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Unit III Fiber Optics

PART -A
1. What is optical fiber communication system? (A.U. Dec. 2002)
It is a communication system in which information is carried by the light through the optical
fiber.
2. What is optical fiber?
Optical fiber is a thin hair like structure made up of transparent material, which can guide the
light beam from one place to another, by total internal reflection.
3. Explain the basic principle of fiber optic communication (A.U. Nov. 2002)
Principle: Total Internal Reflection is the principle of fiber optic
Communication.
Explanation: When light travels from a denser to a rarer medium, at a particular angle of
incidence called critical ange, the ray emerges along the surface of separation. When the angle
of incidence exceeds the critical angle, the incident ray is reflected in the same medium and this
phenomenon is called Total Internal Reflection.

4. What are the conditions to obtain total internal reflection?

(i)
The ray of light should travel from a denser to a rarer medium.
(ii)
The angle of incidence in the denser medium should be greater than the critical
angle.

5. How will you classify optical fibers?

Optical fibers are classified into three major categories based on (i) material (ii) number of
modes (iii) refractive index profile.

(i) Based on the material it can be classified into

(a) Glass fiber
(b) Plastic fiber

(ii) Based on number of modes they are classified as

(a) Single mode fiber (b) Multi mode fiber

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( iii) Based on refractive index profile they are classified as
(a) Step-index fiber

(b) Graded Index fiber

6. Mention the components involved in fiber optical system. (A.U. May 2004)
(a) Light source
(b) Optical fiber transmission line
(c) Photo detector

7. Define acceptance angle. (A.U. Jan. 2005)

The maximum angle with which ray of light can enter through one end of the fiber and still be
total internally reflected is called acceptance angle of the fiber.

8. Define Numerical Aperture of a fiber. (A.U. Dec. 2003, May 2003, May 2007)
It is the light collecting efficiency of the fiber. It is a measure of the amount of light rays that can
be accepted by the fiber. It is equal to the sine of the acceptance angle.
i.e., NA = sin 0

9. Why optical fibers are called as wave-guides? (A.U. Dec. 2002)

A wave-guide is a tubular structure through which some sort of energy could be guided in the
form of waves. Since light waves can be guided through a fiber, it is called wave-guide.

10. What is attenuation? (A.U. May 2005)

Attenuation in fiber means loss of optical power suffered by the optical signal in the fiber itself.

It is defined as the ratio of the optical power output (Pout) from a fiber of length L to the power
input (Pin).

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Attenuation () = -(10/L) log (Pout/Pin) dB/km

11. What are basic attenuation mechanisms? (A.U. May 2006)

(i)
Absorption loss
(ii)
Scattering loss and
(iii)
Radiative loss

12. Define dispersion. (A.U. Jan. 2009)

Dispersion means degradation of the optical signal or signal distortion. In fiber optic
communication, the signal is launched in the form of pulses of light with a given width,
amplitude and spacing between pulses.During transmission, several effects result in spreading
of pulse width. This effect is called dispersion.

13. What are the losses that occur during optical fiber communication?
During the transmission of light through the optical fiber, three major losses will occur, viz.,
attenuation, distortion and dispersion.
Attenuation is mainly caused due to the absorption, scattering and radiation of light inside the
fibers.
Distortion and dispersion occurs due to spreading of light and due to manufacturing defects.
14. What are common types of light source? (A.U. April 2006)
(a) Light emitting diodes (LED)
(b) Laser diodes
15. What is detector? (A.U. Jan. 2005)
Detector is a device that converts light signal into electrical waveforms.
16. What is meant by a photo detector? (A.U. Dec.2008)
Photo detector is a device used to detect the light falling over it. It converts the light
energy into electrical energy. i.e., when light falls on the photo-detector, it produces electronhole pairs and thereby generates current in the output.

Examples: (i) PIN photo diode (ii) Avalanche Photo Diode (APD)

17. What is meant by splicing? (A.U. Dec. 2008)

It is a process of joining two optical fibers permanently.

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There are two types of splices.

(i)
(ii)

Mechanical splices
Fusion splices

18. How fibers are used as a sensors? (A.U. Dec. 2005)

The fiber optic sensors are used to detect changes in frequency, intensity, temperature, current,
polarization of light waves etc.
A fiber optic sensor modulates the light passing through it, when it is exposed to change in
environment.
19. What are the types of sensors used in the fiber optics? (A.U. May 2004)
There are two types of sensors,
(i)
(ii)

Intrinsic sensors Here fiber itself acts as a sensing element.

Extrinsic sensors Separate sensing system collects the light from the fiber. Fiber
acts only a guiding medium.

20. Give any two applications of optical fibers in industries.

(i)
Fiber optic endoscopes are used to find minor cracks, pores etc. in big machineries.
(ii)
They are used in coagulation in chemical industries and laboratories.
(iii)
It is also used to connect a monitoring station and a remote sensor in industries.

21. State some of the applications of optical fibers in medical field.

1. Fiber optic endoscopes are used in medical diagnosis.
2. It is used to visualize the inner organs of the body.
3. Fibers as endoscopes are used in various medical fields such as cardioscopy,
Laproscopy, Cytoscopy etc.

22. What is meant by endoscope?

A medical Endoscope is a tubular optical instrument, used to inspect (or) view the internal parts
of human body, which are not visible to the naked eye. The photograph of the internal parts
can also be taken by using endoscope.

23. Give four applications of fiber optic sensors. (A.U. May 2004, May 2008)
(i)
It is used as a fluid level detector.

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(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)

Optical displacement sensors are used to fine the position and displacement of the
target.
Temperature sensors are used to measure the temperature accurately.
Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) is used to measure several physical quantities such
as velocity, fluid surface velocity.
The pressure can be accurately measure using photoelastic pressure sensors.

24. Write any four major advantages of optical fiber communication over other conventional
communication systems.

(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)

Unit III Fiber Optics

Large information carrying capacity: Since the optical frequencies are used to carry
the signal the bandwidth is much higher (1014 Hz)
Immunity to e.m. interference: Since light carries the signal, the system ink immune
to electromagnetic interference
Signal security: Tapping the signal from the fiber is very difficulot and hence
provides maximum signal security
Cheaper: Since silica, the raw material of the fiber is available in abundance, the
material cost is less. Also since more signals can be transmitted through a single
fiber simu8ltaneously the transmission cost is reduced.

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PART-B
1. Derive expressions for numerical aperture and acceptance angle.
2. Explain the various types of fiber with neat diagram.
3. Explain different types of losses and dispersion in optical fiber .
4. With a neat diagram explain the fiber optic communication system and fiber optic
sensors .

Unit III Fiber Optics