Unit-III: Optical Fiber

Dr. Goutam Mohanty,

UID-23352
Room: 33-216
Department of Physics
Div- Computer Science and Engg
Lovely Professional University, India
Email: [email protected]
 Introduction

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 In 1854, John Tyndall demonstrated light can be
guided along curved stream of water.

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 Later, in 1952, Prof. Narinder Singh Kapany invented

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first Optical Fibre cable

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 During the 1960s, Lasers were introduced as
efficient light sources.
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 Today, you can find fiber optics used in variety of

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applications such as medical environment to the

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broadcasting industry.

Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 TY
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(Examples of Optical Fiber)

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• The THREE principal section of optical fiber are:

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 Core – inner most section made of glass (or
silica, SiO2) or plastic
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 Cladding- surrounding of core section made
of glass or plastic
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 Jacket- outermost section made of plastic or
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polymer or others which protects

from abrasion, moisture, mechanical
shocks, or any hazardous environment.
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Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 How Light Guided in Fiber ?

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Condition for TIR: TA
 RI of incident medium > RI of refracted medium
 Angle of incident > Critical angle
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Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 Light propagation in Fiber

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 Applying Snell's Law to the launching
face of the fibre, we get,

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sin
=

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sin

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 From triangle ABC, TA
we have sin θr = sin (90° - φ) = cos (φ)
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sin = sin sin = cos ϕ.

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Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 Light propagation in Fiber
• When φ = θc (critical angle ), θi = θmax

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=

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• But = and co =

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−
sin = TA
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• If n0 = 1, the maximum value of sin θi for a ray to be guided
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is given by,
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sin = −

Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 Thus,

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= sin −  Acceptance angle

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 The light rays contained within the cone having a full angle 2θm , are accepted and
transmitted along the fibre. This cone is therefore known as acceptance cone.

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 Fraction Refractive Index Change: This parameter is defined as the ratio of the

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difference between the refractive indices of the core and the cladding to the
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refractive index of core. It is denoted by ∆ and expressed as:
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−
∆=
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Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 Numerical Aperture

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 The Numerical aperture (NA) is defined as the sine of the acceptance angle. This angle is a

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measure of the light gathering power of the fibre. It is expressed as

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NA = sin NA = − = 2∆

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
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Numerical aperture is a measure of the amount of light that can be accepted by a fibre, For a
typical optical fibre n2=1.458, ∆ = 0.01 and the corresponding NA=0.2.
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 Thus the fibre would accept light incident over a cone with a semi-angle sin-1(0.2)=11.50 about
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the axis.

Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 Classification based on RI:

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Based on refractive index profile,
optical fiber are TWO types:

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 Step Index Optical Fiber: RI profile makes

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a step change at core-cladding interface

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and n1 > n2

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 Graded Index Optical Fiber: RI of core is
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decreases with increasing radial distance
from axis of core but RI of cladding is
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constant. n1 > n2
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Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 Classification based on Mode:
Based on modes, optical fibers

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are classified into TWO types:

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 Single mode fiber(SMF)- supports only
ONE propagation path because very

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small core diameter. Core diameter is
about 8 μm-10 μm.

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 Multimode fiber(MMF)- supports many

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propagation path because they have
large core diameter. Core diameter is
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about 50 μm-100 μm.
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 Multimode is again TWO types:

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• Multimode step index fiber

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• Multimode graded index fiber

Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 Single mode fibre Multimode fibre
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 Supports only one mode of propagation.  Multimode fibre can propagate hundreds of modes.

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 Small radii of single mode fibres  Large radii of-multimode fibres

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 Excited with laser diode (LD).  Excited with light emitting diode (LED).

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 Free from intra-modal dispersion.  Suffer intermodal dispersion

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 V-number for single mode fibre V< 2.405.  V-number for single mode fibre V > 2.405.

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 Higher bandwidth (> 500 MHz-km).  Bandwidth is 6 to 50 MHz-km (MMSI fibre) and 800
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 Attenuation is between 2 to 5 dB/km  Attenuation is 2.6 to 50 dB/km (MMSI fibre) and is 2
to 10 dB/km (MMGI fibre) at a wavelength of
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850nm
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 Best for longer transmission distances making it

suitable for long-distance telephony and multi-  Best designed for short transmission distances, and
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channel television broadcast system. is stilted for use in LAN systems and video
surveillance.
Dr. Goutam Mohanty
 V-number:
 An optical fiber is characterized by one  The max number of modes supported by step

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more important parameter, known as V-
index fiber is =

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number which is more generally
 The max number of modes supported by graded
normalized frequency of the fiber. It is

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given by the relation: index fiber is =

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 For single mode fiber V < 2.405 and for multimode
= −

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TA fiber V >2.405
Where a is radius of the core and λ is free  The wavelength correspond to the value V=2.405
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space wavelength. is called as cut off wavelength of the fiber and is
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 In terms of NA, it is given as,

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given by λ =
.
2 2
= ( )= 2∆
λ λ
Dr. Goutam Mohanty
Losses in Optical Fiber

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Attenuation:

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• Attenuation means loss of light energy as the light pulse travel from one end of the cable to the
other end.

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• It is also called as signal loss or fiber loss

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• It also decides the number of repeaters required between transmitter and receiver.

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Defn-. Attenuation is defined as the ratio of optical power output to the optical power input in the
fiber , of length L.
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= [in db/km] (or) = [in db/km]

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where, Pi= Input Power, Po= Output Power and α = attenuation constant , v = voltage
Dr. Goutam Mohanty
 Types of losses

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The various losses in the cables are

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due to

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 Absorption Loss

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 Bending Loss

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 Scattering Loss
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 Dispersion Loss
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Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 BENDING LOSS

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(Microscopic bending)
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(Macroscopic Bending )
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Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 DISPERSION LOSS:

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As an optical signal travels along the fiber, it becomes increasingly distorted. This distortion is a
sequence of intermodal and intramodal dispersion.

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Two types:
1. Intermodal Dispersion : Pulse broadening due to intermodal dispersion results from the

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propagation delay differences between modes within a multimode fiber.

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2. Intramodal Dispersion : It is the pulse spreading that occurs within a single mode. It is

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TWO types

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 Material Dispersion:
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 Waveguide Dispersion:
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Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 SCATTERING LOSS

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• It occurs due to microscopic variations in the material density,

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compositional fluctuations, structural in homogeneities and
manufacturing defects.

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 Linear Scattering

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 Non-linear Scattering
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Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 Applications

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• Communication and
broadcasting

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• Healthcare industry

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• Traffic control and security

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• Military

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• Sensor/ Biosensor TA
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Dr. Goutam Mohanty

 Thank You

ALL THE BEST

Dr. Goutam Mohanty