WORKING

PRINCIPAL OF
OPTICAL SOURCES

Prof.Manik Sonawane
Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineering
Kolhapur
OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION
SYSTEM

BVCOEK 2
 REQUIREMENT OF GOOD OPTICAL SOURCES

1.Compatiable in size for

small light emitting area
capable of launching light
in to fiber
(small core size 2to 50 µm).
REQUIREMENT OF GOOD
OPTICAL SOURCES

2.Sufficient optical power to overcome attenuation and

connection losses, allowing signal detection at receiver.
 REQUIREMENT OF GOOD
OPTICAL SOURCES
3.Right wavelength to minimize transmission loss and dispersion.

4.Narrow spectral width to minimize dispersion.

REQUIREMENT OF GOOD
OPTICAL SOURCES
5.Direct modulation of optical output power.

6.Linear

7.Stable Optical Output

REQUIREMENT OF GOOD
OPTICAL SOURCES

8.Reliable & cheap

9.Temeperature stable operation.
LIGHT EMITTING DIODE

 Bit rate 100-200 Mbp/s

 Use only for Multimode Fibers

 While choosing Optical Source, fiber geometry,

attenuation function as wavelength, Group
delay distortion and its modal characteristics,
Optical source power, spectral width, radiation
pattern and modulation capability needs to be
considered.
 Light is emitted at site of carrier recombination which is primarily
close to the junction.
 However, the amount of radiative recombination and the emission
area within the structure is dependent upon the semiconductor
materials used and the fabrication of the device.

 Emits incoherent light

through spontaneous
emission.
 Used for Multimode
systems with 100-200
Mb/s rates.
 Broad spectral width and
wide output pattern.
 850nm region: GaAs and
AlGaAs
 1300–1550nm

region: InGaAsP and InP

WORKING PRINCIPLE OF OPTICAL SOURCES

 P-N junction of direct band gap III-V group semiconductor materials

LIGHT EMITTING SEMICONDUCTORS

Material Wavelength Range Bandgap Energy

(µm) (eV)
GaAs 900nm 1.4
AlGaAs 800-900nm 1.4 - 1.55
InGaAs 1000-1300nm 0.95 - 1.24
InGaAsP 900-1700nm 0.73 - 1.35
 P-N junction of direct band gap III-IV semiconductor materials.
 When P-N junction is forward biased, electron and holes are
injected into P&N regions.
 Injected minority carriers are combine either radiatively and photon
energy hѵ is emitted.
 LED sources are incoherent and no optical cavity exists for
wavelength selectivity.
 Output radiation have broad spectral width
 Mostly heterojunction structured semiconductor
LASER diode and LED’s are used.

Direct Band Gap Energy Semiconductor Materials

Material Wavelength Range Bandgap Energy

(µm) (eV)
GaAs 900nm 1.4
AlGaAs 800-900nm 1.4 - 1.55
InGaAs 1000-1300nm 0.95 - 1.24
InGaAsP 900-1700nm 0.73 - 1.35
 LIGHT EMITTING DIODE-LED
1.Homostructured 2.Heterostructured

HOMOSTRUCTURED
1.P&N type semiconductors are made from same substrate

2.By adding various dopants P or N type semiconductors formed.

3.Same Energy gap

4.P-N junction is homojunction.

Drawbacks-

1.Active region is too diffuse

2.Low device efficiency

3.High current density

4.Broad light beam

5.Light coupling inefficient.

 HETEROJUNCTION
 Made from different types of semiconductor
materials each having different energy gap.

1.Highly restricted active region

2.Conduction of radiated light in one direction

GaAs Eg =1.42 ev

Placed between AlGaAs Eg =1.92 ev

The electron injected from n type AlGaAs confront an
energy barrier at the junction where GaAs and P type
AlGaAs meet and reflected back into the active region,
the same mechanism works for holes
HETEROJUNCTIONS: DIFFERENT P- AND N- MATERIALS
• Carriers are confined
• Light is also confined
• Single Heterojunction, Double
Heterojunction.
 A heterojunction is a junction two
between semiconductors with different bandgap different
energies.
 The difference in bandgap energies creates a one-way barrier.
Charge carriers (electrons or holes) are attracted over the barrier
from the material of higher bandgap energy to the one of lower
bandgap energy.

Gallium Arsenide-Aluminum Gallium

Arsenide single heterojunction
 DOUBLE HETEROJUNCTION

 When a layer of material with a lower bandgap energy is sandwiched

between layers of material with a higher energy bandgap a double
heterojunction is formed. This is called a double heterojunction
because there are two heterojunctions present - one on each side of
the active material.
 DOUBLE
HETEROJUNCTION

 The double heterojunction forms a barrier which restricts

the region of electron-hole recombination to the lower
bandgap material. This region is then called the “active”
region

 The valence band of n-InGaAsP is at a higher energy than the

valence band of the adjacent n-InP. The conduction band is at a lower
energy level.

 p-InP has higher energy levels than n- InP but the bandgap is the
same
 The conduction of light in one direction is achieved

because the GaAs semiconductor has a higher

refractive index 3.66 than the substrate

semiconductor 3.2

 Thus the active region works as waveguide similar to

the way a fiber traps light within the core using the

core cladding interface

COUPLING LIGHT OUTPUT TO A OPTICAL FIBER IS THE MOST
DIFFICULT AND COSTLY PART OF MANUFACTURING A REAL
LED OR LASER DEVICE.
 Use of a Graded Index Lens (GRIN lens) is fairly
common. The lens collects and focuses the light onto
the end of the fiber.
 A Ball lens is also often used. This is bonded to
the surface of the LED with an epoxy resin that
has a specific refractive index. However, the RI
of the epoxy can’t match to both the RI of the
fibre and the RI of the semiconductor since the
semiconductor will have an RI of around 3.5 and
the fiber of around 1.45.
 The Direct Coupling method is to mount the fiber end
so that it touches the LED directly i.e. to mount the
LED inside a connector so that when a fiber is
plugged in (mounted in the other half of the
connector) one get firm mounting in good position.
To fix a ball lens to the end of the
fiber
 TYPES OF LED STRUCTURES
 Surface Emitting LED’s (SLED)

 Edge Emitting LED’s (EELED)

 Superluminescent LED’s (SLD)

Confining and Guiding the Light within the Device

In both types of LED (SLED and ELED) a combination of

insulating materials and junctions is used to:

1. Guide the current flow to a small “active region” and

2. Guide the light produced out of the device and into an easy
position for coupling to a fiber.
 SURFACE-EMITTING LED

• The surface-emitting LED is also known as the Burrus LED in

honor of C. A. Burrus, its developer.
• In SLEDs, the size of the primary active region is limited to a small
circular area of 20micron to 50micron in diameter.
• The primary active region is below the surface of the
semiconductor substrate perpendicular to the axis of the fiber.
 SURFACE EMITTING LED

The active region is limited to a circular

section that has an area compatible with the
fiber-core end face.

• A well is etched into the substrate to allow direct

coupling of the emitted light to the optical fiber. The
etched well allows the optical fiber to come into close
contact with the emitting surface.
 SURFACE EMITTING LED (SLED)

1.To achieve carrier and optical confinements heterojunction

LED configurations are widely used.

2.SLED the plane of active light emitting region oriented

perpendicularly to the axis of fiber.
3.Fiber is cemented in order to accept the emitted
light in itched well through the substrate.

4.Epoxy resin that binds the optical fiber to the

SLED reduces the refractive index mismatch
increasing coupling efficiency.
The active area is the region ,where

recombination o charge carriers takes place

having 50 µm diameter and 2.5 µm thick

Wavelength E = hѵ = h.c/λ

λ (µm) = 1.240/Eg(ev)

SLED radiates light as a Lambertian source.

SLED EMIT LIGHT AS
LAMBERTIAN SOURCE

 Active area is the region where recombination of

charge carriers take place having 50µm diameter and
2.5µm thick.
 Wavelength E= hv = h.c/ƛ

ƛ(µm)=1.240/Eg ev
WHAT IS LAMBERTIAN
SOURCE ?
In Lambertian Source Pattern, source is equallay bright in

all directions but power diminishes as Cos θ

P = Pₒ Cos θ

Where θ is the angle between viewing direction and

normal to the surface.

P = Pₒ at θ = 0

When θ = 60 ͦ , P = Pₒ/2
 EDGE-EMITTING LED

Edge-emitting double-heterojunction LED. The output beam is

lambertian in the plane of the pn-junction (||) and highly directional
perpendicular to the pn-junction
 Edge-emitting LED
 Have advantage of transparent guiding layers with a very thin active
layer (50 to 100m). This reduces self absorption and narrows the
beam divergence.

 Light is emitted at one end face only.

 Couple more power to small NA fibers

 Higher data rates>100Mbps, better modulation

 Multimode and Single Mode fibers

 ELEDs provide narrower linewidth than SLED

 High radiance
 SEMICONDUCTOR LED EMITS
INCOHERENT LIGHT
 Spontaneous emission of light in semiconductor LED
produces light waves that lack a fixed phase relationship so
they are called as incoherent light.

 LED’s cannot be used for single mode fibers because they

emit incoherent unfocused light.

 LED’s mostly used for multimode fibers systems because

they can launch sufficient optical power at low cost than
semiconductor LASER diode.
SEMICONDUCTOR LASER DIODE
(LD) EMITS COHERENT LIGHT
 LD’s produce light waves with a fixed phase relationship
(both spatial and temporal) between points on the
electromagnetic wave.
 Light waves having a fixed phase relationship are referred to
as coherent light.
 LASER diode able to launch optical power into both single
mode and multiple mode optical fibers
 Mostly used in single mode fiber Systems.
 Require more complex driver circuitry and cost more than
LEDs.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCE
CHARACTRISTIC LED LASER

Coherence Non-Coherent Coherent

Chromaticity Many wavelengths Highly
Monochromatic
Spectral Width 36 to 40nm 2nm
Divergence Cosine power distribution Narrow pencil beam
Output Power Low (pW) High
Modes Feeds MM Fiber Only Can feed MM and
SM
Bit Rate < 100-200Mbps > 2Gbps
Cost Less expensive More expensive
Construction Simple- pn junction Complex–Laser
cavity
Emission Spontaneous Stimulated
SPONTANEOUS EMISSION

• h- Plank’s constant = 6.625 x 10-34 Js

Frequency of radiation
CARRIER LIFETIME
 At positive biased p-n junction, carrier injection occurs.
 Excess electrons and holes created in p and n- type material
(minority carriers).
 Δn = Δp, as carriers form and recombine in pairs.
 When injection stops, carrier return to equilibrium value.
 Excess carrier density decays exponentially with time.

• Δno initial injected excess electron density.

• Time constant τ is carrier lifetime or bulk
recombination life time, time between creation and
recombination.
 INTERNAL QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
 In radiative recombination, photon of energy hν is released.
 Non radiative recombination releases energy as heat(lattice
vibration).
 IQE in active region is fraction of electron-hole pairs which
recombine radiatively.
 Rr and Rnr are radiative and non radiative recombination rate per
unit volume.

But an
d
EXTERNAL QUANTUM EFFICIENCY

Core Clad

1 Only light emitted in the direction of the semiconductor air

surface is useful.
2. Out of light in 1, only light striking emitting surface at angle
less than critical angle will be transmitted through.
3. Some of this light in 2, will be reflected back at
semiconductor-air surface due to Fresnel reflection.
4. There is absorption of light along the path till emitting
 EXTERNAL QUANTUM EFFICIENCY

 Ratio of the number of photons finally emitted

to number of carriers crossing junction.
• Not same as Internal Quantum Efficiency. as –
surface.

ɳext < ɳint

Fresnel Reflection – When light strikes boundary between two homogeneous

media with different refractive indices, a portion reflects back and rest
transmits further through refraction. It is not total internal reflection.
LED POWER AND EFFICIENCY
 Excess minority carrier Δn = Δnoe-t/τ
 Equilibrium established at constant current flow into
junction.
 Total carrier generation rate
= externally supplied + thermally generated rate
 Current density in ampere/sq m = J
 Electrons injected across p-n junction per cubic meter per
second = J/qd
 q = charge on electron
 d = thickness of recombination region.( cubic meter hence include
d)
 Rate equation for carrier recombination in LED is –
 d(Δn)/dt = J/qd - Δn/τ m-3s-1
 At equilibrium d(Δn)/dt = 0
 Δn = J τ /qd (steady state electron density at constant current into
junction.)
 LED POWER AND EFFICIENCY
 Total R = Δn/τ = J /qd = Rr + Rnr

 Total number of recombination per second

R = i/q
 i = Forward bias current into device.
(All excess carriers recombine either radiatively or non-radiatively)
ɳint = Rr/R
Rr= ɳint i/q = Photons generated/second

Total optical power generated = Rr hν

Pint = ɳint hν i/qwatts
Pint = ɳint hc i/qλ watts
 LED POWER AND EFFICIENCY
Optical power emitted externally Pe
 External power efficiency =-----------------------------------------------------
Electrical power provided

= Pe /P x 100%
Optical power emitted Pe into medium of low RI n
from the face of planer LED fabricated from material
of RI nx is appox
Pe = (PintF n2)/ 4 nx 2
F is transmission factor of semiconductor – external
interface.
 (Due to Fresnel reflection, all power will not transmit outside)
 LASER DIODE
LASER is an acronym for
“Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of
Radiation”.
•Coherent light
•Narrow beam width
• Lasers can produce high output power. In
communication applications, semiconductor lasers
of power up to about 20 milliwatts are available.
•Because laser light is Coherent, a high percentage
(50% to 80%)
can be coupled into the fiber.
 LASER
RADIATION
LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULATED EMISSION OF

• h- Plank’s constant = 6.625 x 10-34 Js

Frequency of radiation
STIMULATED EMMISSION
 Electron at higher excited energy level E2, is impinged
with external stimulation = photon energy = hν12
 Electron is forced to come down to stable state E1,
radiating energy hν12
 Electron can be stimulated mush before its natural
spontaneous transition time.
 Emitted photon by stimulation emission has same
frequency, phase and polarization as the incident
photon.
 POPULATION INVERSION

More number of electrons at higher energy conduction band than lower energy
conduction band

This is called as population inversion because, normally the valance band is

Much more heavily populated than the conduction band.

To create the population inversion high density forward current is passed through
The small active area It is achieved by Pumping Technique in semiconductor by
injecting electrons Into the material at the device contacts to fill the lower energy
states of the conduction.
THE PROCESS BY WHICH ATOMS ARE RAISED FROM THE
LOWER LEVEL TO THE UPPER LEVEL IS CALLED PUMPING.

• At thermal equilibrium : Photon absorption and emission

processes take place side by side, but because N1>N2 ;
absorption dominates.
• Laser operation requires stimulated emission exclusively.
• To achieve a high percentage of stimulated emission, a
majority of atoms should be at the higher energy level than
at the lower level.

• Energy is to be supplied somehow to the laser medium to

raise atoms from the lower level to the excited level
 In Stimulated Emission incident and
stimulated photons

will have
• Identical energy  Identical wavelength
 Narrow linewidth
• Identical direction  Narrow beam width
• Identical phase  Coherence and
• Identical polarization
 BASIC STRUCTURE

 Homojunction device with cleaved ends demand for high

threshold current density ( >104 A cm-2) due to lack of
carrier containment - inefficient light sources

Schematic diagram of a
GaAs homojunction
injection laser with a
Fabry-Perot cavity
HOW A LASER
WORKS
Fabry-Perot Laser (resonator)
cavity
MIRROR
REFLECTIONS
 To overcome broad emission problems whilst also
reducing the required threshold currents
 laser structures in which active region does not extend to the edges
of the device were developed.
 In this structure, the major current flow through the device and
hence the active region is within the stripe
 Heterojunction structures :
 Improved carrier confinement and thus lower
current densities ( 103 A cm-2 )
 DH LD fabricated from lattice matched III-V
alloys provided both carrier and optical
confinement on both sides of the p-n junction,
giving the injection laser a greatly enhanced
performance.
 DISTRIBUTED FEEDBACK LASER
 A distributed feedback laser (DFB) is a type of laser diode where the
active region of the device is periodically structured as a diffraction
grating.

 The structure builds a one-dimensional interference grating (Bragg

Scattering) and the grating provides optical feedback for the laser.

 DFB laser diodes do not use two discrete mirrors to form the optical cavity
(as they are used in conventional laser designs).

 The grating acts as the wavelength selective element for at least one of
the mirrors and provides the feedback, reflecting light back into the cavity
to form the resonator.

 The grating is constructed so as to reflect only a narrow band of

wavelength, and thus produce a single longitudinal lasing mode.

 This is in contrast to a Fabry-Perot Laser, where the facets of the chip

form the two mirrors and provide the feedback.
 Altering the temperature of the device causes the pitch of the grating to
change due to the dependence of refractive index on temperature. This
dependence is caused by a change in the semiconductor laser's bandgap
with temperature and thermal expansion.

 A change in the refractive index alters the wavelength selection of the

grating structure and thus the wavelength of the laser output, producing a
Tunable Diode Laser.

 DFBs are antireflection coated on one side of the cavity and coated for high
reflectivity on the other side (AR/HR).

 In this case the grating forms the distributed mirror on the antireflection
coated side, while the semiconductor facet on the high reflectivity side forms
the other mirror.

 These lasers generally have higher output power since the light is taken from the AR
side, and the HR side prevents power being lost from the back side.
 DFB AND DBR LASERS
AR coating
HR coating

DFB DBR
OPTICAL OUTPUT VS. DRIVE CURRENT OF A LASER

External Efficiency
Depends on the slope

Threshold Current
LASER THRESHOLD DEPENDS ON TEMPERATURE
 ANALOG
MODULATION
LED LASER
LASER DIGITAL
MODULATION
 The construction of LASER diode is more complicated because of additional
requirement of current confinement in small lasing cavity.
 Radiation in LASER diode I generated with in a Fabry Parot Resonator cavity.
 A pair of flat partially reflecting mirrors are directed towards each other to
enclose the cavity.
 Mirror facets are constructed by making two parallel clefts along natural
cleavage planes of semiconductor crystal.
 Mirror provide strong optical feedback in the longitudinal direction and
thereby converting the device into an oscillator with gain mechanism
that compensates for optical losses in the cavity.
 LASER cavity can have many resonant frequencies
 Device will oscillate by emitting light at those resonant frequencies for
sufficient gain to overcome losses.
 Sides of cavity are simply formed by roughening the edges of the device
to reduce unwanted emissions in these directions.
 COMMERCIAL DFB
 Components
Symbo
Parameters Min Typ Max Unit
l  DFB diode
CW Output power(25C) Pf 10 --- 30 mW  Thermoelectric cooler
Threshold current It h -- 25 60 mA
Operating current If -- 300 -- mA
 Thermistor
Forward voltage Vf -- 2.0 3.0 V
 Photodiode
Center Wavelength λc 1540 1550 1570 nm  Optical isolator
Linewidth Δλ -- 2 -- MHz
 Fiber-coupled lens
Monitor Current Im -- 200 -- μA
Monitor dark current(Vr=-
Id -- -- 100 nA
5V)
Isolation(Optional) Iso -30 -- -- dB
TEC current ITEC -- 1.2 -- A
TEC voltage VTEC -- 3.2 -- V
Thermistor resistance(at
Rt h 9.5 10 10.5 kΩ
25℃)
Operating Temperature
To -20 -- 65 C
Range
Storage temperature Tst g -40 -- 85 C
CARRIER CONFINEMENT
CURRENT CONFINEMENTS
 To confine the optical wave to a narrow lateral
strip
 To achieve continuous light optical output
power,we need to restrict the drive current
tightly to the active layer so more than 60
percent of the current contribute to lasing
 These device architecture blocks current on
both sides of the lasing region.
 This is achieved by either high resistivity regions
or by reverse biased P-N junctions which prevent
the current from flowing while the device is
forward biased under normal conditions
 For structures with a continuous active layers the current
can be confined either above or below the lasing region.
 The diodes are forward biased so that current travels from
the P-type to the N –type regions.
 In the preferential dopant diffusion method partially
diffused P-type dopants (Zn or Cd) through an n-type
capping layer establishes a narrow path for the current,
since back biased PN junctions block the current outside
the diffused region.
 Proton Implantation method creates regions of high
resistivity ,thus restricting the current to a narrow path
between these regions
 Inner stripe confinement techniques grows the lasing region
structure above a channel etched into a planner material
 OPTICAL CONFINEMENT

1.GAIN INDUCED GUIDE

2.INDEX GUIDED LASER

 Refractive Index inversely proportional to Band Gap energy.
 GaAs – Higher RI GaAlAs – Lower RI
 Higher RI layer sandwiched between two lower RI.

 Acts as slab wave guide.

 Light generated inside active region remains guided through

total internal reflection.
 Optical confinement.

 Required for preventing absorption of emitted

radiation by material around p-n junction.
 High efficiency, high radiance.
 GAIN INDUCED GUIDE

 Narrow electrode stripe runs along the length of the diode

 Injection of electrons and holes into the device alters the
refractive index of the active layer directly before the
stripe
 Profile of these injected carriers creates a weak, complex
waveguide that confines the light laterally. It is commonly
called as gain guided LASER
 INDEX GUIDED LASER

 Dielectric waveguide structures are fabricated in lateral

direction
 Variations of real refractive index of the various materials in
these structures control the lateral modes in the LASER
 If a particular index guided LASER supports only the
fundamental transverse mode and fundamental longitudinal
mode it is known as single mode LASER.
 Index guide LASER have either positive index or negative
index wave confining structures.
LASER STRUCTURES

 Buried Hetero structure

 Selectively diffused construction
 Varying thickness structure
 Bent Layer structure
 BH -LASER

 MESA stripe (1-2 micro metre) wide in DH material

 MESA is embedded in high resistivity lattice matched n-type
material with an appropriate band gap and low R.I.
 Material used for LASER is GaAlAs in 800 to 900nm with
GaAs active layer and InP for 1300 to 1600 nm with InGaAsP
active layer.
 SELECTIVELY DIFFUSED
CONSTRUCTION

 In this type of LASER ,chemical dopant such as zinc

for GaAlAs lasers and cadmium for InGaAsP lasers is
diffused into the active layers immediately below the
metallic contact stripe.
 The dopant change the R.I. of the active layer to form a
lateral waveguide channel.
VARYING THICKNESS STRUCTURE

 Here a channel is etched into substrate, layers of crystal are

then regrown into the channel using liquid phase epitaxy.
 This process fills in depressions and partially dissolves the
protrusions, thereby creating variations in the thickness of the
active and confining layers
 When an optical wave encounters a local increase in the
thickness, the thicker area acts as a positive index waveguide of
higher index material.
BENT LAYER STRUCTURE

 Semiconductor material layers are grown onto this

structure using vapor phase epitaxy to exactly replicate the
MESA configuration.
 The active layer has a constant thickness with lateral bends
 As an optical wave travels along the flat top of the MESA in
the active area, the lower index material outside of the
bends confine the light along this lateral channel.
 LIGHT SOURCE LINEARITY
LED LASER

 High radiance LED and LASER diodes used in optical sources

have some non linear characteristics, we must compensate these
non linearity for practical fiber optical communication systems.
 In an analog system the time varying electric signal s(t) is used to
modulate directly an optical source,about a bias current point I B.
With no input signal, the power output is Pt
When signal s(t) is applied the optical output power is P(t).

P(t) = Pt[1+m.(t)] ---Eq-1

Where m-modulation index/depth

I
m =
IB’

For LED IB’=IB

For LASER IB’= IB – I th

I = variation in current about bias point

 To prevent distortion in output signal the modulation
must be confined to the linear region of the curve for
optical output versus drive current

 If I is greater than IB’ (i.e. ‘m’ is greater than

100%) ,the lower portion of the signal gets cutoff and
severe distortion will result

 Typical ‘m’ values for analog application range from

0.25 to 0.50
 NON-LINEAR EFFECTS
 In analog applications ,any device non-linearities
will create frequency components in the output
signal ,that are not present in the input signal.
 Two important non-linear effects are

1.Harmonic distortion.

2.Intermodulation distortion.
 HARMONIC DISTORTION
 If the signal input to a non-linear device is a simple cosine
wave
x(t) = A cos ωt Eq-2

The output will be

Y(t) = A0+A1 cos ωt+A2 cos 2ωt+A3 cos 3ωt+……. Eq-3

Thus the output signal will consists of a component at the

input frequency ‘ω’ plus spurious components
At zero frequency at the second harmonic frequency ‘2ω’
and third harmonic frequency ‘3ω’ and so on
This effect is known as harmonic distortion.
 HARMONIC DISTORTION

 The amount of nth order distortion in decibels is

given by

20 log An
nth order harmonic Distortion = ------------ …. Eq-4
A1
 INTERMODULATION DISTORTION

 To determine intermodulation distortion the

modulating signal of a non linear device is taken to
be the sum of two cosine waves.
x(t) = A1 cos ω1t+A2 cosω2t
 The output signal will then be of form
y(t) =∑ B m,n Cos(mω1+nω2) …. Eq-5
m,n

Where m&n =0,±1, ±2, ±3 ---------

This signal includes all the harmonics of ω1 and ω2
plus cross product terms as ω2- ω1, ω2+ ω1,
ω2- 2ω1, ω2+ 2ω1 and so on.
 The sum and difference frequencies give rise to intermodulation
distortion

 The sum of the absolute values of the coefficients m & n

determines the order of the intermodulation Distortion.

If the operating frequency band is less than octave, all other

intermodulation products will fall outside the passband and can
be eliminated with appropriate filters in the receiver.

Non Linear distortions in LEDs are due to effects depending on carrier

injection level, radiative recombination and others subsidiary
mechanisms.
In certain LASER diodes such as gain guided
devices ,there can be non linearity in the curve for
optical power output versus diode current.

These non linearities are as a result of inhomogenities

in the active region of the device and also arise from
power switching between the dominant lateral
modes in the LASER.

Kinks are observed in LASER diodes ,power

saturation can occur at high output levels because of
active layer heating.
 TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION
 THD in GaAlAs LEDs and LASER diodes tends to be in
the range of 30-40 dB below the output at the
fundamental modulation, frequency for modulation
depths around 0.5.

Harmonic distortion decrease with increasing bias

current
But become large at higher modulation frequencies
 COMPENSATION TECHNIQUES
 To linearise optical sources ,in analog circuits
negative feedback ,selective harmonics compensation and
quasi feed forward compensation, use of pulse position
modulation (PPM) schemes done.

Most successful design techniques is the quasi feed forward

method with which a reduction in THD of 30-40dB has
been observed.
 MODAL, PARTITION AND REFLECTION NOISE
 Associated with LASER diodes for high speed digital and analog
applications

 Introduce receiver output noise

Modal Noise -In multimode fiber number of propagating modes of the fiber are
normally excited..
When all these modes retain their relative phase
coherence, radiation pattern seen at the end of the fiber
takes on the form of speckle pattern.

These speckle is result of constructive and destructive

interference between propagating modes at any given
plane.
Number of speckles in the pattern approximate the
number of propagating modes
 As light travels along the fiber ,combinational mode,
dependent losses ,changes in phase between and
fluctuations in the distributions of energy among the
various fiber modes will change and the modal
interference and result in a different speckle pattern.

Noise is generated when the speckle pattern changes in

time so as to vary the optical power transmitted through
the particular loss elements.
Optical
Splice

Modal or speckle noise occurs when any losses that are

speckle pattern dependent are present in a link.
e.g. Splices, connectors ,micro bends and photo detectors with
non uniform responsivity across the photo sensitive area.
Optical Fiber Connectors
 Continually changing speckle pattern that falls on
the photo detector thus produces a time varying
noise in the received signal ,which degrades
receiver performance.

 Narrowband high coherence sources such as single

mode LASERs results in more modal noise than
broadband sources.

 In coherent sources such as LED do not produce

modal noise.

 Use of single mode fibers eliminates this problem.

 Partition Noise

Associated with intensity

fluctuations in the
longitudinal modes of a
LASER diode.

This observed in single mode fibers as dominant noise source.

Output from a LASER diode can come from more than one longitudinal
mode.
Optical output may arise from all of the modes simultaneously or it may
switch from one mode to another randomly in time
Intensity fluctuations can occur among the various modes in a multimode
LASER even when the total optical output does not vary as shown in above
figure.
Since the output pattern of a LASER diode highly
directional, the light from these fluctuating
modes can be coupled into a fiber with high
coupling efficiency.

Power fluctuations among the dominant modes can

be quite large ,significant variations in signal
levels can occur at the receiver in systems with
high fiber dispersion.

Each of the longitudinal modes that is coupled into

the fiber has different attenuation and time
delay because each is associated with a slightly
different wavelength.
 Reflection Noise

Due to linearity distortion of LASER diode some of

light output being reflected back into the LASER
cavity from the fiber joints .

This reflected power couples with the lasing mode

and causes phases to vary.

Produces periodically modulated noise spectrum

that is peaked on the low frequency side of
intrinsic noise profile.
Fundamental frequency of noise is determined by
the round trip delay of the light from the LASER to
the reflecting point and back again.
Depending on the round trip time, these reflections
can create noise peaks in the frequency region,
where optical fiber data transmission systems
operate even through the LASERs themselves are
very noise free at these frequencies.

Elimination
By using optical isolators between LASER diodes and
OFC line the fiber to or by using index matching
fluids in the gaps at fiber to fiber joints to
eliminate reflections at the fiber air interfaces.
Thank
you