Elastic plastic n2 n1

buffer coating

n2 < n1

Fiber materials:
• Glass:
– SiO2 and oxide dopants (GeO2, P2O5 & B2O3)
• doping concentration changes n1 and n2
Much lower attenuation and higher bandwidth
• Plastic:
– Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA POF) or
Perfluorinated polymer (PFP POF) Symbol
Durable and inexpensive parts 1
 2
Figure 2-10 from Gerd Keiser, Optical Fiber Communications, 3rd edition, McGraw-Hill, 2000.
SMF:
• Only 1 mode of propagation
offer a larger bandwidth
only suffer from the
chromatic dispersion
• Smaller core radius
difficult to launch and
couple optical power into
fiber core
difficult to connect or splice
fibers
require expensive light
source like laser diode
MMF:
• Many propagating modes
pulse spreading due to
intermodal dispersion
(each mode travels at
different velocity)
• Larger core radius
easier to launch optical
power into fiber
easier to connect or splice
fibers
can use LED (cheaper than
laser diode)
3
• G.651 (02/1998) MMF

– Characteristics of a 50/125 µm multimode graded index optical fibre cable

• G.652 (03/2003) SMF

– Characteristics of a single-mode optical fibre and cable

• G.653 (12/2003) DSF

– Characteristics of a dispersion-shifted single-mode optical fibre and cable

• G.654 (06/2004)

– Characteristics of a cut-off shifted single-mode optical fibre and cable

• G.655 (03/2003) NZ-DSF

– Characteristics of a non-zero dispersion-shifted single-mode optical fibre and cable

• G.656 (06/2004) Latest CWDM

– Characteristics of a fibre and cable with non-zero dispersion for wideband transport

*More details from the ITU website: http://www.itu.int/home/index.html

4
Figure 226. Principle of drawing a fiber Figure 227. Drawing tower

Figures from Harry J. R. Dutton, Understanding Optical Communications, IBM, 1998.

5
 Up to 12 color-coded fibers can fit
Buffer tube and move freely inside a buffer tube
“Loose Tube”
Optical fiber

Filling compound

Up to 12 color-coded loose tubes

can be packed into a cable
144 fibers in 1 cable

6
12 color-coded fibers are aligned into a fiber ribbon.

Up to 24 fiber ribbon units

with 24 fibers in each unit
576 fibers in 1 cable

7
1. Demountable joint fiber end connector
2. Permanent bond fiber splice
Goals:
• Low power coupling loss low insertion loss
• Low return loss low reflected power
Minimize the mechanical misalignments of fibers. Connector type

11
 n2
n1 na
Pin Pcoupled
Preflected

• If a coupling between fibers has an air gap, 2

n1 na
the reflectivity Rn1-air at fiber-core end face is Rn1 air
n1 na
• The reflected power Preflected = Rn1-air Pin
To reduce reflected power zero:

1. Fill air gap with index-matching gel (ngel n1) reduce reflectivity Rn1-air

2. Use angled polished connector at 8 or 9 reduce reflected power

12
 (A result of fiber end polishing)

Perpendicular
(flat)
end faces

Angled end
faces
n1

n2 13
 End-face preparation techniques:
• Grinding and polishing
Time-consuming
• Controlled fracture
– Score-and-break method

Score-and-break

Fiber end polisher

14
Polishing quality:
• Flat (reflection < -15 dB)
• Ultra Physical Contact
(reflection < -55 dB)
• Hyper PC (reflection < -60 dB)
• Angled PC (reflection < -65 dB)

End-face radius of curvature:

• ~10 to 30 mm to avoid fiber
damage and to assure low
reflection and insertion loss

Ferrule and fiber offset:

• < 50 microns is recommended
to assure low reflection and
insertion loss
15
 ST connector SC connector (push-pull
latching mechanism)

FC connector
APC angled connector

LC duplex connectors

MTP angled connector with pin

for 12 SMF ribbon cable 16
Visual inspection of fiber end-face

17
Typical loss ~0.3 dB

18
Typical insertion loss ~ 0.1 dB

19
Top and side (x-y)
cross-sectional
views of fiber cut
along its axis.

20
 Absorption:

1. Atomic defects in glass composition

2. Impurity atoms in the glass material

3. Basic constituent atoms of fiber

material

Scattering:

1. Microscopic variation in material

density

2. Compositional fluctuations

3. Structural imperfections or defects

during fiber manufacture

Optical fiber attenuation characteristics and

their limiting mechanisms for a GeO2-doped
low-loss low-OH-content silica fiber.
21
Bending or radiative losses:

Perturbation of geometry whenever a fiber undergoes a bend of finite radius of curvature.

1. Macroscopic bends with a large radius compared to fiber diameter.

2. Microscopic bends of fiber axis when it is incorporated into cables.

Macroscopic Bend

22
Bending or radiative losses:

Perturbation of geometry whenever a fiber undergoes a bend of finite radius of curvature.

1. Macroscopic bends with a large radius compared to fiber diameter.

2. Microscopic bends of fiber axis when it is incorporated into cables.

Microscopic Bend

23
• Comparison of attenuation as a function of frequency of various coaxial cables
and several types of high-bandwidth optical fibers

24
• Power P(z) decreases exponentially with propagation distance z.

P(z) = P(z=0) e- z where = power attenuation coefficient [km-1 unit]

P(z=0)

Power (W)
P(z)

0 z Distance (km)

amplitude

Pulse amplitude (V)

25
 1550 nm 1300 nm

Pulse amplitude (V)

0 z Distance (km)

Optical fiber attenuation is

wavelength dependant:
[positive dB/km unit]

P(z) = P(z=0) 10 –( z/10)

26
 • dB is a relative value. • dBm is an absolute value.
• XdB = Power ratio • XdBm = Power level
= 10 log10 (P2/P1) = 10 log10 (P/1mW)
Note: (P2/P1) is unit less. Note: Reference level is 1 mW.

P(z)mW = P(z=0)mW 10 –( z/10)

divide by 1 mW and take 10 log10 (power ratio)

P(z)dBm = P(z=0)dBm – ( z)dB

[Note: dBm = dBm dB, no dB multiplication]

0.01 mW 0.1 mW 0.5 mW 1 mW 2 mW 10 mW 100 mW

-20 dBm -10 dBm -3 dBm 0 dBm 3 dBm 10 dBm 20 dBm

17 dB 10 dB
27
 n2
n1 na
Pin Pcoupled
Preflected P’reflected

2
n1 na
• Reflected power: Preflected , mW Rn1 air Pin , mW where Rn1 air
n1 na
Preflected , mW
Preflected , dB 10 log Large Negative #
10 log Rn1 air
Pin ,mW

2
• Insertion loss: Pcoupled ,mW 1 Rn1 air Pin,mW
(example 5-3) Pin,mW Small Positive #
Ploss ,dB 10log 20 log 1 Rn1 air
Pcoupled ,mW
28