OPTICAL FIBERS AS A COMMUNICATION

The role of a communication channel is to transport the optical

signal from transmitter to receiver without distorting it. Most
lightwave systems use optical fibers as the communication
channel because silica fibers can transmit light with losses as
small as 0.2 dB/km. Even then, optical power reduces to only 1%
after 100 km. For this reason, fiber losses remain an important
design issue and determines the repeater or amplifier spacing of
a long-haul lightwave system. Another important design issue is
fiber dispersion, which leads to broadening of individual optical
pulses with propagation. If optical pulses spread significantly
outside their allocated bit slot, the transmitted signal is severely
degrade.
Two components important, the optical transmitter and the optical
receiver, are basic fiber optic of communication system.
BASIC FIBER OPTIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
 The basic components of an optical communication system are shown in figure above:

• A serial bit stream in electrical form is presented to a modulator, which encodes the data
appropriately for fibre transmission.
• A light source (laser or Light Emitting Diode - LED) is driven by the modulator and the light
focused into the fibre.
• The light travels down the fibre (during which time it may experience dispersion and loss of
strength).
• At the receiver end the light is fed to a detector and converted to electrical form.
• The signal is then amplified and fed to another detector, which isolates the individual state
changes and their timing. It then decodes the sequence of state changes and reconstructs
the original bit stream.1
• The timed bit stream so received may then be fed to a using device.
OPTICAL RECIVER COMPONENS
 GEOMETRICAL-OPTICS DESCRIPTION

Step-Index Fibers

a ray making an angle θ i with the fiber axis is incident at the core
center. Because of refraction at the fiber–air interface, the ray bends
toward the normal. The angle θr of the refracted ray is given by
However, refraction is possible only for an angle of incidence φ such
that sinφ < n 2/n1. For angles larger than a critical angle φc, defined by :

One can use Eqs. to find the maximum angle that the incident ray should
make with the fiber axis to remain confined inside the core. Noting that
θr = π/2-φc for such a ray and substituting it in Eq. baelow, we obtain :

In analogy with lenses, n0 sinθi is known as the numerical aperture (NA)

of the fiber. It represents the light-gathering capacity of an optical fiber.
For n 1 n2 the NA can be approximated by :

Only for JTD

For Multipath, where different rays travel along paths of different
lengths. As a result, these rays disperse in time at the output end of the
fiber even if they were coincident at the input end and traveled at the
same speed inside the fiber. A short pulse (called an impulse) would
broaden considerably as a result of different path lengths. One can
estimate the extent of pulse broadening simply by considering the
shortest and longest ray paths. The shortest path occurs for θi = 0 and is
just equal to the fiber length L. The longest path occurs for θ i
and has a length L/sinφ c. By taking the velocity of propagation v = c/n1,
the time delay is given by :

The time delay T between the two rays taking the shortest and longest
paths is a measure of broadening experienced by an impulse launched
at the fiber input.

Only for JTD

We can relate ∆T to the information-carrying capacity of the fiber
measured through the bit rate B. Although a precise relation between B
and ∆T depends on many details, such as the pulse shape, it is clear
intuitively that ∆T should be less than the allocated bit slot (TB = 1/B).
Thus, an order-of-magnitude estimate of the bit rate is obtained from
the condition B∆T < 1, we obtain :

Only for JTD

Graded Index Fibers

The refractive index of the core in graded-index fibers is not constant

but decreases gradually from its maximum value n1 at the core center to
its minimum value n2 at the core–cladding interface. Most graded-index
fibers are designed to have a nearly quadratic decrease and are
analyzed by using α-profile, given by :

where a is the core radius. The parameter α determines the index

profile. A step-index profile is approached in the limit of large α. A
parabolic-index fiber corresponds to α = 2.

Only for JTD

Geometrical optics can be used to show that a parabolic-index profile
leads to nondispersive pulse propagation within the paraxial
approximation. The trajectory of a paraxial ray is obtained by solving :

where ρ is the radial distance of the ray from the axis. for ρ < a with α =
2, reduces to an equation of harmonic oscillator and has the general
solution:

where p = (2∆/a2)1/2 and ρ0 and ρ0’ are the position and the direction of
the input ray, respectively. Equation above shows that all rays recover
their initial positions and directions at distances z = 2mπ/p, where m is
an integer

Only for JTD

 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
 FIBER OPTIC SOURCES
Two basic light sources are used for fiber optics: laser diodes (LD)
and light-emitting diodes (LED). Each device has its own
advantages and disadvantages

Fiber optic sources must operate in the low-loss transmission windows of glass
fiber. LEDs are typically used at the 850-nm and 1310-nm transmission
wavelengths, whereas lasers are primarily used at 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
Fiber Optic Couplers
A fiber optic coupler is a device used to connect a single (or multiple) fiber to
many other separate fibers. There are two general categories of couplers:

• Star couplers
Transmissive type
Optical signals sent into a mixing block are available at all output fibers. Power is
distributed evenly. For an n × n star coupler (n-inputs and n-outputs), the power
available at each output fiber is 1/n the power of any input fiber.
The output power from a star coupler is simply

The power division (power splitting ratio) in decibels is given by Equation

The power division in decibels gives the number of decibels apparently lost in
the coupler from single input fiber to single fiber output. Excess power loss
(Lossex) is the power lost from input to total output, as given in Equation
 PACKAGING
Laser diodes are available in a variety of packages. Most have monitoring
photodiodes integrated with the packages. Because lasers inherently emit
light from both ends of the cavity, a photodiode can be placed on one
end to monitor and maintain the output power at a certain level. One of
the most popular types of packages is the TO-can style (Figure allow)
available in both 5.6-mm and 9-mm-diameter sizes. Either style can be
purchased with connectorized fiber pigtails for convenience. Devices used
in telecommunication typically come in either 14-pin butterfly or dual-in-
line (DIL) packages. These devices typically include thermoelectric coolers
(TEC) and mounting plates for heat-sinking

Laser diode in TO-can style package (Courtesy

of Newport Corp.) 14-pin DIL package (Courtesy of Lasertron)
 TRANSMISSION WINDOWS
Optical fiber transmission uses wavelengths that are in the near-infrared
portion of the spectrum, just above the visible, and thus undetectable
to the unaided eye. Typical optical transmission wavelengths are 850
nm, 1310 nm, and 1550 nm. Both lasers and LEDs are used to transmit
light through optical fiber. Lasers are usually used for 1310- or 1550-nm
single-mode applications. LEDs are used for 850- or 1300-nm multimode
applications.

Determine : (Exercise 1.1

1. eachBandwidth
2. Each Frequency
Using c=3.108 m/sec
 FIBER OPTIC DETECTORS
The purpose of a fiber optic detector is to convert light emanating from
the optical fiber back into an electrical signal. The choice of a fiber optic
detector depends on several factors including wavelength, responsivity,
and speed or rise time. Figure allow, depicts the various types of
detectors and their spectral responses.

Detector spectral response

The process by which light is converted into an electrical signal is the
opposite of the process that produces the light. Light striking the detector
generates a small electrical current that is amplified by an external circuit.
Absorbed photons excite electrons from the valence band to the
conduction band, resulting in the creation of an electron-hole pair. Under
the influence of a bias voltage these carriers move through the material
and induce a current in the external circuit. For each electron-hole pair
created, the result is an electron flowing in the circuit. Typical current
levels are small and require some amplification as shown in Figure allow

Typical detector amplifier circuit

Exercise 1.2
1. A 4 × 4 star coupler is used in a fiber optic system to connect the
signal from one computer to four terminals. If the power at an input
fiber to the star coupler is 1 mW, find
(a) the power at each output fiber and
(b) the power division in decibels.
2. An 8 × 8 star coupler is used to distribute the +3-dBm power of a laser
diode to 8 fibers. The excess loss (Lossex) of the coupler is 1 dB. Find
the power at each output fiber in dBm and μW.