Optical Fiber

Transmission
Media
 Optical communications system

• One that uses light as the carrier

of information
• Use glass or plastic fiber cables to
“contain” the light waves and
guide them in a manner similar to
the way electromagnetic waves
are guided through a metallic
transmission medium
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Optical Principles
The Light Frequency Spectrum
 Infrared
 The band of light frequencies that is too high to be
seen by the human eye with wavelengths ranging
between 770nm and 106 nm. Optical fiber systems
generally operate in the infrared band.
 Visible
 The band of light frequencies to which the human eye
will respond wavelengths ranging between 390 nm and
770 nm. This band is visible to the human eye.
 Ultraviolet
 The band of light frequencies that are too low to be
seen by the human eye with wavelengths ranging
between 10nm and 390 nm.
 Wavelength
The length that one cycle of an
electromagnetic wave occupies in space.

λ = c/f
where:
λ = wavelength (meters/cycle)
c = velocity of light
( 300,000,000 meters per
second)
f = frequency (hertz)
 When with light frequencies,

 Wavelength is often stated in microns,

where 1 micron = 10−6 m (1 μm), or in
nanometers (nm), where 1 nm = 10−9 m.

 For optical spectrum, the unit angstrom is

sometimes used to express wavelength,
where 1 Å = 10−10 m, or 0.0001 micron.
Example

 20 Angstrom is equal to how many

microns?
 100 Angstrom is equal to how many
microns?
 Information-carrying
capacity

• Directly proportional to bandwidth

 Optical fiber cables:

• have an infinite bandwidth.
• Have the capacity to carry much more
information than metallic counterparts
 For comparison purposes, it is
common to express the bandwidth of
an analog communications system as
a percentage of its carrier frequency.
This is sometimes called the
bandwidth utilization ratio.
 For instance, a VHF radio
communications system operating at
a carrier frequency of 100 MHz with
10 MHz bandwidth has a bandwidth
utilization ratio of 10%.
Example:
A microwave radio system
operating at a carrier frequency of
10 GHz with a 10% bandwidth
utilization ratio would have ___ of
bandwidth available.
 History of optical fiber
communications
1880 PHOTOPHONE
(Alexander Graham Bell)
 It was a device
constructed from mirrors
and selenium detectors
that transmitted sound
waves over a beam of
light.
 History of optical fiber
communications
1930 John Logie Baird and Clarence W.
Hansell
 Were granted patents for scanning and
transmitting television images through
uncoated fiber cables

Heinrich Lamm
 Successfully transmitted images through a
single glass fiber
 History of optical fiber
communications
1951 FLEXIBLE
FIBERSCOPE (A.C.S. van
Heel of Holand and H.H.
Hopkins and N.S. Kapany)
 Experimented with light
transmission through
bundles of fibers

1956 Narinder Singh

Kapany
 Coined the term “fiber
optics”
 History of optical fiber
communications
1958 Charles H. Townes and Arthur L. Schawlow
 Wrote a paper describing how it was possible to use stimulated
emission for amplifying light waves (laser) as well as microwaves
(maser)
1960 Maser (Theodore H. Maiman)
 Built the first maser
1967 K.C. Kao and G.A. Bockham
 Proposed a new communication medium using cladded fiber
cables
1970 Kapron, Keck and Maurer
 developed am optical fiber with losses less than 2 dB/km.
Optical Fiber versus Metallic
Cable Facilities
Advantages of Optical Fiber Cables
1. Wider Bandwidth and Greater Information
Capacity
2. Immunity to Crosstalk
3. Immunity to Static Interference
4. Environmental Immunity
5. Safety and Convenience
6. Lower Transmission Loss
7. Security
8. Durability and Reliability
9. Economics
Optical Fiber versus Metallic
Cable Facilities
Disadvantages of Optical Fiber Cables
1. Interfacing Cost
2. Strength
3. Remote Electrical Power
4. Optical Fiber Cables are More
Susceptible to Losses Introduced by
Bending the Cable
5. Specialized Tools, Equipment, and
Training
Block Diagram of an Optical
Fiber Communication System
 Optical Fiber Configuration
 Fiber core and cladding – the
actual fiber portion of an optical
fiber
 Protective coating – protect the
fiber from moisture, which reduces
the possibility of the occurrence of a
detrimental phenomenon called
stress corrosion ( also called static
fatigue)
 Buffer Jacket – provides additional
protection against abrasion and
shock
 Strength member – increases the
tensile strength of the over-all cable
assembly
 Polyurethane outer jacket - the
entire cable assembly is contained
in it
 Essential Types of Optical Fibers

Plastic fibers
• More flexible and more rugged
 Plastic core • Easier to install
and cladding • Can better withstand stress
• Less expensive
 Glass core • Have higher attenuation characteristics and do not propagate
with plastic light as efficiently as glass
cladding (PCS • Limited to relatively short cable runs, such as within a single
building
fiber)
Glass core fibers
 Glass core • Have less attenuation
and glass
PCS fibers
cladding • less affected by radiation
(SCS) • More immune to external interference

SCS fibers
• Have best propagation characteristics
• Easier to terminate than PCS fibers
• Less rugged
• More susceptible to increases in attenuation when exposed to
radiation
 Light propagation
 1860 James Clerk Maxwell - theorized that
EM radiation contained a series of oscillating
waves comprised of an electric and a
magnetic field in quadrature

 1905 Albert Einstein and Max Planck -

showed that when light is emitted or
absorbed, it behaves like an EM wave and
also like a particle, called a photon
Planck’s law
 “When visible light or high-frequency EM
radiation illuminates a metallic surface,
electrons are emitted.”

Ep(J) = hf

Where: Ep – energy of the photon

h – Planck’s constant (6.625 x 10-34 Js)
f – frequency (Hz)
λ- wavelength (μm)
Examples

1. Calculate the energy of the

photon of infrared light energy
at 1.55 μm.
2. Find the number of photons
incident on a detector in 1s if
the optic power is 1μW and the
wavelength is 0.8 μm.
 Optical Power

Photometry
 science of measuring only light waves
that are visible to the human eye
 In terms of luminous flux density
(lumens per unit area)

Radiometry
 measures light throughout the entire
electromagnetic spectrum
 Optical Power
 Measures the rate at which
electromagnetic wave transfer light
energy
 Flow of light energy past a given point
in a specified time
 Sometimes called radiant flux
 Optical Power
 Generally stated in decibels relative to
a defined power level
 Example
Determine the optical power in dBm and
dBμ for power levels of
 10 mW
 20 μW
Physical Optics
 refers to the ways that light can be
processed

Reflection
 When light rays strike a reflective
surface, such as a mirror, the light
waves are thrown back or reflected.
Law of reflection “The angle of incidence is
equal to the angle of reflection.”

Refraction
 the bending of a light ray that occurs
when the light rays pass from one
medium to another.
 occurs because light travels at different
speeds in different materials
Refraction of light
Refractive Index

 Simply the ratio of the velocity of

propagation of a light ray in free
space to the velocity of propagation
of a light ray in a given material

n=c/v
Snell’s Law
(Willebrord Snell)

Where:
n1- refractive index of
material 1
n2- refractive index of
material 2
𝜃1 –angle of incidence
𝜃2 –angle of refraction
 Examples

1. For a glass (n=1.55) to ethyl alcohol

(n=1.36) interface, and an angle of
incidence of 33deg, determine the
angle of refraction.
2. Calculate the resulting deviation
from the normal line for a light signal
that travels from air-to-glass-to-
diamond if the striking angle is 38o.
 Critical Angle
 Minimum angle of
incidence at which a light
ray may strike the interface
of two media and result in
an angle of refraction of
90o or greater
Example

For a multimode step index fiber with

glass core (n=1.53) and a fused quartz
cladding (n=1.44), determine the critical
angle.
 Acceptance angle /
Acceptance cone half-angle
 The maximum angle in
which external light rays
may strike the air/glass
interface and still
propagate down the fiber
Example

An optical fiber and its cladding have

refractive indexes of 1.55 and 1.32
respectively. Determine the acceptance
angle.
Numerical Aperture (NA)
 Figure of merit commonly used to measure
the magnitude of the acceptance angle
 Used to describe the light-gathering or light-
collecting ability of an optical fiber
Example

An optical fiber and its cladding have

refractive indexes of 1.51 and 1.354
respectively. Determine the numerical
aperture.
Optical Fiber Configurations

Where N = number of
propagating modes
d = core diameter
λ = wavelength
n1 = refractive index of core
n2 = refractive index of
cladding
 Index Profile
 Graphical representation of the magnitude of the refractive
index across the fiber. The refractive index is plotted on the
horizontal axis, and the radial distance from the core axis is
plotted on the vertical axis.
Basic Types of Index Profiles
Step-index Fiber
 Has a core with a uniform refractive index
 An outside cladding that also has a uniform
refractive index surrounds the core; however, the
refractive index of the cladding is less than that of
the central core

Graded-index Fiber
 There is no cladding, and the refractive index of
the core is non-uniform; it is highest in the center
of the core and decreases gradually with distance
towards the outer edge
Optical Fiber Classifications
Single-Mode Step-Index
Optical Fiber
 Dominant fibers
 Has a central core
that is significantly
smaller in diameter
than any of the
multimode cables
 Has a wide
external
acceptance angle
 Very weak and
difficult to splice or
terminate
Example

Calculate the maximum core radius to

support single mode operation for a fiber
with NA of 0.15 and λ=0.82μm.
Optical Fiber Classifications
Multimode Step-Index Optical
Fiber
 Similar to the single-mode
step-index fibers except the
center core is much larger
with the multimode
configuration
 Has a large light-to-fiber
aperture
 Allows more external light to
enter the cable
Multimode Graded-Index
Optical Fiber
 Graded-index fibers are
characterized by a central
core with a nonuniform
refractive index
 Losses in Optical Fiber Cables
1. Absorption Losses
 Analogous to power dissipation in copper cables;
impurities in the fiber absorb the light and convert it to heat
a. Ultraviolet absorption – caused by valence electrons in
the silica material from which fibers are manufactured
b. Infrared absorption – result of photons of light that are
absorbed by the atoms of the glass core molecule
c. Ion resonance absorption- caused by OH- ions in the material
that has been trapped in the glass during manufacturing
process which can be minimized by drying the glass in
chlorine gas to leach out the water vapor
 Losses in Optical Fiber Cables
2. Material, or Rayleigh Scattering Losses
- occurs when a wave interacts with a particle in a way
that removes energy in the directional propagating wave
and transfer it to other directions.
 Example

Calculate the Rayleigh scattering loss in

dB for a 50/125 step-index fiber
operating at 1200 nm. Also compute for
the attenuation is Neper.
 Losses in Optical Fiber Cables
3. Chromatic, or Wavelength Dispersion
- impairment wherein light rays that are simultaneously emitted from an LED
and propagated down the fiber do not arrive at the far end of the fiber at the
same time
- can be eliminated by using a monochromatic light source such as an ILD
4. Radiation Losses
- are caused mainly by small bend and kinks in the fiber

2 Types of Bends
a. Microbends – occurs as a result of differences in the thermal contraction
rates between the core and the cladding material
- miniature bend
b. Constant-radius bends – are caused by excessive pressure and tension
and generally occur when fibers are bent during handling or installation
 Losses in Optical Fiber Cables
5. Modal Dispersion (pulse spreading) – caused by the
difference in the propagation times of light rays take
different paths down a fiber
6. Coupling Losses – are caused by imperfect physical
connections
Losses in Optical Fiber Cables

a. Lateral displacement
(misalignment)- simply due
to the non-overlap of
transmitting and receiving
fiber cores
b. Gap displacement
(misalignment) - when
splices are made in optical
fibers, the fibers should
actually touch. The farther
apart the fibers, the greater
the loss of light.
 Losses in Optical Fiber Cables

c. Angular displacement
(misalignment) – if the angular
displacement is less than 2deg,
the loss will typically be less
than 0.5dB

d. Imperfect surface furnish- the

ends of the two joining fibers
should be highly polished and fit
together squarely
Light Sources

Light sources used for

the optical fiber
systems must be at
wavelengths efficiently
propagated by the
optical fiber.
Light sources must
also produce sufficient
power to allow the light
to propagate through
the fiber without
causing distortion in
the cable itself or in the
receiver.
 Optical Sources

1. LED
 Is a p-n junction diode, usually
made from a semiconductor
material such as AlGaAs or
GaAsP
 Emits light by spontaneous
emission-----light emitted as a
result of the recombination of
electrons and holes
2. ILD
- is similar to the LED
Light Detectors
1. PIN Diode
 Is a depletion-layer photodiode and is
probably the most common device used
as a light detector in fiber-optic
communications system
2. APDs
- are more sensitive than PIN diodes
and require less additional amplification
- disadvantages are relatively long
transit time and additional internally
generated noise due to the avalanche
multiplication factor
 Characteristics of Light
Detectors
Responsivity
 measure of the conversion efficiency of the photodetector
 Ratio of the output current of a photodiode to the input optical power (A/W)
Dark Current
 the leakage current that flows through a photodiode with no light input
Transit time
 time it takes a light-induced carrier to travel across the depletion region of
a semiconductor
Spectral response
 the range of wavelength values that a given photodiode will respond
Light sensitivity
 the minimum optical power a light detector can receive and still produce a
usable electrical output signal
 LASERS

 Light Amplification
by Stimulated
Emission of
Radiation
 The first laser was
developed by
Theodore H.
Maiman.
Laser Types
 Gas Lasers – use a mixture of helium and
neon enclosed in a glass tube
 Liquid lasers – use organic dyes enclosed
in a glass tube for an active medium
 Solid lasers – use a solid, cylindrical crystal,
such as ruby, for the active medium
 Semiconductor lasers – are made from
semiconductor p-n junctions and are
commonly called ILDs
 Optical Fiber System Link Budget

Optical fiber communications systems: (a) without repeaters; (b)

with repeaters
Optical Fiber System Link
Budget
Link budget consists of a light power source, a
light detector, and various cable and connector
losses:
 Cable losses
 Connector losses
 Source-to-cable interface loss
 Cable-to-light detector interface loss
 Splicing loss
 Cable bends
 Example

Determine the optical power received in dBm and watts for

a 30-km optical fiber link with the following parameters:
 LED output power of 30 mW
 Four 5-km sections of optical cable each with a loss of
0.5 dB/km
 Three cable-to-cable connectors with a loss of 2 dB
each
 No cable splices
 Light source-to fiber interface loss of 1.9 dB
 Fiber-to-light detector loss of 2.1 dB
 No losses due to cable bends