Optical Fiber Communication

Unit – 1 (Part 2)

A Sanyasi Rao
Assoc. Prof., Dept. of ECE
Mode Theory of Light

•Fiber cables can also be classified as per their mode.

•Light rays propagate as an electromagnetic wave along the fiber.
•The two components, the electric field and the magnetic field form
patterns across the fiber. These patterns are called modes of
transmission.
•The mode of a fiber refers to the number of paths for the light rays
within the cable.
•In simple words Mode refers to number of paths.
•According to modes optic fibers can be classified into two types.
i) Single mode fiber ii) Multimode fiber.
Single mode Optical Fiber

• Only one path is available.

• V-number is less than 2.405
• Core radius is small and it in the order of 10 µm so the launching
of optical power is very difficult.
• No dispersion
• supports Higher band width (1000 MHz)
• Used for long haul communication
• Fabrication is difficult and costly
•Optical sourced used must be LASER
Multi mode Optical Fiber

•More than one path is available. Supports hundreds of modes.

•Has much larger diameter. Typical value is 100 - 175µm
•V-number is greater than 2.405
•Suffers from Intermodal dispersion
•Optical Source is LED
•Used for short distance communications. Ex. LAN
•More expensive
•Launching of optical power is easier as the core radius is large
•Supports lesser BW
Classification of Optical Fibers based on R.I Profile

Depending on Refractive Index distribution in core and cladding

regions, optical fiber are classified into
i) Step Index Fibers
ii) Graded Index Fibers
Step Index Fibers

 n1 ; r a (core)
n( r )  
n2 ; r a (cladding )

In step index fibers, the refractive

index of core is constant throughout its
region but there is an abrupt change in
refractive index at core – cladding
interface.
• The step index fibers propagate both single and multimode
signals within the fiber core.
• The light rays propagating through it are in the form of meridional
rays which will cross the fiber core axis during every reflection at
the core – cladding boundary and are propagating in a zig – zag
manner.
•With careful choice of material, dimensions and λ, the total
dispersion can be made extremely small, making this fiber suitable
for use with high data rates.
•In a single-mode fiber, a part of the light propagates in the
cladding.
•The cladding is thick and has low loss.
•Typically, for a core diameter of 10 µm, the cladding diameter is
about 120 µm.
 Depending on number of modes, step index fibers are classified
into:
i) Single mode step index fiber
ii) Multi mode step index fiber

Single mode step index fiber

• Single ray of light propagates through step index fiber core.

• Ray path is Meridional ray & propagates in zig-zag path.
Handling and manufacturing of single mode step index fiber is more
difficult.
Multi mode step index fiber

• Multiple rays of light can be carried out simultaneously through

the fiber.
• Suffers from inter-modal dispersion
•The total number of modes MN increases with increase in the
numerical aperture.
For a larger number of modes, MN can be approximated by
2
V2
 dn1 2 
MN   4.9 
2   
Graded Index Fibers (GRIN - Fibers

α - Profile parameter
= 1 for Triangular RI variation
= 2 for Parabolic RI variation
•In Graded Index (GRIN) fibers the refractive index of core
gradually varies w.r.t fiber axis.
•In GRIN Fibers, the bending of light (refraction) takes place at
every point in its core region. Therefore ray of light propagates in
Helical path & these rays are called as Skew Rays.
• The refractive index of the core is made to vary in the form of
parabolic manner such that the maximum refractive index is
present at the centre of the core.

• Each dashed circle represents a different

refractive index, decreasing as we move away
from the fiber center.
•Velocity of light wave is minimum at the axis
(v α 1/n1 and maximum at the core – cladding
interface
•A ray incident on these boundaries between na – nb, nb – nc etc.,
is refracted.
•Eventually at n2 the ray is turned around and totally reflected.
• The light rays will be propagated in the form skew rays (or)
helical rays which will not cross the fiber axis at any time and are
propagating around the fiber axis in a helical or spiral manner.
• The effective acceptance angle of the graded-index fiber is
somewhat less than that of an equivalent step index fiber. This
makes coupling fiber to the light source more difficult.
Single Mode Graded Index Fiber

•It supports single mode propagation

•Ray propagates in helical path. Light ray is called Skew Ray
Multi Mode Graded Index Fiber

•In Multi mode GRIN Fiber, multiple rays can be transmitted

simultaneously through the fiber core.
•The exit time of each ray of light is same.
V – Number & No. of Guided Modes (Mg)

It is also called as normalized frequency. It gives the relationship

between operating wavelength (λ), core radius (a) and numerical
aperture (NA) of the optical fiber.

2a
V

NA where NA  n
2
1 
 n22  n1 2

V – Number is used to find the number of guided modes in multi

mode fibers

No. of Guided Modes

V2
No. of Guided modes in multi mode step index fiber is Mg 
2

  V
2
No. of Guided modes in multi mode GRIN fiber is Mg   
  2  2
For Parabolic variation of RI Profile, α = 2; then Mg = V2/4
Single mode operation and cutoff wavelength (λC)
2a
V NA


At single mode operation, cutoff wavelength λ=λC & V=VC

2a
i.e VC  NA
C

where VC=Normalized V-Number for single mode operation.

VC  V 2aNA
  C  
V C VC VC

For Step Index Fibers: Vc = 2.405

For Single mode GRIN Fibers (with α = 2): VC = 2.405 2
Cutoff Wavelength ( λC )
This is important transmission parameter
2a 2a
VC  NA  n1 2 
1/ 2
i.e
C C
For Step Index Fibers: Vc = 2.405
V
C 
2.405

• For practical system, value of λC is 1.3µm to avoid model noise

• For single mode fiber, value of λC is 1.1 to 1.28µm

Cut-off wavelength is the wavelength above which an optical fiber

will allow single mode transmission. Cut-off wavelength can also
be defined as the wavelength below which multimode
transmission starts.
Cut-off wavelength is also a unique parameter of single mode fiber.

For multimode fibers cut-off wavelength is not important. Why?

The answer is simple as the very definition of cut-off wavelength
itself is the wavelength below which multimode transmission
starts. Hence cut-off is a single mode fiber characteristic.

Cut-off wavelength is the minimum wavelength below which a

single mode fiber will act as multimode fibers, meaning it will
allow propagation of more than one mode at a time. Thus it is
clear that cut-off wavelength determines the fate of single mode
transmission.
Mode Field Diameter (MFD)

•Mode field diameter (MFD) is important because, as a measure of

the size of the optical field itself, it enables you to design launch-
optics to match the mode of the source to that of the fiber and so
maximize launching-efficiency.
•MFD is determined by the numerical aperture (NA) and cut-off
wavelength of the fiber and is related to the diameter of the fiber
core.
•In general, MFD is greater than the physical diameter of the fiber
core - which means that some optical power is always guided by
the fiber cladding.
•For single mode fibers operating near the cutoff wavelength, λC,
the filed can be approximated by “Gaussian Distribution”
In single mode, optical fiber light ray propagates as a single gaussian
pulse along the length of fiber with maximum intensity at the centre
of fiber core.

Mode Field Diameter is the distance between the opposite filed amplitude
points where the field amplitude points where the field intensity is (1/e)
times the maximum field intensity E0.
For Single Gaussian pulse, Single Mode
For Two Gaussian pulse, Two Modes
For Three Gaussian pulse, Three Modes
Effective Refractive Index

• Effective index tells you the ratio of the velocity of light in vacuum
to the velocity of a mode for a given polarization in the direction of
propagation in a guiding structure

• The rate of change of phase of the fundamental LP01 propagating

along a straight fiber is determined by the phase propagation
constant β.
• β is directly related to the wavelength of the LP01 mode λ01 by the
factor 2, since βgives the increase in phase angle per unit length

2
01  2  01 

• Effective Refractive Index referred to as a phase index or
normalized phase change coefficient.
Neff is the ratio of the propagation constant of the fundamental
mode to that of the vacuum propagation constant
 n1k    n2 k
neff 
k n1  neff  n2

The wavelength of the fundamental mode λ01 is smaller than the

vacuum wavelength of the λ by the factor 1/neff.


where 01 
neff
Fiber Materials
Requirements of Fiber Optic Material
1. The material must be transparent for efficient transmission of light.
2. It must be possible to draw long thin fibers from the material.
3. Fiber material must be compatible with the cladding material.

Glass and plastics fulfils these requirements.

Most fiber consists of silica (SiO2) or silicate. Various types of high loss
and low loss glass fibers are available to suit the requirements. Plastic
fibers are not popular because of high attenuation they have better
mechanical strength.
Glass Fibers

• Glass is made by fusing mixtures of metal oxides having refractive index

of 1.458 at 850 nm.
• For changing the refractive index different oxides such as B2O3, GeO2 and
P2O5 are added as dopants.
• Fig. shows variation of refractive index with doping concentration.

Fig shows addition of dopants Ge02 and P2O5 increases refractive index,
while dopants Fluorine (F) and B2O3 decreases refractive index
The principal raw material for silica is sand and glass. The fiber
composed of pure silica is called as silica glass.

The desirable properties of silica glass are :

- Resistance to deformation even at high temperature.
- Resistance to breakage from thermal shocks (low thermal expansion).
- Good chemical durability.
- Better transparency.

Other types of glass fibers are :

- Halide glass fibers
- Active glass fibers
- Chalgenide glass fibers
- Plastic optical fibers