optical Fibers Based On Material
There are three major types of optical fibers based on the material type
of make.
 In all three types, the core, as well as the cladding, can be made of
either glass or plastic.
1. Plastic Core with Plastic Cladding
This type of fiber is commonly used.
Both the core and the cladding being made up of the same material
simplifies the production process.
The advantages of these fibers are, that they are more flexible, easy to
install can better withstand stress, are less expensive, and weigh
approximately 60% less than glass fibers.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 CON’T
The major disadvantage is that the attenuation characteristic of
these plastic fibers is high.
But, frequently used for short-distance computer applications
with information capabilities of about 6 Mbps over a distance of
50-200 meters.
2. Glass Core with Plastic Cladding (PCS)
fibers with glass cores exhibit low attenuation characteristics.
The PCS fibers are less affected by radiation and hence more
suitable for military applications.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

CON’T
3. Glass Core with Glass Cladding (SCS)
The attenuation characteristics of this SCS fiber are slightly
better than PCS fibers.
Then fibers have the best propagation characteristics and can
also be easily terminated.
SCS Fibers are the least rugged and they are more susceptible
to an increase in attenuation in the radiation area.
Example:
• SiO, core, P.O.-SiO, cladding.
• P,0,-SiO, core, Si O, cladding.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
CON’T
II. On bases of number of modes
 In fibre optics terminology, the word mode simply means path.
 That is, it defines the number of paths being taken by the light to
propagate down the cable.
1. Single mode fiber(mono mode or Fundamental fibre)
 Only one mode can propagate through the fiber.
 It has small core diameter (5µm) and high cladding diameter(700µm).
 Difference between the refractive index of core and cladding very
small.
 There is neither dispersion nor degradation therefore it is suitable for
long distance communication.
 The light is passed through the single mode fiber through laser diode.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
CON’T
2. Multi-mode fiber
 It allows a large number of modes for light ray travelling through it.
 The core diameter is 400µm and that of cladding is 700µm.
 The relative refractive index difference is also large than single
mode fiber.
 There is signal degradation due to multimode dispersion.
 It is not suitable for long distance communication due to large
dispersion and attenuation of signal.
 Multiple modes can propagate through the cable

Saturday, March 22, 2025

Saturday, March 22, 2025
CON’T
III. Types Of Optical Fibers Based on Refractive Index
In any optical fibre, the whole material of the cladding has a
uniform refractive index value.
But, the refractive index of the core material may either remain
constant or vary in a particular way.
The curve which represents the variation of refractive index
(along the vertical axis) with respect to the radial distance
(along the horizontal axis) from the axis of the fibre is called the
refractive index profile.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

CON’T
1. Step-Index Fibre
A step-index fibre has a central core with a uniform refractive index.
The core is surrounded by an outside cladding with a uniform
refractive index less than that of the central core.
From the Figure below (a), it is seen that there is an abrupt change in
the refractive index at the core/cladding interface and hence the
refractive index profile takes the shape of a step. Hence, the name
step-index fibre.
2. Graded Index Fibre (GRIN Fibre)
In graded-index fibre, the refractive index of the core is non-uniform.
It is highest (maximum) at the centre and decreases gradually with
distance toward the outer edge.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
Saturday, March 22, 2025
ADVANTAGES OF OPTICAL FIBER
COMMUNICATION
The primary advantages of optical fibre communication
compared to metallic cable (electrical) communication are:
1. Extremely Wide (Large) Bandwidth
The bandwidth available with single glass fibre is more than 100
GHz.
With such a large bandwidth, it is possible to transmit thousands
of voice conversations or dozens of video signals over the same
fibre simultaneously.
Whereas, only a very small number (40-50) of independent
signals alone can be sent through metallic cables.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
CON’T
2. Immunity to Electrostatic Interference
As optical fibres are made of either glass or plastic (non-conductors
or electricity) external electrical noise and lightning do not affect
the energy in a fibre cable. The result is a noise-free transmission.
However, this is not true for metallic cables made of metals, as
they are good conductors of electricity.
3. Elimination of Cross Talk
Fibre systems are immune to cross-talk between cables caused by
magnetic induction. Whereas, in metallic cables, cross-talk results
from the electromagnetic coupling between two adjacent wires.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

 CON’T
4. Lighter Weight and Smaller Size
Fibbers are very small in size diameter.
 This size reduction makes fibres the ideal transmission medium for
ships, aircraft, and high-rise buildings where bulky copper cables
occupy too much space.
Reduction in size results in a reduction of weight also.
5. Lower Cost
The material used in fibres is silica glass or silicon dioxide which is
one of the most abundant materials on earth, resulting in lower cost.
Optical fibre costs are continuing to decline. The costs of many
systems are declining with the use of fibre and that trend is
accelerating.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 CON’T
6. Security
Fibre cables are more secure than metallic cables.
Due to its immunity to electromagnetic coupling and radiation,
optical fibre can be used in the most secure environments.
Although it can be intercepted or tapped, it is very difficult to do so
because at the receiving user’s end, an alarm would be sounded.
7. Greater Safety
In many wired systems, (metallic cables) the potential hazard of
short circuits require precautionary designs.
Whereas, the dielectric nature of optical fibres eliminates the spark
hazard.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
CON’T
8. Corrosion
Fibre cables are more resistant to environmental extremes.
They operate over large temperature variations than their
metallic counterparts
 Are less affected by corrosive liquids and gases.
9. Longer Life Span and Ease of Maintenance
A longer life span of 20 to 30 years is predicted for fiber optic
cables as compared to 12 to 15 years for conventional cables.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
DISADVANTAGES
Interfacing costing  High planning, initialization and maintenance
cost
strength  Lower tensile strength than coaxial cable

Remote powering of devices  Necessary to provide electrical power to a remote

devices
 Can not be achieved through the fiber metallic
conductors are often in the cable assembly
Inability to interconnect Incompatibility with the electronic hardware systems
that make up today’s world

Saturday, March 22, 2025

 APPLICATION OF OPTICAL FIBRE
COMMUNICATION
1. Optical Fibres used in the Medical industry
Because of its extremely thin and flexible nature, it is used in various instruments
to view internal body parts by inserting them into hollow spaces in the body.
 It is used as a laser during surgeries, endoscopy, microscopy, and biomedical
research.
2. Optical Fibres Used in Communication
In the communication system, telecommunication has major uses of optical fibre
cables for transmitting and receiving purposes.
 It is used in various networking fields and even increases the speed and accuracy
of the transmission data.
Compared to copper wires, fibre optics cables are lighter, more flexible, and
carry more data.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 CON’T
3. Optical Fibres used for Defence Purposes
Fibre optics are used for data transmission in high-level data security
fields of military and aerospace applications.
These are used in wirings in aircraft, hydrophones for SONARs, and
seismic applications.
4. Optical Fibres are used in Industries
Used for imaging in hard-to-reach places such as they are used for
safety measures and lighting purposes in automobiles both in the
interior and exterior.
Transmit information at lightning speed and are used in airbags and
traction control.
Used for research and testing purpose s in industries.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 CON’T
5. Optical Fibres used for Broadcasting
Used to transmit high-definition television signals which have greater
bandwidth and speed.
Optical Fibre is cheaper compared to the same quantity of copper wires.
6. Uses of Optical Fibre for Lightening and Decorations
By now, we have a fair idea of what is optical fibre and it also gives an
attractive, economical, and easy way to illuminate the area and that is
why it is widely used in decorations and Christmas trees.
7. Optical Fibres used in Mechanical Inspections
On-site inspection engineers use optical fibres to detect damages and
faults which are hard-to-reach places. Even plumbers use optical fibres
for the inspection of pipes.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
CONCLUSION
Fiber optic communication is a revolutionary technology
that has transformed how we communicate and share
information using light.
Its advantages of high bandwidth, low attenuation,
immunity to interference, and enhanced security make it
the preferred choice for various applications.
As technology continues to advance, fiber optics will
continue to play a crucial role in shaping the future of
communications.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
 FIBER OPTIC
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

“Thank you for coming to my

seminar.
I would be glad to answer any
questions.”

Saturday, March 22, 2025