ECE 571

Optical Fiber Communication

Chapter 3:
Fiber Optic Cables (2)

Dr. Ashraf Eltholth - Dr.-Ing. Saleh Hussin

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 1
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Fundamentals of Light Waves

• Light
  can be seen as an EM wave that oscillates around
frequency (), and a wavelength ( )
• The electric field varies in sinusoidal motion along the z
direction. The electrical field is defined by:

where
– Peak amplitude
– (rad/s)
– Propagation factor
– Distance in wave direction

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 2
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Fundamentals of Light Waves

•  The propagation factor is defined by:

where
– Phase velocity of the wave
– Refractive index in the propagation media
• The factor is the phase of the wave, while the term ) is
the phase shift due to wave travel over length ).
• The wave number is given by )

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 3
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Fundamentals of Light Waves
• Plane
  wave is the wave whose phase is constant over a
planner surface.
• Usually the phase is constant at the plane defined at fixed
distance ).
• The free space wavelength and the medium wavelength )
are related by:

• The wavelength in a medium is shorter than that in free

space.
• In free space (), the propagation constant is given by:

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 4
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Fundamentals of Light Waves
•  In any other medium

• The power of an optical beam is proportional to the light

intensity. Light intensity is the square of the electric field.

• Irradiance is the power density measured in watts per

square meters.

• The wave does not loss energy

In losses media

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 5
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Fundamentals of Light Waves
• In
  lossy medium, the wave losses energy, then the
attenuation is important.
• The corrected equation will be

• : is the attenuation coefficient

• Attenuation :The ratio of output
power to input power is:

• The attenuation per distance

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 6
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Example
• An
  optical fiber communication link has the following
specified components:
– 30 mW input optical power from a LED.
– 400 km optical fiber cable with attenuation factor Find:
a) The attenuation of the fiber cable in [dB/km].
b) The total cable attenuation in [dB].
c) The optical power at the end of the cable in [mW] and in [dB].
Sol.:

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 7
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Spectral Width of Light Source

• The optical source usually

doesn’t emit lights at single
wavelength.
• The range of wavelengths is
called the line width or spectral
width.
• The smaller the linewidth, the
more coherent the source. The
source with zero linewidth is Source Linewidth nm
called “Monochromatic” or LED 20-100
“Single wavelength”
Laser Diode 1-5

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 8
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Spectral Width of Light Source

•  The fractional line width is defined as:

• In the case illustrated in figure, , and .

• The fractional line width will be:

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 9
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Dispersion
• Dispersion is the spreading of a
light pulse as it travels down a
fiber. It is the property of velocity
variations with wavelength.

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 10
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Dispersion

• All light sources used for optical fiber transmission emit

light, not at a single wavelength, but in a band of spectral
width distributed around center wavelength.
• The speed at which light travels through a fiber depends
on its wavelength and on the design of the fiber
• Thus some wavelengths of the band may be delayed
compared with others, leading to pulse spreading with
time.
• Dispersion Types
– Chromatic Dispersion
– Polarization Mode Dispersion

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 11
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Dispersion Types

• Chromatic Dispersion (CD)

– Different wavelengths travel at different velocities.

• Characteristics:
– Linear
– Deterministic
– Not affected by environment
– Can be compensated

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 12
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Dispersion Types

• Polarization mode dispersion (PMD)

– Different polarization modes travel at different velocities.

• Characteristics:
– Nonlinear
– Stochastic
– Affected by the environment
– Can not be easily compensated
Misr International University
Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 13
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Chromatic Dispersion (CD)

• Two effects contribute to CD:

– Material Dispersion
• When velocity variation is caused by some property of material
(refractive index) and we are unable to change it.
• Ex. Short blue wavelength arrive before long red wavelength.

– Waveguide Dispersion
• When dispersion is caused by the fiber structure (refractive index
profile). It can be changed manufacture.

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 14
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Material Dispersion

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 15
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Material Dispersion

• The material of optical fiber has variable refractive index

with wavelength. So propagation velocity will vary
depending on wavelength. The peak power will be reduced,
while the average power will remain the same.
• The initial pulse consists of a sum of pulses that are
identical, except for their wavelengths. For a few of the
source wavelengths, the several pulses travel at different
velocities, reaching the end of the fiber at slightly different
times. When summed at the output, the slightly displaced
pulses add together, yielding an output that is spread
relative to the input signal.

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 16
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Impact of Dispersion
•  Let be the time for a pulse to travel a path having length .

• is the travel time per unit length.

• Shortest and longest wavelengths are and .
• For a light source with spectral width
• The two extreme wavelengths will arrive at times

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 17
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Impact of Dispersion
• For
  a nondispersive medium (Fig. a), where the travel
time is independent of the wavelength.
• For a dispersive medium (Fig. b), where the travel time
depends on the wavelength.
• The travel time per unit length is not directly important.
The important quantity is the difference in travel time per
unit length for the two extreme wavelengths.

• : pulse spread per unit length

• : pulse spread

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 18
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Impact of Dispersion
•  Full-duration half-maximum (FDHM) pulse duration.
– The pulse duration is the interval from the time the optic power
rises to half its peak value to the time it falls to half its peak
value.
• The slope of the curve is denoted by:

Analysis show that:

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 19
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Impact of Dispersion
• Pulse
  spread depends on the second order derivative of
the refractive index with respect to wavelength.
• The material dispersion can be defined as:

• Then pulse spread per unit length is:

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 20
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Impact of Dispersion

• The
  units of M are ps/(nm X km]. This is read as
picoseconds of pulse spreading per nanometer of source
spectral width and per kilometer of path length.
• Because is always positive, this equation predicts that
the pulse spread will be negative when M is positive.
• That is, the travel time for the shorter wavelength () is longer than
the travel time for the longer wavelength (). The longer
wavelength travels faster.
• When M is negative, the pulse spread is positive and the
shorter wavelength travels faster (its travel time is less)
than the longer wavelength.

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 21
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
 Zero Dispersion
• The
  material dispersion for pure
silica has a zero value at
• In practice, when operating near
the zero-dispersion wavelength it
is incorrect to completely neglect
material pulse spreading.

• The light source emits at precisely the zero-dispersion

wavelength, the emission wavelength will vary with
temperature and drive current and thus wander away from
the zero point, and a real light source does not emit at a
single wavelength but emits over a range of wavelengths.

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 22
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
 Zero Dispersion

• The
  curve is nearly linear in the range
• Material dispersion for silica

where
Example: Compute M at = 1.55 for pure silica.
Sol.:

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 23
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
Example

• Find
  the amount of pulse spreading in pure silica for an
LED operating at 0.82 m and having a 20 nm spectral
width. the path is 10km long. Repeat when = 1.5 m and
= 20 nm.
• Sol.:
• From the dispersion curve for = 0.8

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 24
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
CD Compensation
• Pulse spreading reduces bandwidth and data capacity
1. Dispersion can be reduced using sources with smaller
beam widths, that is by using coherent emitters. LD’s are
better than LED’s.
2. Filtering the light beam at the transmitter or receiver
allowing only a narrow beam of wavelengths to reach the
photodetector.
– Drawbacks
1. Filters can’t be constructed with passband narrow enough to be
effective.
2. A narrow band filter will greatly reduce the optical power by
eliminating light at the unwanted wavelengths.
3. Operation at zero dispersion wavelength.
4. Solitons. (Self Study)
Misr International University
Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 25
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin
 Thanks for your attention

Misr International University

Ch 3: Fiber Optic Cables Electronics and Communication Engineering Department Page 26
Dr. Ashraf Eltholth & Dr.-Ing. Saleh
Hussin