Mode Theory for

Optical Fiber
Transverse Electric (TE) Modes
Electric field is perpendicular to the direction of
propagation.
Most of the magnetic field is also perpendicular to the z-
direction but a small z-component exists.
The ray path is meridional.
It is not circular or skewed.
Transverse Magnetic (TM) Modes
Magnetic field is perpendicular to the direction of
propagation.
Most of the electric field is also perpendicular to the z-
direction but a small z-component exists.
Transverse ElectroMagnetic (TEM)
Modes
In the TEM mode both the electric and magnetic fields
are perpendicular to the direction of propagation i.e. z.
The TEM mode is the only mode of a single-mode fibre.
Helical (Hydrid) Modes (HE and EH)
In a fibre, most modes actually travel in a circular path of
some kind.
In this case components of both magnetic and electric
fields are in the direction of propagation. Ez 0 and Hz
0.
These modes are designated as either HE or EH
depending on which field contributes the most to the z-
direction.
Cylindrical Fiber Modes
As with dielectric waveguide TE and TM modes are
common.
The cylindrical fiber is bound in two directions hence two
integers l and m are necessary to specify the modes.
For cylindrical waveguides we refer to TE
lm
, TM
lm
, HE
lm

and EH
lm
modes.
The EH and HE modes are due to nonzero E
z
and H
z

components.

OF support weakly guiding approximation, where
Relative RI difference () is very small as compared to
unity.
<< 1, generally is taken less then 0.03 i.e. 3%.
In fiber communication actual field distribution is the
combination of modes rather than any one mode.
Thus TE, TM, HE and EH modes can all be explained
using only a single set of Linearly Polarized modes.
LP modes are not the exact fiber modes but they are
resultant modes due to approximation.
For these guiding structures the mode theory gives
dominant transverse field components, i.e. the
approximate solutions for the full set of HE, EH, TE and
TM modes may be given by two linearly polarized
components called LP modes.
LP modes also use subscripts l and m.
2l field maxima exist around circumference of core and m
field maxima along radius vector.

Correspondence between LP modes and traditional
exact modes
Linearly Polarized Mode Exact Modes
LP
01
HE
11

LP
11
HE
21
,TE
01
, TM
01

LP
21
HE
31
, EH
11

LP
02
HE
12
LP
31
HE
41
, EH
21
LP
12
HE
22
, TE
02
, TM
02
LP
lm
HE2m, TE0m, TM0m
LP
lm(l>1)
HE
l+1,m
, EH
l-1,m
Energy Distribution of Some LP Modes in Fiber
Using the previous equation in
2
2
2
t c
c
= V

c
2
2
2
2
1
t
v
p
c
c
= V

It is the Laplacian operater. In cylindrical coordinate

system it is given as:
2
2
2
2
2 2
2
2
1 1
z r r r r r c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
= V

Using weakly guiding approximation we can write the

scalar wave equation for the cylindrical homogeneous core
as:
0 ) (
1 1
2 2
2
1
2
2
2 2
2
= +
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
|

k n
r r r r r
The propagation constant of the guided mode, lies in the
range
n
2
k < < n
1
k
Solution of the wave equation for cylindrical fiber are is
given in the form

Above represents the dominant electric field
component.
The periodic dependence on following cos and sin
functions gives a mode of radial order l.
The fiber supports a finite number of guided modes of the
form given by above equation.
( )
)
`

=
z t
r
e
l
l
E
| e
|
|

sin
cos
If we introduce the solution given by this equation in
wave equation we get a differential equation:


The above equation is a Bessel differential equation, for
core region the solutions are Bessel function denoted by
J
l.
A graph of this with r is shown in the next slide
( ) 0
1
2
2
2 2
2
1
2
2
=
(

+
c
c
+
c
c
E
r
l
k n
r
E
r r
E
|
The field is finite at r = 0 and it is represented by zero
order Bessel function J
0

As r increases and goes towards infinity the field vanishes
and in the cladding the solution is given by another
function called Modified Bessel functions denoted by K
l
.

( )
) ( 1
) (
) (
) ( ) (
) ( 1 ) (
Cladding R for
W K
WR K
U GJ r E
core R for UR GJ r E
l
l
l
l
> =
< =
U is Radial propagation parameter
W is Cladding decay parameter
R=r/a
Graph of Modified bessel function K
l
(r) against r for l=0 & 1
U and W are equal to the eigenvalues in the core and
cladding respectively defined as
U = a(n
1
2
k
2

2
)
1/2
W = a(
2
n
2
2
k
2
)
1/2

A very useful relation using U and W can be given by
V = (U
2
+ W
2
)
1/2
V = ka(n
1
2
n
2
2
)
1/2
V is called the normalized frequency or V number.
It is a dimensionless parameter.
Expression relates core radius, relative reflective index
difference () and wavelength.

Another important parameter can also define is the
normalized propagation constant b for a fiber as

b = 1 (U
2
/V
2
)
b = [(/k)
2
n
2
2
] / (n
1
2
n
2
2
)
b

= [(/k)
2
n
2
2
] / 2n
1
2


The limit of is between n
1
k and n
2
k but b lies between 0
- 1
When you have U and as function of V, propagation
characteristics of modes and their dependence on
frequency and fiber geometry can be obtained.
When = n
2
k, then mode is no longer properly guided.
In this case mode is said to be cutoff and W = 0
Unguided or radiating modes have frequencies
below cutoff where < n
2
k and W is imaginary.
These modes are also called leaky modes.
As moves toward n
2
k less and less power is propagated
in cladding and when as = n
1
k all power is confined to
core.
Range of signifies the value for guided modes in the
fiber
V
c
is different for different modes.
First zero crossing of J
1
occurs at V = 0 and this
corresponds to cutoff for LP
01
mode.
The first zero crossing for J
0
is when V = 2.405 giving V
c

for LP
11
mode.
Second zero crossing for J
1
occurs at V = 3.83 giving V
c
for LP
02
of 3.83

Hence we can have fibers manufactured with a particular
V no. for limiting certain modes.

It may please be further noted that cutoff value of V i.e.
V
c
occurs when = n
2
k correspond to b = 0