Optical fibers and cables

Optical fiber is a dielectric medium which is transparent to

visible and some part of IR spectrum, allows propagation of
designated wavelengths at low loss, minimum dispersion,
scattering and attenuation .In general, it comprises of two
different refractive indices materials, a Core with higher different refractive indices materials, a Core with higher
refractive index and a Cladding with lower refractive index
and enclosed into a protective sheath to form a cable which
may contain several fibers
Common Fiber Materials
Materials selected for fiber manufacture must meet the
following requirements:-
Transparent at the selected optical wave lengths
Possible to make thin, long, flexible fibers from the
material
Physically compatible materials ,having slightly different Physically compatible materials ,having slightly different
refractive indices must be available
Fiber must possess stable transmission characteristics at
minimum cost and minimum attenuation.
Such materials are generally glasses made from Silica or
silicates.
Plastic glasses are less widely used, these have higher
resistance and used at short range, rugged applications
(tensile strength is higher)
Glass
Astate of matter characterise by its disorder
Glass is a state of matter that appears as a solid but actually its
structure is like a liquid with long range disorder. High
viscosity makes it rigid.
It is a non-crystalline solid that continuously converted to
liquid upon heating liquid upon heating
Any organic or inorganic material or metal may be made as
glass but generally we deal with the glasses made from
melting different inorganic oxides and silica as a major
component
Glass transformation
Glass is characterised by its transformation behaviour
Silica glass
Major component of glass is SiO
2
which occurs naturally as
silica sand
Silica alone is excellent glass former but making glass from
just silica is very expensive and is not commercially economic
on the large scale
Melting temperature of silica is 1723
o
C and to produce a glass Melting temperature of silica is 1723
o
C and to produce a glass
with considerable viscosity to handle, we need the temperature
as high as 2000
o
C or even more
To overcome this difficulty an alternative vapour-deposition
process is employed where silicon tetrachloride is heated
above 1500
o
C in the presence of oxygen forming pure
vitreous silica on a substrate at a temperature above 1800
o
C
Pure SiO
2
glass has wonderful qualities like:
corrosion resistance
low electrical conductivity
very low coefficient of thermal expansion
good ultra violet transparency and good ultra violet transparency and
can withstand temperature as high as 1200
o
C.
This type of glass is used for applications like:
optical fibre
refractory crucibles for silica and
outer window pans of space shuttle
In pure silica glass SiO
4
tetrahedras (3 sided pyramids) are
formed by covalent bonding between Si and O
These tetrahedras are then joined to each other at corners in
different orientation with oxygen bridges between
neighbouring tetrahedras neighbouring tetrahedras
For this reason the oxygen in this arrangement is called as
bridging oxygen (BO). In pure silica glass without any
impurities or defects all the oxygen atoms are BO.
Multicomponent silicate fibers
Multicomponent silicate glass can be used for to make low-
loss transmission fiber but requires extensive purification of
batch chemicals and control of melting conditions
For details see the paper, K. Sawamura, 'The development of
multicomponent glass fibres for optical communications by multicomponent glass fibres for optical communications by
Toshiba', Glass Technol., 45 (2004) 21-32
Multicomponent silicate glasses
Commercial production of silicate glasses (multicomponent )
requires addition of additional compounds, called as fluxes to
reduce the melting temperature of silica
As the glass forming involves the inability to rearrange the
bonds in the liquid state, so better glass formers have higher bonds in the liquid state, so better glass formers have higher
bond strength.
Glass network formers have single bond strength exceeding about
334.944 kJ/mol (80 kcal/mol)
Glass network modifiers have single bond strength of about 251.208
kJ/mol (60 kcal/mol)
Intermediates single bond strength lie in between the network modifiers
and network formers.
Glass structures
Network formers:
Theses are the glass forming oxides.
These glass formers are the bulk of any glass.
Silica (SiO
2
) is the most common glass former and thus the
glass produced this way is called silicate glass. glass produced this way is called silicate glass.
Other glass formers include B
2
O
3
, GeO
2
, P
2
O
5
, Al
2
O
3
,
Bi
2
O
3
, As
2
O
3
, Sb
2
O
3
, TeO
2
, Ga
2
O
3
and V
2
O
5
.
Some of these glass formers, like As
2
O
3
and Sb
2
O
3
may
form glass if cooled significantly rapidly.
Except SiO
2
, B
2
O
3
, P
2
O
5
and GeO
2
all other glass formers
require other oxides as well to form glass
Network Modifiers:
Property modifiers or network modifiers includes alkaline
earth and alkali metal oxides
These oxides used to reduce the melting temperature thus
reduce the melting cost.
Mostly Na
2
O (derived from soda ash) and CaO (derived
from limestone) are used. Sometimes MgO (magnesia),
K
2
O or BaO may also be used. These are commonly added
in the form of naturally occurring carbonates
Extensive use of network modifiers especially Na
2
O
reduces water durability and degradation of many
properties.
CaO can be used alone but mostly it is used to counter the
degradation effects of Na
2
O, which is a good flux. TiO
2
and
ZnO is also used to maintain durability that is reduced by
adding Na
2
O
The addition of alkali oxide breaks the oxygen bridge and attaches
oxygen from the alkali oxide to the bridge.
In this way nonbridging oxygen (NBO) atoms are produced, that are
covalently bonded to just one silicon atom and having negative
charge. Oxygen from alkali oxide also attaches itself to this broken
bridge.
The negative charge is balanced by the charged alkali metal cations
in the neighbourhood that forms ionic bond to oxygen.
These NBO reduces the silica network connectivity by reducing BO. These NBO reduces the silica network connectivity by reducing BO.
Alkali also increases electrical conductivity
Na
2
CO
3
(12-18%) and CaCO
3
(5-12%) are used with SiO
2
(60-75%)
to make soda lime silica glass
It is the most common and least expensive glass but does not have
much resistance to temperature variations and corrosive
environment
Borosilicate glass has B
2
O
3
in addition and less alkali. It is
expensive for common use because of the additional cost of
B
2
O
3
but has high resistance to temperature changes and
chemical corrosion.
B
2
O
3
aids melting and reduce forming temperature
CaO and B
2
O
3
also reduce viscosity and increases durability
B
2
O
3
is highly volatile and vaporised in the form of HBO
2
in
the presence of water vapours from the glass melt
Evaporation of B in the atmosphere causing environmental
issues thus current environmental regulation restricting its use
Intermediates
These are the compounds that are intermediate between
glass formers and modifiers.
They cannot make glass on their own but can form part of
the network made by silica
Two of the most important intermediates are Al
2
O
3
(alumina) and PbO
Al
2
O
3
helps to make the glass durable and temperature &
weather tolerant weather tolerant
PbO is also an excellent flux. PbO makes the glass denser,
increases its index of refraction and absorbs radiations
Lead glasses contain lead and potassium oxide. These
glasses are commonly called as crystal glass just because of
their colourless and high optical brilliance. It has high
refractive index, ~ 1.545
Fining Agents
In the glass melt gases arise from reaction gases or
the air trapped between melting particles.
Fining agents are added to have a final glass void
of any gas bubbles by removal or dissolution of the
bubbles and homogenise the melt.
These fining agents work in two ways: These fining agents work in two ways:
initially they produce gases to make the bubbles bigger
so that these bigger bubbles can easily come to the
surface and
later they dissolve the gas trapped in small bubbles as
the micro bubbles produced in the glass do not come out
at the surface even at higher temperatures (low
viscosity).
In the glass melt the rising rate of bubble to the glass surface is
given by Stokes law
Where v is velocity of rise, g gravitational acceleration, r is
bubble radius, is glass density and is glass viscosity
We see that large bubbles in a low viscosity glass can rise to the
surface much easily. Lower viscosity is achieved by increasing
the melt temperature and fining agent produces large bubbles
Sulphur containing compounds (ferrous sulphate (FeSO
4
.7H
2
O),
sodium sulphate (Na SO ), gypsum (CaSO .2H O), barium
2
2
9
v gr

=
sodium sulphate (Na
2
SO
4
), gypsum (CaSO
4
.2H
2
O), barium
sulphate (BaSO
4
) and ammonium sulphate (NH
4
SO
4
))are
efficient fining agents. Sulphates are commonly used but
chlorides and fluorides may also be added in a small quantity
Arsenic trioxide (As
2
O
3
) and Antimony oxide (Sb
2
O
3
) are also
used as fining agents
Nitrates (KNO
3
, NaNO
3
) evolve oxygen and oxides of nitrogen at
glass melting temperatures thus used with arsenic and/or
antimony for improved effect
Melting techniques
Fiber drawing
Fiber Types
Silica Glass fiber
Principal raw material is sand; glass made of pure silica is
called Silica Glass/ Fused silica / vitreous silica
Addition of GeO
2
or P
2
O
5
inc ref index
Addition of B
2
O
3
or Fluorine decrease refractive index
Features of fused silica Features of fused silica
Highly resistant to any deformity up to 1000
o
C
Highly resistant to thermal shock (for breakage)
Good chemical durability.
Highly transparent in visible as well as IR region.
High melting point which is also a disadvantage when
fiber is prepared from molten state . It can be avoided
partially by using Silicon Vapour Deposition
Technique.
Halide Glass Fibers
Research at university of Derennes (1975) resulted into
development of Fluoride glass
low resistance at mid IR (0.2 8 m)
Addition of rare earth metals (Atomic # 57-71) modifies the
optical and EM properties of fiber.
Commonly used earth metals are erbium and Neodymium. Commonly used earth metals are erbium and Neodymium.
Loss min (0.001dB -0.01 dB Km
-1
)
Formation of micro crystallites if not controlled, may result
into enhanced scattering losses.
Fabricating long lengths is difficult
Concentration of these dopants is kept low and can be
employed both for silica as well as halide glasses
Plastic Fibers
Plastic Clad Silica (PCS)
Fibers with glass core and glass cladding are suited for
long dist applications & expensive
For short range applications that can tolerate higher
losses , less expensive, plastic clad fibers can be used
Plastic clad is employed on multimode fibers, with step
index fiber being more common. They are sometimes
used for graded-index fibers as well. used for graded-index fibers as well.
Larger NA, Core diameter (150-600 m), std 50 m in
graded index fibers
Large relative ref index difference allows low cost
optical source, inexpensive, quality also lower
May be used for low grade / low quality circuits
Have limited performance as compared to glass fibers.
All Plastic Fibers
All plastic fibers are only used for multi mode step index fibers
They are used for short range low cost links(100m)
They give greater Optical signal attenuation
More rugged, durable ,do not require careful handling
Higher ref index difference allows larger NA(0.6), acceptance angle
70
0
70
Lager core (110-1400m), low cost optical source, inexpensive rugged
solution
Attenuation leves range between 50-1000 dB/Km, but recent work has
enabled to bring this down to 20dB/Km.
polystyrene n
1
= 1.6 , methyl methacrylate n
2
= 1.49 NA= 0.6
Polymethyle methacrylate n
1
= 1.49, with methyl copolymer n
2
= 1.40 ,
NA = 0.5
Common Fibers & their Characteristics
Lastly performance characteristics discussed pertained to lab tests ,
Characteristics of fibers commonly available are discussed in the
sequel.
High quality Silica fibers are available in the wave lengths of 0.8
0.9, 1.3 and 1.5m
Polarization keeping and modified multi mode dispersion fibers
have also been developed. have also been developed.
Cylindrical optical fibers will be discussed
2
nd
area of fiber manufacture is mid Infra Red range 2-5m, this
employs heavy metal fluoride technology these are generally multi
mode, losses are higher, expected to improve during ensuing period.
Commonly available fibers are discussed in the next part of the
lesson.
Multimode Step Index Fibers
Manufactured either from multicomponent glass or
doped silica
Performance of doped silica fiber is better
Structure Structure
Core dia 50 400m
Cladding dia 125-500 m
Buffer Jacket dia 250-1000 m
NA 0.16- 0.5
Performance Characteristics
Loss 40 dBKm
-1
, 5dB Km
-1
, = 0.85m
Reduces to 0.4 dB Km
-1
, = 1.13m
Bandwidth 6- 50 MHz-km Bandwidth 6- 50 MHz-km
Large Core dia, NA, facilitate efficient incoherent
light coupling (LEDs)
Applications, suited for short haul ,limited
Bandwidth & low cost applications
Multimode Graded Index Fibers
Have similar two types as for mm step index , however
materials used are more pure , less loss ,consequent better
performance, core size is smaller, cable size almost the same
Structure
Core dia 30 100m
Cladding dia 100- 150 m Cladding dia 100- 150 m
Buffer Jacket dia 250-1000 m
NA 0.2- 0.3
Fol types of fibers are commonly available
50 m / 125 m , NA 0.20 0.24 , at 0.85-1.3 m ,
used for data link & LAN applications
85 m/125m , NA 0.260.29, at 0.85-1.3 m , dev for
longer dist but being used for LAN
100m/125 m , NA 0.29 , provide highly efficient
coupling to LEDs at 0.85m even at 1.3m ,suited for
short dist and LAN application
Performance Characteristics
Loss 2 dBKm
-1
, 10dB Km
-1
, 0.85m Loss 2 dBKm
-1
, 10dB Km
-1
, 0.85m
Reduces to 0.4 dBKm
-1
at 1.3 m & to 0.25dB Km
-1
at 1.55 m
Bandwidth 300 MHz-km at 850 nm to 3 GHZ - km at
1.55 m
Applications, suited for medium haul , medium to high
Bandwidth applications using LEDs, injection lasers
Single Mode Fibers
Step /Graded index are available, later being more
expensive
Step index fibers are commonly used for long dist
,high quality , wide band applications.
Core dia is small, cladding dia > 10 times than that of
core , avoiding evanescent field losses core , avoiding evanescent field losses
Structure
Core dia 5-10m
Cladding dia 125 m
Buffer Jacket dia 250-1000 m
NA 0.08 -0.15
Performance Characteristics
Loss 2-5 dB Km
-1
, with scattering limit of 1dB
at =0.85m
Reduces to 0.35 dB Km
-1
at =1.3 m &to
0.21dB Km
-1
at =1.55m 0.21dB Km
-1
at =1.55m
Bandwidth 500 MHZ-km at = 850 nm,
10 GHZ-km at =1300 nm
Applications, suited for very long haul higher
Bandwidth applications using injection lasers .
Plastic Clad Fibers
These are multimode and have graded or step index profile. Cladding
is made of silicone polymer (Plastic clad silica ,pcs)
Structure
Core dia Step Index 100 -500m , Graded Index 50 - 100 m
Clad dia Step Index 300 -800m , Graded Index 125 - 150 m
Buffer Jacket dia Step Index 500 -1000 m , Graded Index 250 Buffer Jacket dia Step Index 500 -1000 m , Graded Index 250
1000m
NA Step Index 0.2-0.5 , Graded Index 0.2 0.3
Fol types are commonly available
50 m/ 125 m NA 0.20 0.24at ,0.85-1.3 m , used for data
link & LAN applications
Performance Characteristics Performance Characteristics
Loss Step Index 5-50 dB Km
-1
Graded Index 4-15 dB Km
-1
,
Though cheaper but have very limited performance
characteristics, more rugged, low level, short
distance applications.
All Plastic Fibres
Exclusively multimode step index
Core & Cladding dia are large , no requirement
of buffer jacket
Easier to produce/ handle for installation Easier to produce/ handle for installation
Structure
Core (methyl mehta crylate) 200 600m
Cladding (fluorinated methyl mehta crylate)
450 1000 m
Transmission characteristics
Attenuation 50 100dB / Km
NA: 0.5 0.6
Band width : not measured due to short distance Band width : not measured due to short distance
coverage
Losses : lower in polystyrene core fibres
Loss 20 dB /Km @ 0.68 m
Improvement being sought for higher
temperature tolerance & other characteristics
Optical Fibre Cables
Need for cable
Optical Fibre are alternative to electrical
transmission lines
It is imperative that they should be capable of It is imperative that they should be capable of
installation & maintenance in all those
environments of transmission lines
Underground ducts
Overhead
Over ground
Partially OverHead & partially ground
just like
metallic
conductors
Mechanical properties of Optical Fibres assume
greater importance for the above purpose.
However, the Optical Fibres are in pure form are
very weak structures & are characterized as under very weak structures & are characterized as under
Brittle
Small cross sectional area
Low tensile strength
Low durability
Prone to chemical contamination / abrasion
There is a need to cover these fibres to improve
their tensile strength & protect them from
surrounding environments. Thus a series of
protective layers surround the Optical Fibre
Initial plastic coating is applied to the cladding Initial plastic coating is applied to the cladding
with high elastic modulus
Plastic coated & buffered fibre is then placed into
an optical cable to increase its resistance to
mechanical strain as well as adverse
circumstances
Summary of functions of Optical Cable
Provide fibre protection against fibre damage &
breakage.
Provide stability in transmission
characteristics of the fibre comparable to the
uncabled fibres. Gen cabling inc attenuation but it uncabled fibres. Gen cabling inc attenuation but it
must be reduced during manufacture of cable.
Provide cable strength: optical cable must
possess similar mechanical properties as those of
conductor cables. For this purpose a strength
member thick outer sheath is incorporated in the
design.
Facilitate identification & jointing of the
fibres is very important for multifibre cables.
If the fibres are arranged in a suitable
geometry, it may be possible to use multiple geometry, it may be possible to use multiple
jointing kits / techniques rather than jointing
each fibre individually.
Cable design
Must take into account that strain on the fibre
in the cable must not be more than 0.2%
usually < 1%. Cable design must incorporate
following major considerations following major considerations
Fibre buffering
Cable structural & strength members
Cable sheath & water barrier
Fibre buffering
Fibre is given a protective primary coating to prevent abrasion
of the glass surface & subsequent flaws in the material. Then a
secondary buffer coating or jacket to provide protection
against external mechanical & environmental effects. It also
protects fibre against micro bending.
Buffer Jacket may take following three
forms:
Tight Buffer jacket
Consisting of hard plastic in direct with
the fibre (0.25 1mm thick) provides
stiffening for the fibre against -bends
Loose buffer jacket
Fibre placed in an over sized cavity,
mechanically isolating he fibre from
external forces / effects diameter (1-
2mm)
Loose filled buffering
Similar to above, cavity filled with a Similar to above, cavity filled with a
moisture resistant compound. The filling
material must be soft , self healing &
stable over wide range of temperatures. It
generally consists of specially blended
petroleum or silicon based compounds.
Cable Structural & Strength Member
There may be one or more structural members to serve as basic
foundation around which they are slotted
Structural member may also be strength member e.g. stranded
steel , Kevlar.
Kevlar youngs modulus up to 13 x 10
10
Nm
-2
, four times to
that of steel that of steel
When using a braided or stranded member, it be covered with
smooth cushioning surface(bedding layer) required to avoid
Micro-bending losses
Primary purpose of strength member is load bearing
Extruded plastic structural member around strength member
may be required as slotted member for accommodating optical
fibres
Cable Sheath & Water Barrier
Cable covered with sheath to reduce abrasion and
crushing
Cable sheath contains cable core, cable may be in the
form of extruded plastic jacket or multilayer structure
Plastic sheath material polyethylene has little protection
against penetration of water
Plastic sheath material polyethylene has little protection
against penetration of water
Additional water barrier is included in the design or
space in the cable is filled with water resistant
compound i.e. specially formulated silicon or petroleum
compound.
Filling compounds must not cause degradation of outer
materials & remain stable under pressure &
temperature variations.