Optical Fiber Power loss :: Impact on different wavelengths

Abstract-- Light traveling in an optical fiber loses

power over distance. The loss of power depends on
the wavelength of the light and on the propagating
material. In this assignment we try to find out the
reasons which are responsible for power loss and try
to illustrate some comparison between 1310nm and
1550nm wavelength over optical fiber transmission.
I. Introduction
Transmission of light by fiber optics is not 100%
efficient. There are several reasons for this
including absorption by the core and cladding
(caused by the presence of impurities) and the
leaking of light from of the cladding. When light
reflects off the cladding /core interface it actually
travels for a short distance within the cladding
before being reflected back. This leads to
attenuation (signal reduction) by up to 2db/Km for
multimode fiber. For example, with this level of
attenuation, if light travelled over 10kM of cable
only 10% of the signal would arrive at the following
end.
II. Types of losses
Optical fiber light loss is caused by a number of
factors that can be categorized into extrinsic and
intrinsic losses:
Extrinsic:
Bending loss
Splice and connector loss
Intrinsic:
Loss inherent to fiber
Loss resulting from fiber fabrication
Fresnel reflection
Bend Loss. Bend loss occurs at fiber cable bends
that are tighter than the cable's minimum bend
radius.
Bending loss can also occur on a smaller scale from
such factors as:
Sharp curves of the fiber core
Displacements of a few millimeters or less, caused
by buffer or jacket imperfections
Poor installation practice

This light power loss, called micro bending, can add

up to a significant amount over a long distance.
Splice and Connector Loss: Splice loss occurs at all
splice locations. Mechanical splices usually have
the highest loss, commonly ranging from 0.2 to over
1.0 dB, depending on the type of splice.
Fusion splices have lower losses, usually less than
0.1 db. A loss of 0.05 dB or less is usually achieved
with good equipment and an experienced splicing
crew. High loss can be attributed to a number of
factors, including:
Poor cleave
Misalignment of fiber cores
An air gap
Contamination
Index-of-refraction mismatch
Core diameter mismatch to name just a few.
Losses at fiber optic connectors commonly range
from 0.25 to over 1.5 dB and depend greatly on the
type of connector used. Other factors that contribute
to the connection loss include:
Dirt or contaminants on the connector (very
common)
Improper connector installation
A damaged connector face
Poor scribe (cleave)
Mismatched fiber cores
Misaligned fiber cores
Index-of-refraction mismatch
Loss Inherent to Fiber: Light loss in a fiber that
cannot be eliminated during the fabrication process
is due to impurities in the glass and the absorption
of light at the molecular level. Loss of light due to
variations in optical density, composition, and
molecular structure is called Rayleigh scattering.
Rays of light encountering these variations and
impurities are scattered in many directions and lost.
The absorption of light at the molecular level in a
fiber is mainly due to contaminants in glass such as
water molecules (OH-). The ingress of OUT
molecules into an optical fiber is one of the main
factors contributing to the fiber's increased
attenuation in aging. Silica glass's (Si02) molecular
resonance absorption also contributes to some light
loss.

Prepared by: Goutam kumar Saha, Assistant Engineer-Operations. Summit Communications Ltd.

III. Observation

Figure 1 shows the net attenuation of a silica glass

fiber and the three fiber operating windows at 850,
1310, and 1550 nm. For long-distance
transmissions, 1310- or 1550-nm windows are used.
The 1550-nm window has slightly less attenuation
than 1310 nm. The 850-nm communication is
common in shorter-distance, lower-cost
installations.
IV. Other losses
Chromatic Dispersion: Chromatic dispersion is a
broadening of the input signal as it travels down the
length of the fiber. The concept to consider when
talking about chromatic dispersion (CD) should be
optical phase. It is important to mention optical
phase before any explanations of CD or group delay
because of their mathematical relationship. Group
delay is defined as the first derivative of optical
phase with respect to optical frequency. Chromatic
dispersion is the second derivative of optical phase
with respect to optical frequency. These quantities
are represented as follows:

Chromatic dispersion consists of both material

dispersion and waveguide dispersion as illustrated
in Figure II.

V. Fiber Optic Loss Calculation

Loss in a system can be expressed as the following:

where Pin is the input power to the fiber and Pout is

the power available at the output of the fiber.
For convenience, fiber optic loss is typically
expressed in terms of decibels (dB) and can be
calculated using above equation:

Oftentimes, loss in optical fiber is also expressed in

terms of decibels per kilometer (dB/km).
VI. FIBER OPTIC SYSTEM DESIGN
CONSIDERATIONS
A. Power Budget
The power arriving at the detector must be
sufficient to allow clean detection with few errors.
Clearly, the signal at the receiver must be larger
than the noise. The power at the detector, Pr, must
be above the threshold level or receiver sensitivity
Ps.
Pr Ps
The receiver sensitivity Ps is the signal power, in
dBm, at the receiver that results in a particular bit

Prepared by: Goutam kumar Saha, Assistant Engineer-Operations. Summit Communications Ltd.

error rate (BER). Typically the BER is chosen to be

one error in 109 bits or 109.
The received power at the detector is a function of:
1. Power emanating from the light source (laser
diode or LED)(PL)
2. Source to fiber loss (Lsf)
3. Fiber loss per km (FL) for a length of fiber (L)
4. Connector or splice losses (Lconn)
5. Fiber to detector loss (Lfd)
The allocation of power loss among system
components is the power budget. The power margin
is the difference between the received power Pr and
the receiver sensitivity Ps by some margin Lm.
Lm = P r P s
where
Lm is the loss margin in dB
Pr is the received power
Ps is the receiver sensitivity in dBm
If all of the loss mechanisms in the system are taken
into consideration, the loss margin can be
expressed as Equation:
Lm = PL Lsf (FL L) Lconn Lfd Ps
B. Bandwidth and Rise Time Budgets
The transmission data rate of a digital fiber optic
communication system is limited by the rise time of
the various components, such as amplifiers and
LEDs, and the dispersion of the fiber.
The cumulative effect of all the components should
not limit the bandwidth of the system. The
rise time tr and bandwidth BW are related by
BW = 0.35/tr (1)
This equation is used to determine the required
system rise time. The appropriate components are
then selected to meet the system rise time
requirements. The relationship between total system
rise time and component rise time is given by
Equation:

Where ts is the total system rise time and tr1, tr2, ...
are the rise times associated with the various
components.
To simplify matters, divide the system into five
groups:
1. Transmitting circuits (ttc)
2. LED or laser (tL)
3. Fiber dispersion (tf)
4. Photodiode (tph)
5. Receiver circuits (trc)
The system rise time can then be expressed as

The system bandwidth can then be calculated using

Equation 8-25 from the total rise time ts as
given in Equation (1).
BW = 0.35/t.

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Reference:
[1].Optical Network Design & Implementation by
Vivek alwayn .
[2] Fiber Optic Telecommunication
Nick Massa
Springfield Technical Community College
Springfield, Massachusetts
[3]www.wikipedia.org

..(2)

Prepared by: Goutam kumar Saha, Assistant Engineer-Operations. Summit Communications Ltd.