UNIT 3

MATERIAL ABSORPTION LOSSES IN FIBERS

Material absorption is a loss mechanism related to the material composition and the
fabricationprocess for the fiber, which results in the dissipation of some of the transmittedoptical
power as heat in the waveguide. The absorption of the light may be intrinsic(caused by the
interaction with one or more of the major components of the glass) orextrinsic (caused by
impurities within the glass).
INTRINSIC ABSORPTION
An absolutely pure silicate glass has little intrinsic absorption due to its basic materialstructure in
the near-infrared region. However, it does have two major intrinsic absorptionmechanisms at
optical wavelengths which leave a low intrinsic absorption window overthe 0.8 to 1.7 μm
wavelength range, as illustrated in Figure 3. which shows a possibleoptical attenuation against
wavelength characteristic for absolutely pure glass.

figure 3. the attenuation spectra for the intrinsic loss mechanisms in pure geo2–sio2 glass

Itmay be observed that there is a fundamental absorption edge, the peaks of which are centeredin
the ultraviolet wavelength region. This is due to the stimulation of electron transitionswithin the
glass by higher energy excitations. The tail of this peak may extend into thewindow region at the
shorter wavelengths, as illustrated in Figure 3. Also in the infraredand far infrared, normally at
wavelengths above 7 μm, fundamentals of absorption bandsfrom the interaction of photons with
molecular vibrations within the glass occur. Thesegive absorption peaks which again extend into
the window region. The strong absorptionbands occur due to oscillations of structural units such
as Si–O (9.2 μm), P–O (8.1 μm),B–O (7.2 μm) and Ge–O (11.0 μm) within the glass. Hence,
above 1.5 μm the tails ofthese largely far-infrared absorption peaks tend to cause most of the
pure glass losses.However, the effects of both these processes may be minimized by suitable
choice ofboth core and cladding compositions.
EXTRINSIC ABSORPTION
In practical optical fibers prepared by conventional melting techniques amajor source of signal
attenuation is extrinsic absorption from transition metal elementimpurities. Some of the more
common metallic impurities found in glasses another major extrinsic loss mechanism is caused
by absorption due to water (as the hydroxyl or OH ion) dissolved in the glass. These hydroxyl
groups are bonded into the glass structure and have fundamental stretching vibrations which
occur at wavelengths between 2.7 and 4.2 μm depending on group position in the glass network.

SCATTERING LOSSES
LINEAR SCATTERING LOSSES
Linear scattering mechanisms cause the transfer of some or all of the optical power
containedwithin one propagating mode to be transferred linearly (proportionally to the
modepower) into a different mode. This process tends to result in attenuation of the
transmittedlight as the transfer may be to a leaky or radiation mode which does not continue to
propagatewithin the fiber core, but is radiated from the fiber. It must be noted that as with
alllinear processes, there is no change of frequency on scattering.Linear scattering may be
categorized into two major types: Rayleigh and Mie scattering.Both result from the nonideal
physical properties of the manufactured fiber which aredifficult and, in certain cases, impossible
to eradicate at present.
RAYLEIGH SCATTERING
Rayleigh scattering is the dominant intrinsic loss mechanism in the low-absorption
windowbetween the ultraviolet and infrared absorption tails. It results from inhomogeneitiesof a
random nature occurring on a small scale compared with the wavelength of the light.
MIE SCATTERING
Linear scattering may also occur at inhomogeneities which are comparable in size with
theguided wavelength. These result from the nonperfect cylindrical structure of the
waveguideand may be caused by fiber imperfections such as irregularities in the core–
claddinginterface, core–cladding refractive index differences along the fiber length,
diameterfluctuations, strains and bubbles. When the scattering inhomogeneity size is greater
than/10, the scattered intensity which has an angular dependence can be very large.
NONLINEAR SCATTERING LOSSES
Optical waveguides do not always behave as completely linear channels whose increase inoutput
optical power is directly proportional to the input optical power. Several nonlineareffects occur,
which in the case of scattering cause disproportionate attenuation, usually athigh optical power
levels. This nonlinear scattering causes the optical power from onemode to be transferred in
either the forward or backward direction to the same, or othermodes, at a different frequency. It
depends critically upon the optical power density withinthe fiber and hence only becomes
significant above threshold power levels.

BENDING LOSSES
Optical fibers suffer radiation losses at bends or curves on their paths. This is due to theenergy in
the evanescent field at the bend exceeding the velocity of light in the claddingand hence the
guidance mechanism is inhibited, which causes light energy to be radiatedfrom the fiber. An
illustration of this situation is shown in Figure 4. The part of the modewhich is on the outside of
the bend is required to travel faster than that on the inside so thata wavefront perpendicular to the
direction of propagation is maintained. Hence, part of themode in the cladding needs to travel
faster than the velocity of light in that medium. Asthis is not possible, the energy associated with
this part of the mode is lost through radiation. The loss can generally be represented by a
radiation attenuation coefficient which hasthe form
αr = c1 exp(−c2R)
macrobending losses may be reduced by:
(a) designing fibers with large relative refractive index differences;
(b) operating at the shortest wavelength possible.

figure 4.an illustration of the radiation loss at a fiber bend

DISPERSION
Dispersion of the transmitted optical signal causes distortion for both digital and
analogtransmission along optical fibers. When considering the major implementation of
opticalfiber transmission which involves some form of digital modulation, then dispersion
mechanismswithin the fiber cause broadening of the transmitted light pulses as they travelalong
the channel.
figure 5. an illustration using the digital bit pattern 1011 of the broadening of lightpulses as they
are transmitted along a fiber: (a) fiber input; (b) fiber output at adistanceL 1 ; (c) fiber output at
a distance L2<L1

The phenomenon is illustrated in Figure5, where it may be observedthat each pulse broadens and
overlaps with its neighbors, eventually becoming indistinguishableat the receiver input. The
effect is known as intersymbol interference (ISI). Thusan increasing number of errors may be
encountered on the digital optical channel as theISI becomes more pronounced. The error rate is
also a function of the signal attenuationon the link and the subsequent signal-to-noise ratio
(SNR) at the receiver.However, signal dispersionalone limits the maximum possible bandwidth
attainable with a particular opticalfiber to the point where individual symbols can no longer be
distinguished.
CHROMATIC DISPERSION
Chromatic or intramodal dispersion may occur in all types of optical fiber and results fromthe
finite spectral linewidth of the optical source. Since optical sources do not emit just asingle
frequency but a band of frequencies (in the case of the injection laser correspondingto only a
fraction of a percent of the center frequency, whereas for the LED it is likely tobe a significant
percentage), then there may be propagation delay differences between thedifferent spectral
components of the transmitted signal. This causes broadening of eachtransmitted mode and
hence intramodal dispersion. The delay differences may be causedby the dispersive properties of
the waveguide material (material dispersion) and also guidanceeffects within the fiber structure
(waveguide dispersion).
MATERIAL DISPERSION
Pulse broadening due to material dispersion results from the different group velocities ofthe
various spectral components launched into the fiber from the optical source. It occurswhen the
phase velocity of a plane wave propagating in the dielectric medium varies nonlinearlywith
wavelength, and a material is said to exhibit material dispersion when the second differential of
the refractive index with respect to wavelength is not zero (i.e.d2n/d2 ≠0). The pulse spread
due to material dispersion may be obtained by consideringthe group delay g in the optical fiber
which is the reciprocal of the group velocity gdefined by Eqs (2.37) and (2.40). Hence the
group delay is given by:
gn1 −(3.13)
wheren1 is the refractive index of the core material
WAVEGUIDE DISPERSION
The waveguiding of the fiber may also create chromatic dispersion. This results from
thevariation in group velocity with wavelength for a particular mode. Considering the ray theory
approach, it is equivalent to the angle between the ray and the fiber axis varyingwith wavelength
which subsequently leads to a variation in the transmission times for the rays, and hence
dispersion. For a single mode whose propagation constant is , the fiber exhibits waveguide
dispersion when d2/d2 ≠0. Multimode fibers, where the majority ofmodes propagate far
from cutoff, are almost free of waveguide dispersion and it is generallynegligible compared with
material dispersion (≈0.1 to 0.2 ns km−1) [Ref. 32]. However,with single-mode fibers where the
effects of the different dispersion mechanisms arenot easy to separate, waveguide dispersion may
be significant (see Section 3.11.2).
INTERMODAL DISPERSION
Pulse broadening due to intermodal dispersion (sometimes referred to simply as modal ormode
dispersion) results from the propagation delay differences between modes within amultimode
fiber. As the different modes which constitute a pulse in a multimode fibertravel along the
channel at different group velocities, the pulse width at the output isdependent upon the
transmission times of the slowest and fastest modes. This dispersionmechanism creates the
fundamental difference in the overall dispersion for the three typesof fiber shown in Figure6.
 Thus multimode step index fibers exhibit a large amount ofintermodal dispersion which gives
the greatest pulse broadening. However, intermodaldispersion in multimode fibers may be
reduced by adoption of an optimum refractiveindex profile which is provided by the near-
parabolic profile of most graded index fibers.Hence, the overall pulse broadening in multimode
graded index fibers is far less than thatobtained in multimode step index fibers (typically by a
factor of 100). Thus graded indexfibers used with a multimode source give a tremendous
bandwidth advantage over multimodestep index fibers.Under purely single-mode operation there
is no intermodal dispersion and thereforepulse broadening is solely due to the intramodal
dispersion mechanisms. In theory, this isthe case with single-mode step index fibers where only a
single mode is allowed to propagate.Hence they exhibit the least pulse broadening and have the
greatest possible bandwidths,but in general are only usefully operated with single-mode sources.
 UNIT 5
OPTICAL TECHNOLOGIES

WAVE LENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) involves the transmission of a number of
differentpeak wavelength optical signals in parallel on a single optical fiber. Although inspectral
terms optical WDM is analogous to electrical FDM, it has the distinction that each WDM
channel effectively has access to the entire intensity modulation fiber bandwidth which with
current technology is of the order of several gigahertz. The technique is illustrated in Figure
1.where a conventional (i.e. single nominal wavelength) optical fiber communication system is
shown together with a duplex (i.e. two different nominal wavelength optical signals traveling in
opposite directions providing bidirectional transmission), and also a multiplex (i.e. two or more
different nominal wavelength optical signals transmitted in the same direction)
fibercommunication system. It is the latter WDM operation which has generated particular
interest within telecommunications. For example, two-channel WDM is very attractive for a
simple system enhancement such as piggybacking a 565 Mbit s−1 system onto an installed 140
Mbit s−1 link, or for doubling the capacity of a 565 Mbit s−1 link
Moreover, this multiplexing strategy overcomes certain power budgetary restrictions
associated with electrical TDM. When the transmission rate over a particular optical
link is doubled using TDM, a further 3 to 6 dB of optical power is generally required at the
receiver (see Section 12.6.3). In the case of WDM, however, additional losses are also incurred
from the incorporation of wavelength multiplexers and demultiplexers (see Section 5.6.3).
Wavelength division multiplexing in IM/DD optical fiber systems can be implemented
using either LED or injection laser sources with either multimode or single-mode fiber.
Figure 1. Optical fiber system operating modes illustrating wavelength division
multiplexing (WDM)