FIBRE OPTIC COMMUNICATIONS

UNIT-I
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
 History
Telegraph invented by Samuel F B Morse in 1838
First Telephone exchange established in 1878.
Guiding of light by refraction, the principle that makes fiber optics
possible, was first demonstrated by Daniel Colladon and Jacques Babinet in
Paris in the early 1840s.(Article or Journal)
Olden days, 1880 (Photo phone) Graham Bell
In the year 1966 this fibre optic communicaion system idea is comes into
picture by Kao, Werts, Hockman . When they are in British
company Standard Telephones and Cables (STC)
Logically optical frequencies offer higher BW. (conc. Of power in EM
wave is easy) (But medium, sources are a problem)
1960 laser. (High Freq mod., low beamdivergence) (so free space comm
possible, but still..)
The life time of lasers is increased in 1977.
Research on DWG (1000dB/km later 5dB/km).
Kao earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009
Fiber Structure
 Need for Cladding

Provides proper guidance to light

Avoid leakage of light
Gives proper mechanical structure
It protects inner part damages
It protects core from shocks(tensile stresses)
.
Block diagrams of basic optical comm. system:
Digital Optical Link block diagram:
OPTICAL TRANSMISSION
 Need for fiber optic communications
High security systems like banking, military.

For applications, speed of transmission is more crucial.

Information carrying capacity is

C=BW log2(1+ SNR ), this phenomenon is invented in the

year 1948 by Shanon.

C BW Fc

Hence fiber optic link is more suitable to satisfy the above

condition.
BIT RATE DISTANCE PRODUCT
 Advantages:
Enormous Potential Band Width
Small Size and Weight
Electrical Isolation
Immunity to interference and crosstalk(emi,rfi,emp)
Signal Security
Low transmission loss
Ruggedness and flexibility
System reliability and Ease of maintainance
Potential low cost
 Applications:
Internet
Military
Banking
Industries
Medical
Telecommunication & Computer Networking
FTTH,LEC,POTS,HDTV Telecasts,ITS,MNC
Firms, Secure and Reliable Systems etc.
 LIMITATIONS
JOINING CABLES HIGH COST
BENDING CABLES LOSS OF POWER
General link Vs Optical link Vs Satellite Link
 Ray Theory basics
RI=velocity of light in vaccum/velocity of light in
medium.
Index of refraction is the way of measuring the
speed of light in a material.
High RI----- Denser Medium
Low RI----- Rarer Medium
Concept of Ray theory is valid for high diameter
fibers ,for small diameter fibers interference EM
theory is valid.
 Ray Theory:

According to Snells Law

 TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION
If angle of incidence is greater than critical angle then TIR
takes place.
Diamond shining is possible because of TIR
Optical fiber acts like HPF
 Different Ray Propagations:

Skew Rays

Merdional Rays
 ACCEPTANCE ANGLE
It is the max half conical angle for which light
a

enter into the fiber to undergo TIR

If incident angle is less than acceptance angle
then internally angle exceeds critical angle
Numerical Aperture is the light
gathering ability of the fiber
Relative Refractive Index
Acceptance angle for skew rays
 Advantages of skew rays
When the light input to the fiber is non
a

uniform ,skew rays tend to have a smoothing

effect on the distribution of light gives a
uniform output.
Acceptance angle is minimum input angle for
skew rays, so light is accepted at larger axial
angles in a given fiber.
Light gathering ability also increases which
may be significant for large NA fibers.
EM Mode Theory For Optical
Propagation
Modes in a planar guide:
 Modes in planar guide
The stable field distribution in X direction with periodic Z-
dependency is known as Mode.
The propagation of light in EM theory along the wave
guide can be described interms of set of guided EM waves
called Modes of the waveguide.
Each guided mode is a pattern of electric and magnetic
field lines i.e; repeated in fiber at equal intervals equal to
wavelength.
The fiber modes can be classified as guided modes, leaky
modes, and radiation modes. In a given guided structure
various possible E and H field distributions are called
modes
Mode in a planner guide:
Group and Phase Velocity
Phase and Group Velocity:
 MODES IN
PLANAR WG--- 2 MODES TEm,TMm
CYLINDRICAL FIBER
CYLINDRICAL WG---4 MODES
MERIDONIAL RAYS---TElm,TMlm
SKEW RAYS-----------HElm,Ehlm(HYBRID MODES WHERE Ez,Hz ARE NON ZERO
IF WE CHOOSE RRI VERY SMALL VALUE THEN EH AND HE WILL HAVE IDENTICAL
PROPAGATIONAL CONSTANTS ----DEGENERATE MODES
MODES IN CWG
 V-NUMBER/NORMALIZED FREQUENCY/CUT-OFF PARAMETER/CUT-OFF
FREQUENCY
HOW MANY NUMBER OF MODES THAT CAN BE SUPPORTED /PROPAGATED IN A
FIBER IS GIVEN BY V- NUMBER.

IT DEPENDS ON RADIUS OF THE CORE, RELATIVE RI AND OPTICAL WAVELENGTH

OF THE FIBER

FOR A STEP INDEX FIBER 0 V 2.405

Pclad 4
TOTAL AVERAGE CLADDING POWER
Ptotal 3 M

As M INCREASES Pclad REDUCES

BESSEL FUNCTION FOR MODES
 Fiber Types:
Based on RI profile
1. step index
2. graded index
Based on the propagation of modes
1.single mode
2.multimode
The fiber cable are manufactured using
sio2,glass,plastic.etc.
P,B,Ge are added to glass to reduce RI.
Step Index Fibers:
Graded index Fibers:
 COMPARISON OF FIBERS
PARAMETER STEP INDEX GRADED INDEX
BANDWIDTH 50 MHZ (200-600)MHZ
ATTENUATION MORE LESS
MODE DISPERSION LESS MORE
NUMERICAL APERTURE MORE LESS

CORE DIMENSIONS (8-12 )um, MONOMODE 50-100 um

( 50-200)um
MULTIMODE

CLADDING DIMENSIONS 125um 125-140um

125-140 um
 Comparison of fibers
SINGLE MODE MULTIMODE
LESS INTERMODAL DISPERSION BW NOT UTILIZED DUE TO SEVERE
INTERMODAL DISPERSION

LASER USE OF SPATIALLY INCOHERENT SOURCES

LED
LARGE NA ,CORE RADII, EASY TO LAUNCH
OPTICAL POWER
LOW TOLERANCE REQUIREMENTS ON
FIBER CONNECTORS
 Mode Coupling:

The energy of one mode is transfers to another

mode is called mode coupling or mode mixing.
BELOW V-NUMBER ONLY LEAKY MODES
 OPTICAL POWER RESIDING IN THE CLADDING

AS THE V-NUMBER APPROACHES CUT-OFF FOR ANY PARTICULAR MODE , MORE

OF THE POWER OF THAT MODE IS IN CLADDING

TOTAL AVERAGE CLADDING POWER Pclad 4

Ptotal 3 M
As M INCREASES Pclad REDUCES
 Fiber Materials
Requirements:
1. Core and cladding have slightly different RI and are of same
material
2. Material must be pure and highly transparent
3. Very long fibers,
4. Thin and flexible are to be manufactured.
---Generally glasses or plastics satisfy above requirements for
manufacturing fibers.

---Plastic fibers are suitable for short-haul and low

bandwidth applications, particularly in abusive environments
where greater mechanical strength of plastic fibers offer an
advantage over use of glass fibers.
 Fiber Materials
Glass fibers:
Majority of the fibers contain silica or silicate. The advantages are
1. Silica is transparent for visible, IR frequencies.
2. Low thermal expansion
3. Chemical stability
4. High(moderate) thermal shock
5. Cost is High.
Plastic fibers:
1. High thermal expansion.
2. Low Chemical stability.
3. High thermal shock
4. Low Cost
 TECHNIQUES
LIQUID PHASE MELTING TECHNIQUES
Conventional glass refining techniques in which the glass is
processed in the molten state (melting methods) producing a
multicomponent glass structure.

VAPOR PHASE DEPOSITION TECHNIQUES

Vapor phase deposition methods producing silica-rich glasses
which have melting temperatures that are too high to allow
the conventional melt process
Liquid phase melting techniques
Liquid phase melting techniques
Vapor phase deposition techniques
Optical fibers
ITU STANDARDS
Problems
 A step index fiber has a solid acceptance
angle in the air of 0.115 radians and relative
refractive index of 0.9%. Estimate the speed of
the light in the fiber core.