Unit-1

#Introduction to vector nature of light, propagation of light.

Light is a transverse, electromagnetic wave that can be seen by the typical human. The wave nature of light was first
illustrated through experiments on diffraction and interference. Like all electromagnetic waves, light can travel
through a vacuum. The transverse nature of light can be demonstrated through polarization.

Speed of light: - 3*108 m/s

characteristics

The amplitude of a light wave is related to its intensity.

1. Intensity is the absolute measure of a light wave's power density.

2. Brightness is the relative intensity as perceived by the average human eye.

The frequency of a light wave is related to its color.

1. Monochromatic light is described by only one frequency.

Laser light is effectively monochromatic. 0.7 to 0.4 mm

Optical Fiber: - 1.7 to 0.8 mm

Other forms of electromagnetic radiation that are not visible to humans are sometimes also known informally as
"light"

2. Polychromatic light is described by many different frequencies. Nearly every light source is polychromatic.
White light is polychromatic.

The intensity or brightness of light decreases as the square of the distance from the source increases (inverse square
law).

#Propagation of Light
The process by which an electromagnetic wave transfers energy from one point to another is referred to as light
propagation. When light passes between boundaries from one medium to another, three major processes occur;
Transmission, Reflection and Refraction.

Propagation of light through vacuum

Little or no scattering occurs, hence a beam of light through vacuum will be completely invisible except for objects in
the path of the light rays.
Propagation of light in gaseous media (transparent, not dense with the molecules randomly arranged)

An electron at ground state absorbs a photon of a certain amount of energy. This energy sets the electron vibrating
about the ground state without any excitation to the next higher possible energy level, as the energy is not the same
as the energy difference between any 2 allowed quantum energy levels of the gas. Immediately, this electron re-
emits another photon of the same energy in a random direction.

This process occurs over and over again as the light waves meet each gas molecule, scattering the light in directions
other than the original direction of propagation (laterally scattered) hence making the beam of light visible. But since
the gaseous medium is not dense, only a small amount of light is laterally scattered, most of the energy will
propagate through keeping the medium transparent.

Laws of Reflection-

First Law: According to the first law of reflection; when a ray of light strikes a mirror and gets reflected back then the
angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection

I=R

Where,

I: Angle of incidence

R: Angle of reflection

Second Law: According to the second law of reflection the incident ray, reflected ray, and the normal lie on the same
plane on the surface of reflection.

Refraction of Light:

Refraction of light is the phenomenon of bending a wave when it enters a medium with a different speed. When
light passes from a fast medium to a slow medium, the light ray bends toward the normal to the boundary between
the two media. Snell's Law describes the amount of bending as a function of the indices of refraction of the two
media.

Propagation of light in solids (opaque, denser with molecules orderly arranged)

The scattering of light occurs and the re-emitted photons interfere to favour forward propagation. (In propagation
through gas, interference does occur but due to the random arrangement of the molecules, no significant or
noticeable pattern surface.

The order of the molecules causes most of the lateral and backwards scattering to interfere destructively and the
forward scattering interfere constructively. Hence the overall effect of scattering enhances forward propagation,
making propagation in solids more efficient than in gases.

#Propagation of light in a cylindrical dielectric rod.

A transparent dielectric rod, typically of silica glass with a refractive index of around 1.5, surrounded by a clad
dielectric rod and buffer coating as illustrated in Figure which shows a transparent core with a refractive index n1
surrounded by a transparent cladding of slightly lower refractive index n2. The cladding supports the waveguide
structure while also, when sufficiently thick, substantially reducing the radiation loss into the surrounding air. In
essence, the light energy travels in both the core and the cladding allowing the associated fields to decay to a
negligible value at the cladding–air interface.

Light propagation in optical fibers using the ray theory approach in order to develop some of the fundamental
parameters associated with optical fiber transmission acceptance angle, numerical aperture. a basis for the
discussion of electromagnetic wave propagation where then electromagnetic mode theory is developed for the
planar waveguide.

#Ray theory transmission.

Total internal reflection: -

To consider the propagation of light within an optical fiber utilizing the ray theory model it is necessary to take
account of the refractive index of the dielectric medium. The refractive index of a medium is defined as the ratio of
the velocity of light in a vacuum to the velocity of light in the medium.

A ray of light travels more slowly in an optically dense medium than in one that is less dense, and the refractive index
gives a measure of this effect. When a ray is incident on the interface between two dielectrics of differing refractive
indices (e.g. glass–air), refraction occurs, as illustrated in Figure 1.2(a). It may be observed that the ray approaching
the interface is propagating in a dielectric of refractive index n and is at an angle φ to the normal at the surface of
the interface. If the dielectric on the other side of the interface has a refractive index n which is less than n1, then
the refraction is such that the ray path in this lower index medium is at an angle to the normal, where is greater
than. The angles of incidence and refraction are related to each other and to the refractive indices of the dielectrics
by Snell’s law of refraction, which states that:

It may also be observed in Figure 1.2(a) that a small amount of light is reflected back into the originating dielectric
medium (partial internal reflection). As nis greater than n, the angle of refraction is always greater than the angle of
incidence. Thus when the angle of refraction is 90° and the refracted ray emerges parallel to the interface between
the dielectrics, the angle of incidence must be less than 90°. This is the limiting case of refraction and the angle of
incidence is now known as the critical angle φc, as shown in Figure 1.2(b). From Eq. (1.1) the value of the critical
angle is given by
At angles of incidence greater than the critical angle the light is reflected back into the originating dielectric medium
(total internal reflection) with high efficiency (around 99.9%).

Hence, it may be observed in Figure 2.2(c) that total internal reflection occurs at the interface between two
dielectrics of differing refractive indices when light is incident on the dielectric of lower index from the dielectric of
higher index, and the angle of incidence of

the ray exceeds the critical value. This is the mechanism by which light at a sufficiently shallow angle (less than 90° −
φc) may be considered to propagate down an optical fiber with low loss. Figure 2.3 illustrates the transmission of a
light ray in an optical fiber via a series of total internal reflections at the interface of the silica core and the slightly
lower refractive index silica cladding. The ray has an angle of incidence φ at the interface which is greater than the
critical angle and is reflected at the same angle to the normal. The light ray shown in Figure 2.3 is known as a
meridional ray as it passes through the axis of the fiber core. This type of ray is the simplest to describe and is
generally used when illustrating the fundamental transmission properties of optical fibers. It must also be noted that
the light transmission illustrated in Figure 2.3 assumes a perfect fiber, and that any discontinuities or imperfections
at the core–cladding interface would probably result in refraction rather than total internal reflection, with the
subsequent loss of the light ray into the cladding.

Acceptance angle

Having considered the propagation of light in an optical fiber through total internal reflection at the core–cladding
interface, it is useful to enlarge upon the geometric optics approach with reference to light rays entering the fiber.
Since only rays with a sufficiently shallow grazing angle (i.e. with an angle to the normal greater than φc) at the core–
cladding interface are transmitted by total internal reflection, it is clear that not all rays entering the fiber core will
continue to be propagated down its length. The geometry concerned with launching a light ray into an optical fiber is
shown in Figure 2.4, which illustrates a meridional ray A at the critical angle φc within the fiber at the core–cladding
interface. It may be observed that this ray enters the fiber core at an angle θa to the fiber axis and is refracted at the
air–core interface before transmission to the core–cladding interface at the critical angle. Hence, any rays which are
incident into the fiber core at an angle greater than θa will be transmitted to the core–cladding interface at an angle
less than φc, and will not be totally internally reflected. This situation is also illustrated in Figure 2.4, where the
incident ray B at an angle greater than θa is refracted into the cladding and eventually lost by radiation. Thus for rays
to be transmitted by total internal reflection within the fiber core they must be incident on the fiber core within an
acceptance cone defined by the conical half angle θa. Hence θa is the maximum angle to the axis at which light may
enter the fiber in order to be propagated, and is often referred to as the acceptance angle* for the fiber.
If the fiber has a regular cross-section (i.e. the core–cladding interfaces are parallel and there are no discontinuities)
an incident meridional ray at greater than the critical angle will continue to be reflected and will be transmitted
through the fiber. From symmetry considerations it may be noted that the output angle to the axis will be equal to
the input angle for the ray, assuming the ray emerges into a medium of the same refractive index from which it was
input.

Numerical aperture

The acceptance angle for an optical fiber was defined in the preceding section. However, it is possible to continue
the ray theory analysis to obtain a relationship between the acceptance angle and the refractive indices of the three
media involved, namely the core, cladding and air. This leads to the definition of a more generally used term, the
numerical aperture of the fiber. It must be noted that within this analysis, as with the preceding discussion of
acceptance angle, we are concerned with meridional rays within the fiber.

Figure 2.5 shows a light ray incident on the fiber core at an angle θ1 to the fiber axis

which is less than the acceptance angle for the fiber θa. The ray enters the fiber from a

medium (air) of refractive index n0, and the fiber core has a refractive index n1, which is

slightly greater than the cladding refractive index n2. Assuming the entrance face at the

fiber core to be normal to the axis, then considering the refraction at the air–core interface

and using Snell’s law given by Eq. (2.1):

Considering the right-angled triangle ABC indicated in Figure 2.5, then:

where φ is greater than the critical angle at the core–cladding interface. Hence Eq. (2.3)

becomes:

Using the trigonometrical relationship sin2 φ + cos2 φ = 1, Eq. (2.5) may be written in

the form:

When the limiting case for total internal reflection is considered, φ becomes equal to the

critical angle for the core–cladding interface and is given by Eq. (2.2). Also in this limiting

case θ1 becomes the acceptance angle for the fiber θa. Combining these limiting cases into

Eq. (2.6) gives:

Equation (2.7), apart from relating the acceptance angle to the refractive indices, serves as

the basis for the definition of the important optical fiber parameter, the numerical aperture

Since the NA is often used with the fiber in air where n0 is unity, it is simply equal to sin θa.

It may also be noted that incident meridional rays over the range 0 ≤ θ1 ≤ θa will be propagated within the fiber.

The NA may also be given in terms of the relative refractive index difference Δ between

the core and the cladding which is defined as:*

* Sometimes another parameter Δn = n1 − n2 is referred to as the index difference and Δn/n1 as the

fractional index difference. Hence Δ also approximates to the fractional index difference.

The relationships given in Eqs (2.8) and (2.10) for the numerical aperture are a very useful

measure of the light-collecting ability of a fiber. They are independent of the fiber core

diameter and will hold for diameters as small as 8 μm. However, for smaller diameters

they break down as the geometric optics approach is invalid. This is because the ray theory

model is only a partial description of the character of light. It describes the direction

a plane wave component takes in the fiber but does not take into account interference
between such components. When interference phenomena are considered, it is found that

only rays with certain discrete characteristics propagate in the fiber core. Thus, the fiber

will only support a discrete number of guided modes. This becomes critical in small core-diameter fibers which only
support one or a few modes. Hence electromagnetic mode

theory must be applied in these cases (see Section 2.3).

Skew rays: -

In the preceding sections we have considered the propagation of meridional rays in the

optical waveguide. However, another category of ray exists which is transmitted without

passing through the fiber axis. These rays, which greatly outnumber the meridional rays,

follow a helical path through the fiber, as illustrated in Figure 2.6, and are called skew

rays. It is not easy to visualize the skew ray paths in two dimensions, but it may be

observed from Figure 2.6(b) that the helical path traced through the fiber gives a change in

direction of 2γ at each reflection, where γ is the angle between the projection of the ray in

two dimensions and the radius of the fiber core at the point of reflection. Hence, unlike

meridional rays, the point of emergence of skew rays from the fiber in air will depend

upon the number of reflections they undergo rather than the input conditions to the fiber.

When the light input to the fiber is nonuniform, skew rays will therefore tend to have a

smoothing effect on the distribution of the light as it is transmitted, giving a more uniform

output. The amount of smoothing is dependent on the number of reflections encountered

by the skew rays.

A further possible advantage of the transmission of skew rays becomes apparent when

their acceptance conditions are considered. In order to calculate the acceptance angle for a

skew ray it is necessary to define the direction of the ray in two perpendicular planes. The

geometry of the situation is illustrated in Figure 2.7 where a skew ray is shown incident on

the fiber core at the point A, at an angle θs to the normal at the fiber end face. The ray is
refracted at the air–core interface before traveling to the point B in the same plane. The

angles of incidence and reflection at the point B are φ, which is greater than the critical

angle for the core–cladding interface.

When considering the ray between A and B it is necessary to resolve the direction of the

ray path AB to the core radius at the point B. As the incident and reflected rays at the point

B are in the same plane, this is simply cos φ. However, if the two perpendicular planes

through which the ray path AB traverses are considered, then γ is the angle between the

core radius and the projection of the ray onto a plane BRS normal to the core axis, and θ is

the angle between the ray and a line AT drawn parallel to the core axis. Thus to resolve the

ray path AB relative to the radius BR in these two perpendicular planes requires multiplication by cos γ and sin θ.
#Electromagnetic waves
UNIT-2