E C E

Fiber Optic Communication

ECE 4255
Oishi Jyoti
Lecturer
Department of ECE
RUET
Reference Books

1. G J. C. Palais, Fiber optic communications. Prentice Hall Englewood Cliffs, 1988.

2. HJ. M. Senior and M. Y. Jamro, Optical fiber communications: principles and
practice. Pearson Education, 2009.

2
Outlines

 Solitons
 Total Dispersion
 Zero material dispersion (ZMD)
 Zero Dispersion
 Dispersion shifted fiber
 Dispersion flattened fiber
 Non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber (NZDSF)
 Dispersion compensating fiber

3
Solitons

 In optics, the term soliton is used to refer to any optical field that does
not change during propagation because of a delicate balance between
nonlinear and linear effects in the medium.

4
 Windows

 Optical Windows are flat, optically transparent plates that are typically designed to
maximize transmission in a specified wavelength range, while minimizing reflection
and absorption.
 1st window: 800-900 nm, the minimum signal loss is 4dB/km.
 2nd window: 1310 nm, also called O-band, which offers 0.5dB/km.
 3rd window: 1550 nm, also called C-band, which gives the loss of
0.2dB/km.

5
 Dispersion unit is expressed in

Total Dispersion ps/(nm*km), representing the

differential delay, or time spreading (in
ps), for a source with a spectral width
of 1 nm traveling on 1 km of the fiber

 In an optical waveguide, that Dispersion is proportional to the variation of refractive

Index profile with wavelength.
𝑑△
𝐷𝑝 ∝
𝑑λ
 The total first-order dispersion DT in a practical single-mode fiber as comprising:

which is simply the addition of the material dispersion DM, the waveguide dispersion DW
and the profile dispersion DP components.
However, the profile dispersion parameter DP
can be quite small (e.g. less than 0.5 ps nm−1
km−1 ), especially at long wavelengths, and
hence is often neglected
6 in rough estimates of
total dispersion within single-mode fibers.
Dispersion w.r.t Window

 Figure shows the variation of the  In the single-mode region where the
material dispersion parameter M with normalized frequency is less than 2.405 the
wavelength for pure silica waveguide dispersion is always positive and
has a maximum at V = 1.15. In this case the
 Dispersion tends to zero around 1.3 μm waveguide dispersion goes to zero outside
(for pure silica). the true single-mode region at V = 3.0.

7
Zero material dispersion (ZMD)

 It refers to the wavelength at which the material dispersion is minimum, i.e.

essentially zero.
 This zero material dispersion (ZMD) point can be shifted anywhere in the
wavelength range 1.2 to 1.4 μm by the addition of suitable dopant.

8
Zero Dispersion Wavelength (ZD)

 The zero-dispersion wavelength is the wavelength (λ0) or wavelengths at which

material dispersion and waveguide dispersion cancel one another.
 For wavelengths longer than the ZMD point, the material dispersion parameter is
positive whereas the waveguide dispersion parameter is negative.

➢ For a particular wavelength λ0, which is slightly

larger than the ZMD point, Dw compensates for
Dm
➢ DT becomes zero at the range 1.3 μm

9
Zero Dispersion Wavelength (ZD)

 Controlling of the fiber core diameter and profile can change the ZD
wavelength in the range 1.3 to 2 μm
 This point is illustrated where the total first-order dispersion as a function of
wavelength is shown for three single-mode fibers with core diameters of 4, 5
and 6 μm.

10
Zero Dispersion Wavelength (ZD)

 The wavelength at which the first-order dispersion is zero may be extended to

wavelengths of 1.55 μm and beyond by a combination of three techniques.
 These are:
 (a) Lowering the normalized frequency
(V value) for the fiber;
 (b) Increasing the relative refractive
index difference Δ for the fiber;
 (c) Suitable doping of the silica with germanium

11
 Dispersion shifted fiber

 Dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) is a type of optical fiber made to optimize both low dispersion and low
attenuation.
 Dispersion Shifted Fiber is a type of single-mode optical fiber with a core-clad index profile tailored
to shift the zero-dispersion wavelength from the natural 1300 nm in silica-glass fibers to the
minimum-loss window at 1550 nm
 In most common fiber, at wavelengths longer than the ZMD point, the DM and DW components are of
opposite sign and can cancel each other at some longer wavelength.
 The wavelength is shifted at 1.55 μm to provide
 low dispersion
 low-loss
 Achieved by
 reduction in the fiber core diameter
 increase in the relative or fractional index difference 12
Dispersion flattened fiber

 A type of glass optical Fiber providing low pulse dispersion over a broad
portion of the Light spectrum. This means it can operate at 1300-nm and
1600-nm wavelengths simultaneously. They are known as dispersion-flattened
single-mode fibers (DFFs).
 A fiber in which the chromatic dispersion is low over a broad wavelength
range is called a dispersion-flattened fiber.
 Achieved by –
 Maintain Spectral Requirement
 Flexible Wavelength Division Multiplexing

13
Problems of DSF, DFF

 In particular, as all the transmitted channels need to be grouped around the

1.55 μm wavelength to reduce dispersion, they then travel at the same
speed creating four-wave mixing (interactions between two or three
wavelengths produce two or one new wavelengths). Hence DSF is no longer
recommended for deployment.
 DFF is characterized by low dispersion over a large wavelength range but it
has also Four-wave mixing problems.

14
Non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber
(NZDSF)
 Non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber (NZDSF), is a type of single-mode optical fiber
which was designed to overcome the problems of dispersion-shifted fiber and dff.
 The way to reduce four-wave mixing, therefore, is to produce a non-zero
dispersion-shifted fiber with a zero-dispersion wavelength outside the normal
operating range.
 The NZDSF can have a near zero-dispersion crossing at wavelengths less than
around 1510 nm to 1580 nm maintaining a relatively low and controlled dispersion
slope over a wide wavelength range.
 Because the zero-dispersion point of NZDSF is outside of the normal
communications window, four-wave mixing and other non-linear effects are
minimized.

15
Non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber
(NZDSF)
 Advantage:
1. It allows higher data rates and longer transmission distances in optical
communication systems.
2. It enables the use of wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM), where multiple
signals at different wavelengths can be transmitted simultaneously through the
same fiber, thereby increasing the capacity of the system.
3. NZDSF provides high-speed, long-haul fiber optic networks that form the
backbone of modern telecommunications infrastructure.

16
 Dispersion Compensating Fiber
 Dispersion compensation essentially means canceling the chromatic dispersion of some
optical element
 Compensation of dispersion is done by negative-dispersion fiber.
 Normally, a negative dispersive system is used to cancel the effect of positive dispersion
during long-distance communication, so that the dispersion remains very low at the time of
receiving the optical signal.
 The length of the DCF required for compensation can be reduced by having fibers with very
large negative dispersion coefficients.

 Pre compensation technique : The DCF is placed before the single mode fiber
 Post compensation technique: The DCF is placed after the single mode fiber L = 2 km, D= - 400 ps/km*nm
 Symmetrical technique: The Pre and post-compensation are used simultaneously DCF

17

L = 50 km, D= +16 ps/km*nm

Thank you