EE247 - Optical Fiber

Communications
1/13/2003, # 1
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Optical Fibers
Geometry of a step-index cylindrical
waveguide (optical fiber) with core
radius a. The cladding radius (125
m for standard single mode fiber) is
large enough that we can consider it
infinite
a
Cladding
Core
Optical fibers have revolutionized the
communications industry due to their low
loss and inexpensive fabrication
Optical fibers are fabricated by pulling
preformed rods with carefully designed index
profiles into long fibers
This process is well controlled and result in
highly uniform core and cladding diameters
The uniformity of the fibers is so good that
for most practical purposes we consider the
fiber a perfectly cylindrical waveguide
We will assume that the cladding is infinite,
so the fiber can be characterized by three
parameters:
The core radius, a, and the core and cladding
refractive indices, n
core
and n
cladding
Together with the wave vector of the optical
field, these parameters completely determine
the propagation of light on the fiber.
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The vector Laplacian is very complex in
cylindrical coordinates because the radial
and azimuthal fields cannot be decoupled
The z-components of the electric and
magnetic fields are however not changed
during propagation, so the eigenmodes of
the cylindrical waveguide can be found
from the scalar wave equation for E
z
and
H
z
, and the other components of the fields
are found from these
The total fields will are required to meet
the boundary conditions to find the
complete field solutions
The procedure is tedious, but conceptually
very similar to the one we used for the
simple slab waveguide
A
B
Z
Coupling of radial and azimuthal fields on a
cylindrical coordinate system. The radial field
component at cross section A, becomes
azimuthal at cross section B. The z-
component, on the other hand, is unchanged
by propagation.
Wave equations in cylindrical coordinates
To find the optical fields propagating on the fiber we must solve the wave equation
0
2
2
2
=

t
E
E
r
r

which for time harmonic

fields becomes
0
2
0
2
= + E n k E
r r
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Guided Modes on Step-Index Fibers
For step-index fibers we find the longitudinal fields, and use these to express the
radial and azimuthal components.
The longitudinal field of the guided modes can be expressed:
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) . . , ,
. . , ,
c c e e r BJ z r H
c c e e r AJ z r E a r
z j j
z
z j j
z
+ =
+ = <

( ) ( )
( ) ( ) . . , ,
. . , ,
c c e e r DK z r H
c c e e r CK z r E a r
z j j
z
z j j
z
+ =
+ = >

where is the angular mode number, J
n
(r), are Bessel functions of the first kind and
order n, K
n
(r) are modified Bessel functions of the second kind of order , is the
transverse wave vector, and is the decay parameter in the cladding. These
parameters are defined as
2 2 2
=
core
k
2 2 2
clad
k =
a
V
a
V
< <
|
.
|

\
|
= 0
2
2
2
2 2
2
clad core
n n
a
V

EE247 - Optical Fiber

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1/13/2003, # 4
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Fiber Modes
There are four different kinds of guided modes on optical fibers:
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) . . , ,
. . , ,
c c e e r BJ z r H
c c e e r AJ z r E
a r
z j j
z
z j j
z
+ =
+ =
<

( ) ( )
( ) ( ) . . , ,
. . , ,
c c e e r DK z r H
c c e e r CK z r E
a r
z j j
z
z j j
z
+ =
+ =
>

A=0 -> TE modes (non-degenerate)
B=0 -> TM modes (non-degenerate)
A>B -> HE modes (E
z
dominates
over H
z
) (twofold-degenerate)
A<B -> EH modes (H
z
dominates
over E
z
) (twofold-degenerate)
The TE and TM modes are non-
degenerate, while HE and EH modes
each have two degenerate solutions due
to the arbitrary azimuthal axis of origin
J

are Bessel functions of the first kind

They are oscillatory and can be
thought of as equivalent to harmonic
functions in cylindrical coordinates
They are defined everywhere and are
orthogonal
They describe the field distributions in
the core of cylindrical waveguides
K

are Modified Bessel functions of the 2nd kind

They decay with increasing radial coordinate
They are the equivalent of exponentially
decaying functions in cylindrical coordinates
They describe the cladding field of guided
modes
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Eigenvalue Equation
The longitudinal wavevector is found from the characteristic equation of the
step-index fiber
The J
n
is oscillatory and gives several solutions indexed by the integer
labels and m
the angular mode number (the number of 2 phase shifts of the field through
one rotation around the fiber axis)
m the radial mode number (corresponding to the number of radial nulls in the
field distribution)
The longitudinal wavevector () for the modes is found by numerically or
graphically solving the characteristic equation
The computation of the complete diagram, which determines the
dispersion of the modes, is therefore quite time consuming
Once is determined for a specific mode, we can calculate the complete
field distribution of that mode
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
(

+


(

+


=
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
a K
a K n k
a J
a J n k
a K
a K
a J
a J
a
clad core

2 2
0
2 2
0
2
2 2 2
2 2
1 1
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Characteristic Equation(s) for EH, HE,
TE, and TM Modes
The cylindrical waveguide is more complex than the slab waveguide (TE and TM)
solutions, because the electric and magnetic fields in general have r, , and z
components
We can group the modes into EH and HE modes
In HE modes, the longitudinal electric field dominate
In EH modes, the longitudinal magnetic field dominates
The characteristic equation is quadratic in J
n
(r)/J
n
(r), so we find two roots
corresponding to the two types of modes
Solving the characteristic equation for J
n
(r)/J
n
(r), we find
EH modes:
( )
( )
( )
( )
|
.
|

\
|
+

+
=


+
R
a
a aK
a K
n
n n
a aJ
a J
core
clad core
2 2 2
2 2
1
2

HE modes:
( )
( )
( )
( )
|
.
|

\
|
+


|
|
.
|

\
|
+
=

R
a
a aK
a K
n
n n
a aJ
a J
core
clad core
2 2 2
2 2
1
2

where
( )
( )
2
1
2
2 2 2 2 2 2
0
2 2
2
2
2
2 2
1 1
2
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
+

+
|
|
.
|

\
|


|
|
.
|

\
|

=

a a n k
a aK
a K
n
n n
R
core core
clad core
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TE Modes
( )
( )
( )
( ) a aK
a K
a aJ
a J


=






0
1
0
1
Consider the special case of =0
In this case there is no azimuthal dependence, and all
field components are radially symmetric
The characteristic equation for EH modes simplifies to
These mode does not have any longitudinal
E field, but they do have longitudinal H fields
These are the TE modes of the cylindrical
waveguide
If the longitudinal wave vector has the
solutions
m
, m=1,2,3, then we designate
the transversal electric field solutions as
TE
0m
, where the first subscript indicates that
only TE modes with =0 exist.
TE
01
( ) ( ) x K x K
1 0
=
where we
have used
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TM Modes
Similarly, we find for the HE modes, using the relations
( ) ( ) x K x K
1 0
=
( ) ( ) x J x J
1 1
=

( )
( )
( )
( ) a aK
a K
n
n
a aJ
a J
core
clad


=






0
1
2
2
0
1
These modes have no longitudinal
magnetic field
They are called TM modes, designated
TM
0m
The characteristic equations can be
solved graphically much like we solved
the characteristic equation for the slab
waveguide
Using the relations
TM
01
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2 4 6 8 10 12 14
-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0.5
1
1.5
2
Graphical Solutions to TE & TM
Plots of the left and right hand sides of the characteristic equations for TE and TM
modes of cylindrical waveguides. The V-parameter is 10, and the ratio of the
square of the indexes is 2 (which is unrealistically large, but illustrative of the
differences between the TE and TM modes).
( )
( ) a aJ
a J




0
1
( )
( ) a aK
a K
n
n
core
clad

0
1
2
2
( )
( ) a aK
a K

0
1
a
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Cut-off (TE &TM)
We see that the left hand side of the equations go to infinity at each root of the
equation J
0
(x)=0
If we designate these roots x
0m
, then we have the following cut-off condition
2 2
0
0
2 2
0 0
2
clad core
m
m clad core m
n n
x a
x n n a k x V

>
> >

The first three roots of J

0
(x)=0 are
654 . 8
520 . 5
405 . 2
03
02
01
=
=
=
x
x
x
( )
( )
( )
( ) a aK
a K
a aJ
a J


=






0
1
0
1
( )
( )
( )
( ) a aK
a K
n
n
a aJ
a J
core
clad


=






0
1
2
2
0
1
Characteristic Equation - TE
Characteristic Equation - TM
Higher order roots can be found from the asymptotic formula
|
.
|

\
|

4
1
1
m x
m
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Hybrid Modes
When n0, the modes are neither TE nor TM, and all their field components are non-zero
Graphical representations of the characteristic equation are used to find the longitudinal wave
vectors or the modes
The graphical solution to the EH modes are not conceptually different from TE and TM modes (only
more complex), and the same is true for HE modes of azimuthal eigenvalues >1
With =1, however, the HE modes becomes interesting and deserve closer investigation
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
-4
-2
2
4
Graphical solutions of the
characteristic equation for
HE
1m
modes
Parameters:
n
core
=1.4514
n
clad
=1.4469
V=10
Notice that the HE
11
mode
exist for all values of V
( )
( ) a aJ
a J




1
1
a
( )
( )
|
.
|

\
|
+


|
|
.
|

\
| +
R
a a aK
a K
n
n n
core
clad core
2 2
1
1
2
2 2
1
2

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Cut-Off (HE
1m
and EH
1m
)
For large V-numbers, we have many possible modes
Unlike the TE and TM modes, the fundamental HE
1m
mode (HE
11
) is never cut
off!
The other HE and EH modes all reach cut-off as the V-parameter value is
decreased
For =1, the left hand side of the characteristic equation go to infinity at each
root of the equation J
1
(x)=0, which we designate x
1m
The cut-off condition for modes HE
1(m+1)
and EH
1m
is then:
2 2
1
1
2
clad core
m
m
n n
x a
x V

> >

The first three roots of J

1
(x)=0 are
173 . 10
016 . 7
832 . 3
13
12
11
=
=
=
x
x
x
Higher order roots can be found from the asymptotic formula
|
.
|

\
|
+
4
1
1
m x
m
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Cut-Off (HE
m
& Eh
m
>1)
For >1, the cut-off conditions for EH
nm
modes are
2 2
2
clad core
m
n n
x a

>

where x
nm
are the roots of the equation J

(x)=0
For the HE
nm
modes the cut-off conditions are
2 2
2
clad core
m
n n
z a

>

where z
nm
are the roots of the equation
( ) ( ) 1 1 ) 1 (
1
2
2
>
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =



z J
n
n
z zJ
clad
core
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Total Number of Guided Modes
The left hand side of the characteristic equation of the HE and EH modes has the
denominator J
n
(a). Each zero of this denominator corresponds to modes with an
extra radial null. For large values of the argument, the Bessel function can be
approximated as
( )
|
.
|

\
|

4 2
cos
2

a
a
a J
This function has a null for each increase of of the argument. The total
number of radial nulls is then
( ) ( )
2
2
2
5 . 0 2
4 2
4
4 2
1
max

+ + +
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
.
|

\
|

m m V
V a m
Each combination of a radial null and an azimuthal eigenvalue
corresponds to four modes (two polarizations, and two angular
orientations). The total number of modes is then
2
2
4

V
N
We then have that m
max
=V/ and n
max
=2V/, so that 0.5(m
max
n
max
)=V
2
/
2
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Modes on Step-index Optical Fibers
n
cladd
n
core
/k
Normalized longitudinal wavevector (propagation constant) for the lower
order modes of a step-index fiber as a function of normalized frequency
(after D. Gloge, Applied Optics, vol. 10, pp. 2252-2258, 1971.)
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Field Distribution of Fiber Modes
Schematic representation
of the transversal electric
field of the two sets of
lowest order exact modes
on a step-index optical
fiber.

HE
11
HE
21

TE
01
TM
01

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Linearly Polarized Modes
Weakly guiding optical fibers (i.e. fibers with a small refractive-index
difference between the core and cladding) have modes that are, to a good
approximation, transverse electro-magnetic waves. In this approximation,
the amplitude of the electric field of the fiber modes can be described in the
following way:
Core (r < a):
Cladding (r > a):
where J
l
is the Bessel function and K
l
the modified Bessel function of the
second kind. The parameters h and q are found from the equations:
( )
( )
( ) ( ) l r q K
a q K
a h J
E E
l
l
l
x
cos
0

=
( ) ( ) l r h J E E
l x
cos
0
=
( )
( )
( )
( )
( ) ( )
2 2 2 2 2 2
1 1
2
cladding core
l
l
l
l
n n
a
V q h a
a q K
a q K
q
a h J
a h J
h

|
.
|

\
|
= = +

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Field Distribution in LP
01
At 670 nm wavelength V = 4.236. The characteristic equation has 4 solutions
2 4 6 8 10
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
LP
01
: l = 0, h = 0.488154, q = 0.953337,
Core (r < a):
Cladding (r > a):
-7.5 -5 -2.5 0 2.5 5 7.5
-7.5
-5
-2.5
0
2.5
5
7.5
( ) r h J E E
x
=
0 0
( )
( )
( ) r q K
a q K
a h J
E E
x

=
0
0
0
0
Electrical field amplitude of LP
01
as a function of radius [m]
Contour plot of LP
01
mode at 670 nm
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Field Distribution in LP
11
There are four degenerate LP
11
modes. In addition to the one
shown (two orthogonal
polarizations), there are two
orthogonally polarized modes
with a sin angular dependence.
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
-7.5 -5 -2.5 0 2.5 5 7.5
-7.5
-5
-2.5
0
2.5
5
7.5
( ) cos
1 0
r h J E E
x
=
( )
( )
( ) cos
1
1
1
0
r q K
a q K
a h J
E E
x

=
LP
11
: l = 1, h = = 0.76807, q = 0.746468,

Core (r < a):

Cladding (r > a):

Contour plot of LP
11
mode at 670 nm
Electrical field amplitude of LP
11
as a function of radius [m]
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Field Distribution in LP
21
LP
21
: l = 2, h = 1.00806325, q = 0.361877

Core (r < a):

Cladding (r > a):

2 4 6 8 10 12 14
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
( ) ( ) 2 cos
2 0
r h J E E
x
=
( )
( )
( ) ( ) 2 cos
2
2
2
0
r q K
a q K
a h J
E E
x

=
Electrical field amplitude of LP
21
as a function of radius [m]
-7.5 -5 -2.5 0 2.5 5 7.5
-7.5
-5
-2.5
0
2.5
5
7.5
Contour plot of LP
21
mode at 670 nm
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Field Distribution in LP
02
LP
02
: l = 0, h = 1.0482116, q = 0.219998,

Core (r < a):

Cladding (r > a):

2 4 6 8 10 12 14
-0.4
-0.2
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
-7.5 -5 -2.5 0 2.5 5 7.5
-7.5
-5
-2.5
0
2.5
5
7.5
( ) r h J E E
x
=
0 0
( )
( )
( ) r q K
a q K
a h J
E E
x

=
0
0
0
0
Electrical field amplitude of LP
02
as a function of radius [m]
Contour plot of LP
02
mode at 670 nm
Counting all polarizations and both helical
polarities of the LP
11
mode, we find a
total of 12 modes for V = 4.236. Not all
of these produce distinguishable intensity
patterns. One has to be careful not to
confuse patterns produced by
combinations of modes with true modes
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Comparison of exact and LP modes
n
clad
n
core
/k
Normalized longitudinal wavevector (propagation
constant) for the lower order modes of a step-
index fiber as a function of normalized frequency
Linearly Polarized Modes
Exact Modes
Normalized propagation constant (note definition)
for the lower order LP modes of a step-index
fiber as a function of normalized frequency
After D. Gloge, Applied Optics, vol. 10, pp. 2252-2258, 1971.
(

/
k
-
n
c
l
a
d
)
/
(
n
c
o
r
e
-
n
c
l
a
d
)
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The Fundamental Mode of Optical Fibers
The HE
11
mode of the cylindrical waveguide is guided for all values
of the normalized frequency (V-number)
When the V-number is less than 2.405, the HE
11
mode is the only
guided mode!
The cut-off condition is often rewritten in terms of the wavelength
Standard single mode fibers:
Cut off: 1,180nm
The HE
11
mode is of special importance, because single-mode
operation is preferred in high-capacity communication systems
The field distribution of the HE
11
mode is used in calculations of
mode propagation, dispersion, coupling, switching, cross talk, and
modulation
The difficulty of these calculations is often substantial because of the
complex nature of the HE
11
mode.
1.831 =
2
4469 . 1
2
4514 . 1
55 . 1
955 . 3 2

=
m
m
V

405 . 2
2
405 . 2
2 2
2 2
0
clad core
c clad core
n n a
n n a k V

= > < =


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Gaussian Approximation to HE
11
The HE
11
mode can be approximated as a Gaussian function
This approximation is sufficiently accurate for the majority of fiber
mode calculations
Exceptions include cross calculations, which depend critically on the
power in the tails of the mode profile
In the Gaussian approximation, the mode field is
where the 1/e-field beam radius (1/e
2
intensity), , is chosen to give
the best match to the HE
11
mode shape.
For a step-index fiber with radius a, the beam radius is
The Mode Field Diameter is defined as twice the Gaussian beam
radius
( )
(
(

|
.
|

\
|
=
2
exp

r
E r E
x
r
6 5 . 1
87 . 2 619 . 1 65 . 0

+ + = V V
a

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Gaussian vs. LP
01
mode
Comparison of LP
01
mode (blue) and the Gaussian approximation
(green) to the HE
11
mode
The two mode shapes are well matched, but that the Gaussian falls
off quicker at large radii
The energy in the tail is important in cross-talk calculations
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
Fiber parameters:
V-number: V=2.166
Core radius: a=3.955m
Wavelength: =1.310 m
r/
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Power Confinement
As for the slab waveguide, the total power in a mode is calculated by integrating
( ) H E S
z
r r
= Re
2
1
over the cross sectional area of the waveguide. In the weakly guiding limit,
the ratio of the power carried in the core to the total power is
( )
( ) ( )
|
|
.
|

\
|

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
+
a K a K
a K
V
a
P
P
total
core




1 1
2
2
2 2
1 1
and
total
core
total
clad
P
P
P
P
=1
As in the slab waveguide we studied before, the power confinement
factor for a given mode is very low at the cut-off for the mode, and
increases with increasing V-number above cut-off.
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Summary
As with slab waveguides, we find the modes of fibers by
solving the wave equation in each homogeneous region
and apply the boundary conditions
The cylindrical geometry leads to Bessel function solutions, not
harmonic and exponentials
Coupling of polarizations make the math more complex
Optical fibers are characterized by their V-number:
In the weakly-guiding regime, the LP modes are good
approximations
The fiber has a single mode (HE
11
, LP
01
) if V<2.405
The HE
11
(LP
01
) mode can be approximated as a Gaussian
( )
(
(

|
.
|

\
|
=
2
exp

r
E r E
x
r
6 5 . 1
87 . 2 619 . 1 65 . 0

+ + = V V
a

2 2
0 clad core
n n a k V =