Role of Optical Fiber in short distance communication

Janardhan N [1MJ04EC402]
sparshajana@gmail.com

Abstract With the continued search for the faster way to communicate things between the source and the
destination has led man for a never ending hunger to his search for newer technologies. Many technologies with
wide range of application oriented has shown up in the last decade. But the search for the much better
technologies has and will never stop. Today we will put light on one such emerging technology, which is still in
the rise among all. Yes, “Optical Fiber, in the field of communication.” Today let us discus an idea about the
usage of Optical Fiber in the field of Integrated Circuits and in the field of Medical Research.

1. Introduction
As in resent past, it is know for a lot about
Fiber Optics. Yes, the same long, thin strands of very
pure glass about the diameter of a human hair to
coaxial cable used to transmit light signals over long
distances communication, to a very short distance
communication within the Integrated Circuits.
One of the most important components in
any optical fiber system is the optical fiber itself,
since its transmission characteristics plays a major
role in determining the performance of the entire
system. Optical fiber refers to the medium and the
technology associated with the transmission of
information as light pulses along a glass or plastic
wire or fiber.
Optical fiber carries much more information
than conventional copper wire and is in general not
subject to electromagnetic interference and the need
to retransmit signals. Most telephone company long-
distance lines are now of optical fiber. In optical
communication system, we have light as the carrier
that transmits the data from source to destination and
fiber itself as communication medium.
Transmission on optical fiber wire requires
repeaters at regular intervals depending upon the
distance. The glass
fiber requires more
protection within
and outer cable
than other type of
cables. Optical
fibers are widely
used in fiber-optic
communication,
which permits
transmission over
longer distances
and at higher data
rates than other
forms of communications. Fibers are used instead of
metal wires because signals travel along them with
less loss, and they are immune to electromagnetic
interference.
2.1 Origin of optical fiber
This idea is very simple. Let us fill up a
container with water and shone a light into it. In a
darkened room, then pull out the bung. The light
shone out of the hole and the water gushed out. It is
expected that the light would shine straight out of the
hole and the water would curve downwards, as in the
diagram. But the light stayed inside the water column
and follows the curved path. Nature had found a way
to guide light. What was expected and what actually
happened here lead to the basic foundation of Optical
Fiber. The basic requirements still remain the same
today, a light source and a clear material (usually
plastic or glass) for the light to shine through. The
light can be guided around any complex path. Being
able to guide light along a length of optic fiber has
given rise to two distinct areas of use, light guiding
and communications.
2.2 Modern day Optical Fiber
Modern day optical fiber is oriented towards
faster rate of
communicating data
between source and
destination. Fiber
might not to be in a
line of sight, now
light can pass through
the complex loop as
shown in the figure.
Enormous resources
were poured into the search for a material with
sufficient clarity to allow the development of an optic
fiber to carry the light over long distances. The early

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results were disappointing. The losses were such that
the light power was halved every three meters along
the route. Within few years however, things have
changed with the use of silica glass with losses
comparable with the best copper cables.
On the other hand, a fiber optic system using
a glass fiber is certainly capable of carrying light over
long distances. By converting an input signal into
short flashes of light, the optic fiber is able to carry
complex information over distances of more than a
hundred kilometers without additional amplification.
This is at least five times better than the distances
attainable using the best copper coaxial cables.
Advantages: This property of fiber to conduct even on
bending made it more and more possessive towards
new area of research.
2.2a Why is OFC, in such a huge demand
Optical fiber had a property of commutating
even when bent
without much
attenuation and on
short versions of
data
communication had
no or negligible
data loss, which
opted it more in
medical and IC chip
designing
technology. It was indeed not necessary to add
amplifiers on the output of every stage as in the above
diagram, meaning no attenuation loss at all.
Other important reason was its physical thin
structure, smaller to accumulate in tiny areas compare
to some other medium, i.e. fibers of 8 μm (315
millionths of an inch) diameter.
Advantages: Conduction with or without amplifier at
the later stage and its tiny structure had some
commanding influence in the area of data
communication.
As the refractive index is simply a ratio of the speed
of light in a material to the speed of light in free
space, it does not have any units.
Lower refractive index => Higher would be
the Speed.
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Using the above example, value of 1.5 for
the refractive index, this gives a speed of about 200
million meters per second.
2.2b How to provide data
The angles of the rays are measured with
respect to the normal. This is a line drawn at right
angles to the boundary line between the two refractive
indices, core and cladding region. The angles of the
incoming and outgoing rays are called the angles of
incidence and refraction respectively.
The critical angle is well-named as its value
is indeed critical to the operation of optic fibers. At
angles of incidence less than the critical angle, the ray
is refracted through the cladding region, outward.
However, if the light approaches the
boundary at an angle greater than the critical angle,
then the light is actually reflected from the boundary
region back into the first material. The boundary
region simply acts as a mirror. This effect is called
total internal reflection (TIR).
2.2c Types of optic fibers used
There are two general categories of optical
fiber: single-mode and multi-mode. We basically have
Step indexed fiber optics and Graded index fiber
optics.
Multimode fiber was the first type of fiber to
be commercialized. It has a much larger core than
single-mode fiber, allowing hundreds of modes of
light to propagate through the fiber simultaneously.
Additionally, the larger core diameter of multimode
fiber facilitates the use of lower-cost optical
transmitters (such as light emitting diodes [LEDs] or
vertical cavity surface emitting lasers [VCSELs]) and
connectors.
Single-mode fiber, on the other hand, has a
much smaller core that allows only one mode of light
at a time to propagate through the core. While it might
appear that multimode fibers have higher capacity, in
fact the opposite is true. Single mode fibers are
designed to maintain spatial and spectral integrity of
each optical signal over longer distances, allowing
more information to be transmitted.
2
 In step index, the core region will have a
constant RI through out the core region and a stem
increase in RI for the cladding region. In graded
index, the RI will be high across the axis of the cable
and decreases when moved towards the cladding
region which supports higher order modes to
propagate. Both Multi-mode and Single-mode has got
advantage in their own fields.
Advantages: Since both Medical and IC technology
needs only one mode of data to propagate, step index
would be better suited here and for the application
where the data is to be transferred in parallel path,
graded index would be preferred.
2.3a Role of Optical Fiber in Short distance
communication
Light is kept in the "core" of the optical fiber
by total internal reflection. This causes the fiber to act
as a waveguide. Fibers which support many
propagation paths or transverse modes are called
multimode fibers (MMF). Fibers which support only a
single mode are called single mode fibers (SMF).
Multimode fibers generally have a large-diameter
core, and are used for long-distance communication
links or for applications where low power must be
transmitted. Single mode fibers are used for most
communication links shorter than 20 meters.
This makes the foundation for short distance
communication between the source and destination,
which is the most optimum in designing integrated
circuits and other communicating devices.
Present way of communicating data within
the system is through communicating tracks, laid
through printed
circuit board or data
cable through which
the data is
communicated
between source and
destination. The
medium used for the
transmission of
information and data
over distances has
evolved from copper
wire to optical fiber. It is quite likely that no wire-
based information transmission systems will be
installed in the future. The process of
communicating data is taken over by optical fibers
which are far better than the conventional copper
wires, which has more power loss while propagating
through and needs both voltage and current amplifiers
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at all output points. As stated above, the
communication between source and destination
mainly requires either tracks or data cable which
connect them together. Both come handy with cost
and losses. Though PCB or tracks look like cost
efficient, they are typically difficult to design and
always require skilled technician to do it. Where as
data cables are limited in both cost and distance they
cover. Data cables are capable of communication
effective data for shorter distances, but fails when it
comes to transfer data to a longer distance. Any
damage caused to either one port of the data cable
makes it unusable for further use.
There comes the new technology called
optical fiber, which is the most efficient way of
communicating data from one place to other. This
was the famous quotation by the Scientist Stephen
William Hawking “Optical Fiber will lead an
example for all loss less communication in mere
future” And now the worlds fastest calculating
machine “ Blue Gene/L ”, Developed at Lawrence
Livermore National lab, is capable of calculating
280.6 trillion calculations/sec which uses Optical
fiber for its internal connection has done the miracle
as stated above by Stephan Hawking
Research and development of coherent
optical fiber communications have been accelerated
mainly because of the possibility of receiver
sensitivity improvement reaching 20 dB, and partly
because of the possibility of frequency-division
multiplexing (FDM) with very fine frequency
separation. In this paper, recent advances in the
research on coherent optical fiber communication
systems are reviewed, with emphasis on those
reported in the past two years.
Fibers that exhibit tightly controlled
geometry tolerances will not only be easier and faster
to splice but will also reduce the need for testing by
ensuring Predictable, high-quality splice performance.
This is particularly true when fibers are spliced by
passive, mechanical, or fusion techniques for both
single fibers and fiber ribbons. In addition, tight
geometry tolerances lead to the additional benefit of
flexibility in equipment choice.
Now signal can be transferred as a single
source of light or as a group of light sources. Step
index fiber will be efficient for any serial
communications like transfer of single data through
out the path. Example transfer of acknowledgement
signal from receiver to transmitter which is a single
3
bit and the transfer rate would be very fast so as to
indicate transmitter to send next data.
HEMT distributed baseband amplifier offers a 90-
GHz 3-dB-down bandwidth with 10-dB DC gain.
Among the digital ICs, the decision IC (DEC) limits
system speed because of its clocking operation with
feedback action at the system data rate. To boost
operation speed of the flip-flop (FE) circuit, which is
a key element of the DEC and other digital ICs, we
devised a super dynamic F/F (SD-F/F) [lo]. The key
to increasing Operation speed is to minimize the
effective logic swing to accelerate transition by
introducing dynamic operation. A SD-F/F can operate
100 % faster than a conventional master-slave D-F/F.
By using the SD-F/F, error-free operation of the
packaged DEC was confirmed up to 50 Gbit/s, as
shown in Fig. 4 (a) [I 11.

Now transfer of data in parallel ports

requires data bus as
indicated above. But
the same data can e
treasured in a single
string of fiber optics.
That is by using
Multi-mode step
index fiber, where the
data is transfused in
multi modes
configuration in such
a way that N-signals OEIC Technology
could be transfused in a single string using multi The capability of monolithic integration with
mode configuration. a photodiode is another great merit of the InP HEMT.
As described in the previous section, the EDFA
High Speed Optical Fiber Communication relaxes the gain requirement for the electrical
ICs Based on InP HEMT amplifier in the optical receiver. Furthermore, a
High-speed integrated circuit technology is photodiode that has broad bandwidth and high
the key to realizing large-capacity optical fiber saturation output power, such as the UTC-PD [19,
communication systems. This paper describes the 201, makes direct driving possible at the characteristic
present status of 0. l-pm-gate InP HEMT ICs for the impedance of 50 R with a voltage swing of 1 Vp-p.
next-generation 40-Gbit/s/ch. systems. As an
advanced IC technology, this paper also describes a
4O-Gbit/s OEIC that is monolithically fabricated with
a uni-traveling-carrier photodiode and the 0.1-pm InP
HEMTs.
For the analog ICs, a distributed circuit
configuration is attractive for widening the
bandwidth. The conventional distributed amplifier,
however, cannot ensure circuit operation from near
DC because of the loss induced by the FET drain
conductance. To cope with this, we devised a
frequency dependent termination. In addition, a drain
peaking line and a loss compensation circuit are also The combination of the EDFA and the
incorporated for loss compensation in high frequency monolithic OEIC with a UTC-PD and the 0.1-pm InP
region. These techniques make it possible to operate HEMTs has a high potential for realizing a simple,
from near DC to the data rate and beyond. An InP high-speed and highly functional optical receiver

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without an electrical equalizing amplifier. The goal of
the optical receiver is shown in Fig. 5. All high-speed
signal processes needed for regenerating and retiming
are executed in the chip, and the OEIC outputs
demultiplexed low-speed electrical signals. Since the
bandwidth limitations of the chip-to-chip
interconnection and electrical amplifier are
eliminated, higher-speed operation is expected
compared with the conventional OEIC consisting of a
photodiode and amplifiers. As a first step, we
designed an optoelectronic decision IC (OE-DEC)
and monolithically fabricated it with a UTC-PD and
the InP HEMTs.
The circuit consists of a UTC-PD, a bias
circuit, a data suffer, a clock buffer, a core D-FF, and
an output buffer and driver. A simple resistive divider
circuit is adopted as the UTC-PD bias circuit. The
data buffer consists of three stage differential
amplifiers and generates the differential signal needed
for internal circuit operation from the single ended
electrical data signal converted in the UTC-PD and
the bias circuit. The data buffer has a reference input
terminal to adjust the slice level according to input
optical power. A SD-FE is adopted as the core FE to
achieve 40-GbiVs operation with a sufficient speed
margin. The OEIC has single-ended electrical clock
input and differential outputs that can be directly
connected to an SCFL interface.
In the present circuit, the load resistance was
set to 50 S2 in order to compare the conventional
discrete receiver and the monolithic OEIC in terms of
circuit performance. Figure 7 shows a schematic
cross-sectional view of the fabricated OEIC on an InP
substrate. The hetero-epitaxitial layers of the UTC-
PD, Schottky diodes, and HEMTs grown by MOCVD
were stacked, and the devices were fabricated in that
order.
The pulse response of the fabricated UTC-
PD was measured by electro-optic sampling (EOS).
The full width at half maximum of the response signal
was 4.8 ps and the responsively of the UTC-PD was
0.2 A/W. For several fabricated HEMTs, the typical
transconductance was 1 S/mm, and the current gain
cutoff frequency U;.> and the maximum oscillation
frequency v,,) were 177 and 178 GHz, respectively.
After on-wafer testing, the back side of the wafer was
polished and then coated with anti-reflection film.
Since back-side optical illumination is required for the
optical interface of the OEIC, we developed a new
OEIC package.
The package structure is basically the same
as that of the 4O-Gbit/s InP HEMT digital IC package
1 except for the inclusion of an optical input port. A
set of aspherical lenses and a single-mode fiber was
installed on the back side of the module. A
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photograph of the OEIC module is shown in Fig. 8.
Figure 9 shows the input and output waveforms of the
OEIC module at 40 GbiVs when error-free operation
was confirmed. Clear eye-opening was obtained at the
output voltage of 950 mVp-p with the phase margin
of43 degrees.
The minimum averaged optical input power
for correct circuit operation was 10.8 dE3m. This
value is better than the 14.5 dBm confirmed for the
discrete receiver configuration . As a feasibility study,
the bit-error performance of an optical receiver
consisting of two-stage EDFAs and the OEIC was
examined for 40- Gbit/s RZ format optical signal.
Figure 10 shows the biterror performance’s of the
receiver. The average receiver sensitivity at the bit-
error-rate of was - 24.1 dE3m for the best performing
channel, and - 23.6 dBm for the worst channel. No
error-floor was observed, and the obtained sensitivity
is, to our knowledge, the highest among 40- Gbit/s
OEIC receivers reported to date.
Optical communication plays a
significant and increasing role in our
society. The public demand for higher
network speed requires an optical
backbone network with larger capacity.
Accompanying high transmission-rate
optical communications system are severe
technical specifications for optical devices
and systems. Many popular optical devices
could be represented with a digital filter
model as described in this article. Use of
well-developed signal processing
techniques and algorithms to design these
optical devices is a wise use of existing
technology.
As demonstrated in this article,
signal processing could play an important
role in the development of advanced
optical communication systems. However,
as demonstrated in the case of an
electronic equalizer, some optical system
characteristics may require special
attention if signal processing techniques
are to be applied successfully. Therefore,
interdisciplinary cooperation between
researchers in optics and signal processing
will be crucial for optical communications
to fully benefit from signal processing.
InP HEMT Technology
A schematic cross-section of our 0.1-pm
nAlAs/InGaAs/InP HEMT. The epitaxial layers were
grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition
(MOCVD). The electron channel is formed by a 15-
5
nmthick InGaAs layer beneath the T-shaped gate with
a 0.1 - pm footprint. The carrier-supplying layer is an
InAlAs layer with Si-delta doping. The most
important feature of the devise structure is the InP
gate-recess-etch stopper inserted into the InAlAs
barrier layer. This drastically improves the uniformity
of the threshold voltage ( V,h) [7]. The typical
average Vrh is -0.6 V and the standard deviation is
low at around 30 mV for a 3-inch wafer. The typical
transconductance (gm) is 1 S/mm, and the current
gain cut-off frequency U; .and maximum
oscillation frequency <r,) are 195 and 230 GHz,
respectively.
IC Design and Results
The basic 40-Gbit/s optical sender (OS) and
receiver (OR) configurations. The functions required
for optical communication ICs are basically time-
division multiplexing, reshaping, retiming,
regenerating, and time-division demultiplexing.
Reshaping is performed by the Er-doped fiber
amplifier (EDFA), photodetector (PD), preamplifier
(Pre) and baseband amplifier (Base). The EDFA
relaxes the noise and gain requirements for the
preamplifier and baseband amplifier, but lower timing
jitter is still required for both the decision IC (DEC)
for regenerating and the clock extraction ICs, such as
the exclusive OR IC (EXOR) and limiting amplifier
(Limit.) for retiming.
Broadband
operation from
near DC to the
data rate with
good eye
opening is
required for all
ICs except for
the clock
extraction ICs.
For the analog
ICs, a While traditional bulk glass is brittle, the ultrapure
distributed
circuit configuration is attractive for widening the
bandwidth. The conventional distributed amplifier,
however, cannot ensure circuit operation from near
DC because of the loss induced by the FET drain
conductance. To cope with this, we devised a
frequency dependent termination. In addition, a drain
peaking line and a loss compensation circuit are also
incorporated for loss compensation in high frequency
region. These techniques make it possible to operate
from near DC to the data rate and beyond. An InP
HEMT distributed baseband amplifier offers a 90-
GHz 3-dB-down bandwidth with 10-dB DC gain.
The measured S-parameters is for the
amplifier. Among the digital ICs, the decision IC
MVJCE
(DEC) limits system speed because of its clocking
operation with feedback action at the system data rate.
To boost operation speed of the flip-flop (FE) circuit,
which is a key element of the DEC and other digital
ICs, we devised a superdynamic F/F (SD-F/F). The
key to increasing operation speed is to minimize the
effective logic swing to accelerate transition by
introducing dynamic operation. A SD-F/F can operate
100 % faster than a conventional master-slave D-F/F.
By using the SD-F/F, error-free operation of the
packaged DEC was confirmed up to 50 Gbit/s. For
high-frequency operation over 50 GHz, the
distributed treatment is required even for the inside of
the chip. A typical example is the 400-pm-long
interconnection in the multiplexer IC (MUX), which
corresponds to around two-tenths of the wavelength at
50 GHz. To reduce interconnection propagation delay
time and to obtain an impedance-matched microstrip
line, we introduced a two-metal-layer interconnection
structure consisting of Au and a 2-pm-thick BCB film
as an insulator.
The MUX IC operated up to 80 Gbit/s by
using the interconnection and impedance matching
design shows the 80-Gbit/s output waveforms
obtained in the on-wafer measurement. The fabricated
IC chips were mounted onto our original package,
which we call the chip-size cavity package [13, 141.
This package supports operation up to 50-GHz. Table
1 summarizes the performances of the InP HEMT
ICs. All ICs offer practical speed performance beyond
40-Gbit/s with good yield.
Questions of Strength
One common misconception about optical
fiber is that it must be fragile because it is made of
glass. In fact, research, theoretical analysis, and
practical experience prove that the opposite is true.
glass of optical fibers exhibits both high tensile
strength and extreme durability. How strong is fiber?
Figures like 600 or 800 thousand pounds per square
inch are often cited, far more than copper’s capability
of 100 pounds per square inch. That figure refers to
the ultimate tensile strength of fiber produced today.
Fiber’s real, rather than theoretical; strength is 2
million pounds per square inch.
Advantages of Fiber Optics
Why are fiber-optic systems revolutionizing
telecommunications? Compared to conventional
metal wire (copper wire), optical fibers are:
Less expensive - Several miles of optical cable can
be made cheaper than equivalent lengths of copper
6
wire. This saves your provider (cable TV, Internet)
and you money.
Thinner - Optical fibers can be drawn to smaller
diameters than copper wire.
Higher carrying capacity - Because optical fibers
are thinner than copper wires, more fibers can be
bundled into a given-diameter cable than copper
wires. This allows more phone lines to go over the
same cable or more channels to come through the
cable into your cable TV box.
Less signal degradation - The loss of signal in
optical fiber is less than in copper wire.
Light signals - Unlike electrical signals in copper
wires, light signals from one fiber do not interfere
with those of other fibers in the same cable. This
means clearer phone conversations or TV reception.
Low power - Because signals in optical fibers
degrade less, lower-power transmitters can be used
instead of the high-voltage electrical transmitters
needed for copper wires. Again, this saves your
provider and you money.
Digital signals - Optical fibers are ideally suited
for carrying digital information, which is especially
useful in computer networks.
Non-flammable - Because no electricity is passed
through optical fibers, there is no fire hazard.
Lightweight - An optical cable weighs less than a
comparable copper wire cable. Fiber-optic cables take
up less space in the ground.
Flexible - Because fiber optics are so flexible and
can transmit and receive light, they are used in many
flexible digital cameras for the following purposes:
Medical imaging - in bronchoscopes, endoscopes,
laparoscopes
Mechanical imaging - inspecting mechanical
welds in pipes and engines (in airplanes, rockets,
space shuttles, cars)
Plumbing - to inspect sewer lines Because of these
advantages, you see fiber optics in many industries,
most notably telecommunications and computer
networks. For example, if you telephone Europe from
the United States (or vice versa) and the signal is
bounced off a communications satellite, you often
hear an echo on the line. But with transatlantic fiber-
optic cables, you have a direct connection with no
echoes.
Conclusion
40-Gbit/s ICs for next-generation optical
fiber communication systems have been developed
using 0.1 - pm InP HEMT technology. These ICs have
sufficient speed margins for the 40-Gbit/s data rate.
An optoelectronic decision IC monolithically
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integrated with a UTC-PD and the InP HEMTs was
also confirmed to operate at 40 Gbit/s, and an optical
receiver using the OEIC offered high receiver
sensitivity. We believe that these IC and OEIC
technologies based on InP HEMTs are promising for
the construction of next- generation 4O-Gbit/ s/ch.
optical fiber communication systems.
Optical communication plays a
significant and increasing role in our
society. The public demand for higher
network speed requires an optical
backbone network with larger capacity.
Accompanying high transmission-rate
optical communications system are severe
technical specifications for optical devices
and systems. Many popular optical devices
could be represented with a digital filter
model as described in this article.
Use of well-developed signal
processing techniques and algorithms to
design these optical devices is a wise use
of existing technology. As demonstrated in
this article, signal processing could play an
important role in the development of
advanced optical communication systems.
However, as demonstrated in the
case of an electronic equalizer, some
optical system characteristics may require
special attention if signal processing
techniques are to be applied successfully.
Therefore, interdisciplinary cooperation
between researchers in optics and signal
processing will be crucial for optical
communications to fully benefit from signal
processing.
Reference
1. K. -C. Wang, “High-speed circuits for
lightwave communications,” World
Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., 1999.
2. Y. Miyamoto, er. al., IEEE J . Solid-state
Circuits.
3. C.K. Madsen and J.H. Zhao, Optical Filter
Design and Analysis: A Signal Processing
Approach. New York: Wiley, 1999.
4. “Optoelectronics Circuit Collection”, Texas
Instruments, http://wwws.
ti.com/sc/psheets/sbea001/sbea001.pdf
5. pdf files from www.ieeexplore.org
7
.

Integrated Circuit with CMOS Technology looks Integrated Circuit with Optical Fiber Technology
like this. looks like this.

This is the R&D Integrated Circuit, which is built up

from Optical Fiber Technology. The size of all next
generation IC’s will be or even smaller than this.

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