SEMINAR REPORT ON

OPTICAL FIBER TRANSMISSION

INSTITUTE OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

IPSITA RATH REGD. 0401212021 7TH SEMESTER SECTION A

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

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CONTENTS
1.INTRODUCTION 2.NEED FOR OPTICAL FIBER TRANSMISSION 3.TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION 4.BLOCK DIAGRAM 5.OPTICAL SOURCES 6.PHOTODETECTOR 7.DIFFICULTIES FACED BY OPTICAL FIBERS 8.AREAS TO BE IMPROVED IN OPTICAL FIBER TRANSMISSION
9.

ADVANTAGES OF OPTICAL FIBER

INTRODUCTION

Optical fibers are the coaxial cylindrical arrangement of two homogeneous dielectric material. Fiber consists of a core of refractive index n1 surrounded by a cladding of refractive index n2 such that n1 > n2 The core and cladding of an optical fiber are made from the same material- a type of glass called silica. The difference in refractive indexes can be achieved by doping silica with different dopants. A third layer-a coating- is applied over the cladding to protect the entire structure. The coating serves, then, as the first line of defence for a very fragile core-cladding structure

Optical fibers are of two types :1. Step index fiber 2. Graded index fiber STEP INDEX FIBER : The cross-sectional refractive index has a step function at the interface of the core and cladding. GRADED INDEX FIBER : Refractive index profile varies as a index of the radial coordinate r in the core and constant in the cladding.

NEED FOR OPTICAL FIBER TRANSMISSION

Channel-carrying capacity is an important criteria for any communication system. According to Shannons theorem C=BW log2 (1+ SNR) where C : carrying capacity of a channel BW : bandwidth of a channel Bandwidth is 10 percent of the carrier frequency. So if a channel is having higher frequency, it would be having higher bandwidth. TRANSMISSION FREQUENCE OF CHANNEL OPERATION Coaxial cable Microwave Optical fibers 1 MHz to 100 MHz 1 GHz to 100 GHz 100 THz to 1000 THz

A single optical fiber has the potential to carry up to 50Tbit/s. Fiber optics provides much straighter and shorter connections between
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transmitters and receivers, hence eliminating the signal delay.

A single coaxial cable can carry up to 13,000 channels, a microwave terrestrial link up to 20,000 channels, and a satellite link up to 100,000 channels. But one fiber-optic communication link, can carry 300,000 two way voice channels simultaneously.

TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

TOTAL
When light travels from a medium with a higher refractive index to a medium having lower refractive index and it strikes the boundary at more than the critical incident angle, all light will be reflected back to the incident medium. This phenomenon is called total internal reflection. The critical propagation angle, c, is the angle the beam makes with the centerline of the
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optical fiber. The critical incident angle, 1c, is the angle the beam makes with the line perpendicular to the optical boundary between the core and the clad.

BLOCK DIAGRAM

B LO C K D I

The electric input signal is allowed to convert into an optical signal, which is allowed to pass through the fiber cable and at the output this optical signal is converted into an electrical signal.

OPTICAL SOURCES

A fiber-optic link starts at the point where an electrical signal is converted into an optical one.

The device doing this conversion is a light source. The input for this source is an information signal in electrical form and the output is this signal in optical form.

For digital communications, the input is a sequence of on-off electric pulses and the output is on-off optical flashes.

Semiconductor light sources1. Light emitting diode (LED) 2. Laser diode (LD) are used in fiber optic communications technology

LED R

VFB ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT OF A LED

BASIC MECHANISM IN OPTICAL SOURCES

When pn junction of both LED and LASER are forward biased, electrons from n side and holes from p side are injected into p and n side respectively. These injected minority carriers can recombine either radiatively or nonradiatively, where recombination energy is released in the form of heat. The nonradiatively recombinations take excited electrons from useful radiative recombinations and decrease the efficiency of the process.

INTERNAL QUANTUM EFFICIENCY (int) : It is the fraction of total number of excited electrons that produces photons. int=Rr/(Rr+Rnr) where Rr : Radiative recombination Rnr : Nonradiative recombination LEDs are basically of two types1. HOMOSTRUCTURED LED 2. HETEROSTRUCTURED LED Homostructured LED : Here both p-type and ntype have same energy gap. Heterostructured LED : It consists of two semiconductor material having different bandgap energy. LASERs are basically heterostructured.

E2

h12
E1
ABSORPTION

h12

h12 h12

SPONTANEOUS EMISSION

STIMULATED EMISSION

LASER
The acronym laser means light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation. PROPERTIES OF STIMULATED EMISSION:9

1. Narrow spectral bandwidth 2. High intensity 3. High degree of directivity 4. Coherence A semiconductor diode functions like a laser (where gain exceeds loss) if the following conditions are met:1. Population inversion 2. Stimulated emission 3. Positive feedback POPULATION INVERSION : For laser action we need to have more number of electrons in the higher-energy conduction band than in the lower-energy valence band. This situation is called population inversion and to create this population inversion, high-density forward current is allowed to pass through the small area. STIMULATED EMISSION : If an external photon hit an excited electron, their interaction includes an electron transition and the radiation of a new photon. Now the induced emission is stimulated by an external photon. Thus, this radiation is called stimulated. POSITIVE FEEDBACK : There is a requirement of thousands and thousands of photons. We place a mirror at one end of an active layer. Two photons-one excited and one stimulatedare then reflected back and directed to the active layer again. These two photons behave as external radiation and stimulate the emission of other two photons. This process continues. Thus, the two mirrors provide positive optical feedback-positive because the feedback adds the output to the input.
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POSITIVE FEEDBACK
CONDUCTION BAND

MIRROR

VALENCE BAND

PHOTODETECTOR
The output end of an optical transmission line contains a receiving device which interprets the information contained in the optical signal. The first element of this receiver is a photodetector. Photodetector senses the luminescent power falling upon it and converts the variation of this optical power into a corresponding varying electric current. Some photodetectors are photomultipliers, pyroelectric detectors, semiconductor based photodetector etc. Photodiode is a semiconductor based photodetector used in fiber optic systems because of small size, suitable material, high sensitivity, fast response time.

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 There are two types of photodiode used extensively:(a) pin photodiode (b) avalanche photodiode

PIN PHOTODETECTOR
BIAS VOLTAGE

HOLE

RL

LOAD RESISTOR

p
ELECTRON

PHOTON (h)

PRINCIPLE OF PHOTODETECTOR

When light having photon energies greater than or equal to the band-gap energy of the semiconductor material is incident on a photodetector, the photons can give up their energy and excite electrons from the valence band to the conduction band. This process generates free electron-hole pairs known as photocarriers.

When a reverse-bias voltage is applied across the photodetector, the resultant electric field in the device causes the carrier to separate.

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Those gives rise to a current flow in an external circuit known as the photocurrent.

Optical radiation is absorbed in the semiconductor material as P(x)=P0 (1-e^s()x) where s(): Absorption coefficient at wavelength . P0 = Incident optical power P(x) =Optical power absorbed at a distance x.

CHARACTERISTICS PHOTODIODE

OF

1. Quantum efficiency 2. Response speed QUANTUM EFFICIENCY () : It is the number of electron hole pair generated per incident photon of energy h.

=(I/q) / (P0/ h) where I = average photocurrent generated P0 = optical power incident on a photodetector Suppose 100 photons are allowed to incident on a photodetector, but only 30 to 95 photocarriers are generated.

Then its efficiency will vary from 30 to 95.

In order to get more number of photocarrier we have to increase the depletion region.

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 But with increase in depletion region the photocarriers have to traverse a larger distance thereby reducing the response speed. Hence we have to make a compromise between the quantum efficiency and the response speed. RESPONSIVITY (R) : It specifies the number of photocurrent generated per unit optical power. R = I / P0 = q / h AVALANCHE PHOTODIODE : Avalanche photodiode(AVD) internally multiply the primary signal photo-current.

This increases the receiver sensitivity because the photocurrent is multiplied before encountering the thermal noise associated with the receiver circuitry.

The carrier multiplication M is an impact of impact ionization.

DIFFICULTIES FACED BY OPTICAL FIBER

1.Attenuation :Every transmission line introduces some loss of signal power. Attenuation is the decrease in light power during light propagation along an optical fiber.

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 When light is coupled to an optical fiber a power loss occurs due to failure to achieve total internal reflection. Losses in an optical fiber can be classified as :(a) Intrinsic loss :- These are associated with a given fiber material. MATERIAL RESONANCE :Molecules, atoms or even electrons can be set into oscillation because they experience regenerating forces that originate from neighboring particles. When an external force is applied to the oscillator, the interaction depends on the relationship between the frequencies of the force and the oscillator. When these frequencies coincide, a resonance condition occurs that results in expensive absorption of energy by the oscillator from the external source. Here the optical power passing through the cable is the external force and the cable is the oscillator. SiO2 displays heavy absorption in the UV and IR region.

RAYLEIGH SCATTERING :-

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Molecules of SiO2 have some freedom with respect to adjacent SiO2 molecules. Thus they set up at irregular position and distances with-respect-to one another. These structural variation are seen by light by variation of refractive index. Hence when the light rays fall on these molecules they scatter. (b) Extrinsic Loss :- These are associated with fabrication, cabling and installation processes. ABSORPTION LOSS :If an incoming photon has such a frequency(f) that its energy (Ep=hf) is equal to the energy gap energy (E) of the material, this photon will be absorbed by the material. To reduce or to eliminate absorption we have to change the light frequency or to work with another material.

Light travels down an optical fiber and encounters a material whose energy level gap is exactly equal to the energy of these photons. This impact leads to light absorption, resulting in a loss of light power leads to attenuation.

Optical fiber is a transparent strand, that is non-absorptive material.

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Absorption properties that still remain are caused not by silica atoms but by some molecules of hydroxide anion.

These properties are incorporated in silica during the fabrication process and it is very difficult to eliminate them. BENDING LOSS :1. MACROBENDING LOSS 2. MICROBENDING LOSS MACROBENDING LOSS:The beam forms a critical propagation angle with the fibers central axis at the straightened. But the same beam forms a propagation angle that is more than critical when it strikes the boundary of the bent fiber.

The result is failure to achieve total internal reflection in the bent fiber, which means some portion of the beam is escaping from the core of the fiber.

Hence power of the light arriving at its destination will be less than the power o light emitted into the fiber from a light source. Thus bending an optical fiber loss in light power called

introduces a attenuation.

MICROBENDING LOSS :17

Some imperfections in the geometry of corecladding interface might result in microconvexity or microdent in that area. Although light travels along the straight segment of a fiber, the beam meets these imperfections and changes its direction.

The beam which initially travels at the critical propagation angle, after being reflected from these imperfection points will change the angle of propagation. The result is that the condition of total internal reflection is not attained and portion of the beam will be refracted that is they will leak out of the core.

2.DISPERSION :Pulse widening caused by the mode structure of a light beam inside the fiber is called modal dispersion. Types of dispersion in an optical fiber :1. Chromatic dispersion 2. Polarization-mode dispersion CHROMATIC DISPERSION :The term chromatic dispersion covers all the phenomena associated with wavelength-dependent pulse spreading. MATERIAL DISPERSION:Material dispersion is caused by the wavelength dependence of the silicas refractive index.

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Refractive index defines the velocity of light within a medium, v=c/n, and n depends on .

An information-carrying light pulse contains different wavelengths because a light source radiates light of a finite spectral width.

Therefore, the components of the pulse with different wavelengths will travel within a fiber at different velocities and will arrive at the fiber end at different times, thus causing the spread of the pulse.

WAVEGUIDE DISPERSION :Waveguide dispersion is caused by the fact that light is guided by a structure-an optical fiber.

After entering in a single mode fiber, an information carrying light pulse is distributed between the core and the cladding. Its major portion travels within the core, the rest within the cladding.

Both portions propagate at different velocities since the core and the cladding have different velocities. The pulse will spread because light is confined within a structure having different refractive indexes. The zero-dispersion region is around 1310 nm. But the minimum attenuation occurs around 1550 nm. By redesigning the
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refractive-index profile of the fiber core, the minimum chromatic dispersion is shifted to 1550 nm region. For this purpose we use dispersion shifted and dispersion flattened fiber.

POLARIZATION MODE DISPERSION :Two modes travel along two perpendicular direction that is x and y in a singlemode fiber at different velocities because of the fibers birefringence. This effects result in the form of pulse spread called polarization-mode dispersion. Polarization mode dispersion is caused by the refractive indexes along x-axis and y-axis. This difference in refractive index is called birefringence (B) B = nx - ny where y is the fast axis and x is the slow axis

In order to cope with PMD, we use special fibers and other components that allows to preserve and control the state of polarization. Polarization maintaining birefringence. fibers have low

Low birefringence is achieved by having very high asymmetry in the core and cladding.

Besides using PM fibers we have to use all other fiber optic component to maintain the state of polarization. This set contains PM

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connectors, splitters.

fiber

optic

polarizer

and

PM

PMD, which is inherent in conventional fiber, remains, unfortunately, one of the most severe limitations of the information-carrying capacity of fiber-optic communications systems.

COPING WITH CHROMATIC DISPERSION :There are two basic technique for dispersion compensation :1. DISPERSION COMPENSATING FIBER :Positive dispersion in a conventional fiber can be compensated by inserting a single mode fiber with a negative dispersion characteristics so that the total dispersion of the link will almost zero. This is basically done by lowering the refractive index of the inner part of the cladding by doping with fluorine or by decreasing the core radius. Single mode dispersion-compensating fibers suffers from drawbacks like :- high attenuation and low negative dispersion characteristics.

So two mode dispersion compensating fibers has been developed to overcome these problems. 2. DISPERSION COMPENSATING GRATING :Most commonly developed DCG is chirped-fiber Bragg grating.

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 Grating implies a periodic structure that is a periodic change in the value of the refractive index of the core. A small portion of light is reflected at each change of refractive index. According to Braggs equation 2neff = B where = Grating interval An input pulse, dispersed after propagating along a telecommunications fiber is directed to the grating where the shorter wavelengths are radiated almost immediately upon entering while the longer wavelengths penetrate deeper into the grating before they will be reflected. This effect is achieved by shortening the grating period at the grating entrance and lengthening it at the grating end. Thus the device ensures less of a delay for shorter wavelengths and creates more delay for longer wavelengths.

AREAS TO BE IMPROVED IN OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION

1. INTEGRATION OF TRANSCEIVERS INTO ONE SINGLE CHIP For any communication channel if we put a transmitter at one end and the receiver at the other end only a simplex type of communication is possible.

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 In order to have a full duplex mode of communication, we have to put both the transmitter and receiver in a single unit known as transceivers. 2. REPLACEMENT OF OPTO-ELECTRONIC COMPONENT WITH OPTICAL COMPONENT Replacement of opto-electronic regenerator with optical amplifiers. This major step herald the way to all-optical networks.

The performances of opical switches and optical multipliers have to improved.

ADVANTAGES OF OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION

1. LOW TRANSMISSION LOSS AND WIDE BANDWIDTH With optical fiber cable systems more data can be sent over longer distances, thereby decreasing the number of wires and reducing the number of repeaters needed for transmission. 2. SMALL SIZE AND WEIGHT The low weight and the small dimensions of the fibers offer a distinct advantage over heavy, bulky heavy wire cables in crowded underground city ducts. 3. IMMUNITY TO INTERFERENCE

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Due to the dielectric nature the optical fibers provide optical waveguide with immunity to electromagnetic interference, such as inductive pickup from signal carrying wires and cabling. 4. ELECTRICAL ISOLATION As optical fibers are made from glass which is an insulator, it provides electrical isolation. 5. SIGNAL SECURITY 6. ABUNDANT RAW MATERIAL The principal raw material of fiber cable is silica which is abundant and inexpensive, since it is found in ordinary sand.

REFERENCES :-

[1]Gerd Keiser, Optical Fiber Transmission, Tata McGraw-Hill, Second Edition,2000. [2]D.Myanbaev, and L.Scheiner, Fiber-Optic Communications Technology, Pearson Education, Second Edition,2006. [3]Yiu-Wing Leung, Lightpath Concentrators for All-Optical Networks, IEEE Lightwave Technology,Vol.24,No.9,Sept.2006. [4]E.E.Basch and T.G.Brown, Introduction to Coherent Optical Fiber Transmission, IEEE Communications Magazine,Vol.23,No.5,May 1985.

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