Optical Fiber

Communications
Dr. K.Surendranath
Professor in Physics
RVR&JC College of Engineering
GUNTUR-19
UNIT-I
• Communication may be broadly defined as transmission of information from one
point to another point

History Perspective:
• Smoke signals, fire beacons, reflecting mirrors are used in the antiquity world to
transmit the single message as victory in the war.

• In 1792 Claude Chappe used Opto-mechanical transmitting system to transmit the

information over 100 Km using repeater stations with
effective bit rate of less than 1bit/s (B<1b/s)

• The bit rate B was increased to 10b/s by replacing the opto-mechanical

systems by implementing the Morse code ( . and -) with the advent
of Telegraphy in 1830.
• With intermediate relay stations the message can be transmitted
to nearly 1000 Km.
• Invention of Telephone in 1876 brought a major change by transmitting the electrical
signals in analog form through a continuously varying electric current.

• In 1880 a message was transmitted to a distance of 221mt by modulating the sunlight on

a diaphragm foil superimposed with voice message and this device is known as PHOTOPHONE.
• In 1940 Co axial cables replaced the wire pairs, operating at 3MHz capable of
sending 300 voice channels or a single Television channel.

• The band width of Coaxial cables is limited by the frequency dependent cable losses
and the losses rapidly increases after 10MHz.

• As we know that the information carrying capacity depends on the carrier frequency, with
the larger transmission bandwidth enable them to look for VHF and UHF of EM wave Spectrum.
• In 1948 first microwave system was evolved at the operating voltage of 4 GHz with bit rates of
100Mb/s.

• In 1975 both Coaxial and microwave systems are operated at bit rate of 275Mb/s, with less repeater
stations in the case of microwave systems.

• Figure of merit for communication systems is defined as the bit rate – distance product (BL)
• Invention of laser in 1960 stimulated the renewed interest in the Optical Communications

• In 1960 the optical losses are exceedingly 1000 db/km due to presence of impurities.

• In 1966 Kao, Hockham and Werts simultaneously suggested theoretically that fibers
made with dielectric or glass having the optical losses limit will be less than 20db/km

Charles K.Kao

• In 1970 the optical losses are reduced to 20db/km in the wave length region of 1μm by adding
Ti in fused core and pure fused Si cladding.
• GaAs laser are made to operate continuously at room temperature in 1980.

• The development of Optical Communications over the 25 years extending from 1975 to 2000
depicted.
Different generation of light systems:

First generation :
• Operated at 0.8μm with AlGaAs laser with Si photo detectors. They Operated
at the rate of 45Mb/s with repeater spacing of 10km for multimode fibers.
Shifting from 0.8μm to 1.3 μm reduced the power loss to 1db/km and InGaAsP laser
is used.
Second Generation:
• Sigle mode fibers are used. Operating at bit rates 1.7Gb/s with repeater spacing of 50km
with losses of 0.5db/km.
Third generation :
• Operating wave length at 1.55 μm with loss of 0.2db/km with transmission rate of 2Gb/s
with dispersion shifted fibers.
Fourth Generation:
• Optical amplification by Eb doped fibers and implementation of WDM(Wave length division
multiplexing) rates upto 10Tb/s.
Elements of an Optical fiber and
Transmission link
Light wave Systems:

• Informational Channel: Glass or Plastic is used as channel. Desirable characteristics of

channel is low attenuation and large acceptance angle. 1% loss per 100 km. low fiber dispersion
is needed. Single mode or multimode fibers are used . For long haul (100km ) single mode
fibers are used.

• Optical Transmitter: To convert the electrical signal into Optical form and to launch the optical
signal into fiber , consists of Coupler, optical source and modulator.
• Optical source: It is known as square – law device.
• Linear variation in the drive current brings linear variation in Optical power.
• Semi conductor laser or LED, Optical signal is generated by the modulator operating
from 185-200 THz( 1520 -1620nm) .
• Launching power is another design parameter, often expressed in dBm and defined as
Power(dBm) = 10 Log10 (Power/1mW).
• 1mW is 0dB.
• More launching power , more repeater distance
• With proper design optical transmitters can be made to Operate at 40Gb/s

• Optical Receiver: Converts Optical signal to electrical signal

• Consists of Coupler, Photo detector and demodulator
• Optical Detector : PIN , Avalanche Photodiode
• Design of demodulation depends on the demodulation format .
• FSK,PSK requires homodyne or heterodyne demodulation techniques
• Most light wave systems employs a scheme known as (IM/DD) Intensity modulation with
direct detection, which identifies bits as 1 or 0.
• Bit rate error< 10-9 . All receievers need minimum power to Operate known as receiver
sensitivity.

Advantages of Optical fibers:

• Very High Band width (10-500GHz). Co axial cables 20MHz over 10Km.

• Small Size and weight

• Electrical Isolation
• Immunity interference and Cross talk

• Signal security

• Low transmission Losses

• Ruggedness and Flexibility

• System reliability and maintenance

• Potential low cost

• Environment Immune
Limitations:
• High Initial cost

• Special skills

• Tapping

• Caution (Don’t peep into Optical fiber because IR or UV sources are used)
Ray Transmission:
Total Internal Reflection
Snell’s law:
n1 sin Ф1 = n2 sin Ф2
or

n1 Cos Θ1 = n2 Cos Θ2
Where Θ1 = (π/2 - Ф1)
and Θ2 = (π/2 – Ф2)

At Фc , Ф2 = π/2
 At angles of incidence greater than the critical angle the light reflects back into its own
dielectric medium with high efficiency (99.9%).
(99.9%)
A phase change δ occurs for every reflection at core- cladding boundary and depends
on the angle ϴ1 < ϴc according to the following relations

δN and δp -> normal and parallel

phase shifts components relative to
plane of incidence

Launching of light into Optical fiber:

1) Meridional rays:
• The planes containing the Optical fiber axis are known as Meridional planes
• There are infinite number of Planes passing through the fiber axis, can be considered as
meridional planes.
• The rays which are lying in the plane and intersecting the fiber Optic axis are known
as meridional rays.
• All the reflected rays meet at the same point on the optic axis , a region of high intensity
is generated at that point.
• For different angle of incidence at core- cladding interface , the rays undergo TIR to meet at the
fiber axis such that intensity is maximum at the core axis and gradually decreases as move away
from the core.
Meridional rays are two types:

• Bound rays : Trapped in the fiber core as per Snell’s law

• Un bound rays : Rays refracted out of the core as per Snell’s law
Skew Rays:
• These are the rays which does’t pass through the fiber axis
• Not confined to single plane, follows the helical path, and out number
the meridional rays
• Light energy is effectively confined to annular region around the axis,
such that intensity is less at core axis and gradually increases towards
the periphery of the core.
Acceptance angle and Acceptance Cone:

Θa is the maximum angle to the axis

at which light may enter the fiber in
ordered to be propagated is known as
acceptance angle and the cone
formed with vertex angle of 2 Θa is
Known as acceptance cone.
Numerical Aperture:
 For air n0 is 1
n0 Sin θa =

NA signifies the light gathering capacity of fiber depends on the difference of Core- cladding
R.I difference.
NA derivation for Skew rays:

• Direction of ray change by an angle 2γ for each

reflection, where γ is the angle projection
of a ray in two dimensions and radius of fiber core

• Skew rays shows smoothing effect on distribution of

light as it is transmitted even light launched in the
fiber is not uniform

• NA aperture of Skew rays is greater than meridional

rays.
Types of fibers:

1) Step index fibers

* RI is constant throughout and changes
abruptly at the interface
* RI is constant in Cladding

a) Multimode Step Index fiber (MSIF)

b) Single mode Step index fiber(SSIF)

Multi mode step index fiber:

The distance travelled by extreme ray is L/cosθ1

then tmax = Ln1 / C cosθ1 , and tmin = Ln1 / C
• Large core diameter ~ 50 -125 μm
• Easy power launching
• Easy connectorization
• Cheap
• Uses cheaper light sources as LED and less complex circuitry
• Power output is low
• Intermodal dispersion high
• Graded index fiber reduces dispersion hence has high BW
• Normalization frequency known as V parameter ,a
2𝜋 2𝜋
dimensionless quantity V = an1 (2Δ) =
1/2 a(NA) > 10
λ λ
• The number of modes or mode volume ( MS ) for step index
fiber is which estimates the number of guided modes can
propagate.
 Graded Index fiber:

Numerical Aperture:
• More complex
• Function of position across core face
• Light will propagate as guided mode
at r only if it is within local NA(r) is
defined as
To show NA(r) =NA(0){1-(r/a)α }1/2
 2𝜋
• V parameter for GIF is V= a (NA)
λ
𝛼 𝑉2
• Mode volume Mg = ( )( ) , for parabolic index profile
𝛼+2 2
𝑉2
𝛼 =2 : Mg = ( )
4
Single mode Step index fiber:
• Transverse dimensions must not larger than wavelength
• Signal dispersion caused by the delay differences by different modes in a
multi mode fiber will be avoided.

• Fundamental mode as LP01 only exists

• The cut off normalized frequency for the LP11 mode occurs at Vc =2.405 in step index
fibers
• 0<V>2.405

• No cut off for fundamental mode

• Thin core

• Use high power through precision LASER

• High bandwidth

• Low distortion
• Grade indexed fibers may also be used as single mode operations by using the

following formula for cut off frequency

• One important parameter for single mode fiber is
Cutoff wave length for first higher order mode as it
distinguishes as single mode or multi mode.
• The effective cut-off wavelength λC is defined as
the largest wavelength at which at which higher order
LP11 mode power relative to the fundamental mode LP01
is 0.1db.
• The range of cut-off wavelength recommended to avoid
modal noise and dispersion problem is 1.1 to 1.28 μm
for single mode fiber at 1.3 μm
2𝜋 2𝜋
V = λ an1 (2Δ)1/2 , λ = 𝑉 an1 (2Δ)1/2
Mode field diameter and Spot size:
• The Mode field diameter is the fundamental parameter for single mode fiber.
• It can be determined from the mode field distribution of the fundamental mode LP01
• In step and graded index fibers the field amplitude distribution is approximated
by Gaussian distribution
• The Mode field diameter(MFD) is distance between 1/e ~ 0.37 times the near field strength and
power is 1/e2 = 0.135 times.
• The Spot size ω0 = MFD/2
• For single mode fiber the exact relation is
(Phase-front analysis)
 For a guided mode n2k < β < n1k
The value of β can be varied by
choosing different R.I and
Wave lengths.
Evanescent fields

The order of mode is equal to the number of field zeroes across the guide
• Mode: A mode is a transverse field distribution which propagates along the fiber without any
change in its field distribution except for a change in phase.

• Radiation fields : It is basically from the Optical power that is power outside the fiber
acceptance angle being refracted out of the core.

• Cladding modes : Due to the finite radius of the cladding some of the radiation trapped
in the cladding , there by cladding modes appears.

• Leaky modes: The fields that are confined partially in the fiber core are attenuated as
they propagate along the fiber length due to radiation and tunneling effect.

Types of modes in Optical fiber:

1) TE modes
2) TM modes
3) Hybrid modes
TE mode: Ez =0, the mode is called Transverse Electric (TE) mode

TM mode : Hz =0, the mode is called Transverse Magnetic(TM) mode

Hybrid modes: If both the longitudinal components of the fields (Ez , Hz ) are non zero , then
we call hybrid modes.
If Ez dominates  EH mode

Hz dominates  HE mode

The index ν of the combination (v,m) represents the number of complete cycles of the field in the
Azimuthal plane and the index ‘m’ represents the zero crossings.
 HE11 mode is the lowest order mode that always
propagates in the fiber , which has electric field always
points upward with maximum amplitude at the axis and
decreases as radially moves away

Variation of the field

component
Weakly guiding approximation:

• The condition is ∆≡ (n1 – n2 )/ n1 <<1

• When the above condition is satisfied , longitudinal components vanish and the waves
transform into Transvers Electromagnetic waves(TEM).

• In all practical optical fibers , this weakly guiding approximation is valid

• The field pattern is transverse in nature and linearly polarised and these polarizations
are either vertical or horizontal in nature .

• Light propagates in linearly polarized modes known as LP modes

• HE11 mode for all practical purposes referred as LP01 mode.

Fiber materials:

Glass and plastics fulfil the requirements

• Most fiber are made with silica (SiO2) or silicates.

• High loss glass fibers with large core diameter are used for short distance transmission

• low loss fibers are used for long hual applications.

• Plastic fibers are less used due to their higher attenuation and they commonly used
for short distances and in abusive environment.

• Plastic fibers are having greater mechanical strength.

Glass – Glass fibers:
• Oxide glass materials SiO2 which are optically transparent used for
fabrication
• Raw material is Pure silica referred as silica glass, fused glass or
vitreous glass
• RI is 1.458 at 850nm
• Fluorine or oxides as B2O3 , GeO2 or P2O5 is added as dopants to
modify the RI.
• GeO2 ,P2O5 increases the RI whereas F, B2O3 decreases the RI
• Materials for core – cladding are tabulated
Core Cladding
GeO2- SiO2 SiO2

P2O5 - SiO2 SiO2

SiO2 B2O3 - SiO2
GeO2- B2O3 - SiO2 B2O3 - SiO2
• These Si glasses are resistance to deformation even at high
temperatures as 10000 C

• High resistance to thermal shock due to low thermal expansion

• Good chemical durability

• High transparency in visible and infrared region

Halide glass fibers:
• Low transmission losses (0.01 to 0.001db/km) at mid Infrared wave lengths( 0.2
to 8 μm lowest loss being at 2.55 μm
• Fluoride glasses belongs to general family of Halide glasses in which anions are
Vii group( F,CI,Br,I)
• Heavy metal fluoride glasses uses ZrF4 as major component and network modifier
• Generally termed as ZBLAN glasses with molecular concentrations
(ZrF4, BaF2, LaF3, AlF3, NaF in proportion 53:20:4:3:20) form as core of the fibre
• For cladding ZrF4 partially replaced with HaF4
• Fluoride glasses KCl,TlBrI also used
• Limitations:
• Ultra pure materials are required
• Glasses are prone to devitrification
• Tend to form micro crystallization while drawing the fibers, increases the
scattering losses
Active glass fibers:

• Rare earth elements ( atomic number 57-71) are added

to passive glasses for amplification, attenuation and phase
retardation

• Erbium and Neodymium of 0.005 to 0.5 mole percentage

added for amplification in which light excites the electrons
excited state, while de excitation it emits photon thus
optical energy is amplified.
Light from a high pump laser of
Wave length 0.98 or 1.49μm and the
signal to be amplified (1.530 – 1.57μm)
into erbium doped silica.
Because of the absorption of light by
Erbium ions , and it emits the radiation
in the range of 1.53 – 1.57 μm which
amplifies the signal
Plastic – Clad glass fibers:

• Used for short distances and high losses tolerability

• Less expensive
• Core is highly pure natural quartz
• cladding material is Silicon resin with RI 1.405 at 850nm
• Per fluorinated ethylene propylene (Teflon FEP) of RI 1.338 is used
for larger index difference
• Step index fibers with core diameters 150 to 600 μm are used with
plastic claddings
• Low cast , large area light sources are used coupling optical power
sources.
Plastic fibers:

• Multimode step indexed fibers for short distances and low links
plastic fibers are used
• Attenuation is more than glass fibers
• Tough and having longer durability
• Numerical aperture values can be up to 0.6 with greater
acceptance angle of 700
• Good mechanical flexibility with larger core diameter of 110 -
1400μm.
• Inexpensive large LED can be used as sources
• Examples for plastic fiber construction are
Photonic crystals:
Photonic crystal fibers:
• A new class of micro structured optical fibers with fine array of holes running longitudinally in
the cladding known as Photonic crystal fibers proposed by Russel and Yablonovitch in 1991.
• These are also known as holey fibers.

or Modified total internal reflection

Index guided microstructures:
• Cladding contains holes with RI of 1 compared to normal Si cladding index of 1.457
• In Conventional fiber the interaction of guided modes with cladding is first order
and is independent of wavelength.
• In PCF large index contrast(~ 0.46) and
small structure dimension causes the
effective cladding index is function of
wavelength.
• Guided mode are tightly confined to the core at shorter wave lengths due to slight lower effective
cladding index than the core
• At larger wave lengths modes samples more of cladding
• Due to this wavelength dependence in PCF , its diameter can be reduced to 1μm to increase
the light intensity in core to enhance the nonlinear effects.

• Two different pattern of PFC shown here 1) Hexagonal 2) non –uniform size distribution of holes
If d/Λ < 0.4 it acts like
Single mode fiber
 UNIT-II
LOSS CALCULATIONS IN FIBER:

2
 3

In general P0 is taken as 1mw

Material absorption:

 A loss mechanism in which absorbed transmitted power dissipates

as heat and related to
a) Material composition
b) Fabrication Process

 Due to three different mechanisms

• atomic defects in the composition:

a) Due to missing molecules, high density of clusters and oxygen
defects in glass structure
b) contribution is negligible except when exposed to nuclear radiation
 Intrinsic absorption due to basic constituents of the glass
 It occurs when material is in absolutely pure state and no density variation and in
homogenities.
a) Results from electronic absorption bands in UV region
b) Electronic absorption bands are associated with band gap present in the amorphous glassy
materials
c) It can be described by an empirical formula 𝛼𝑈𝑉 = C 𝑒 𝐸/𝐸0
where E is the photon energy and C, E0 are empirical constants
d) The relation for calculating the loss in the UV region for GeO2 with
molar fraction ‘ x’ is

e) It is in general less when compared to scattering losses

f) above 1.2 μm ( near IR region ) the absorption is due to

presence of OH ( Hydroxyl ion)
g) absorption arises due to the vibrations among the atoms
in a chemical bond
 An empirical expression for infrared absorption for GeO2 –- SiO
Si 2 glass fiber is
 These mechanisms leads to a wedge shaped spectral –loss

Extrinsic absorption:
 Occurs due to electronic transitions between the energy levels and charge
transfer among the ions
 Presence of impurities from transition metal ions, Fe, Cr, Cu, C, Ni, Mn and V
 Cr,Cu shows 1dB/Km in one part in 109
 Glass refining techniques such as vapour- oxidation technique
eliminates the metal impurities
 OH ions appears in the fiber due to hydro – Oxygen flames used in
fabrication
 Fundamental vibration gives
overtones for hydroxyl groups in Silica
at 1.38, 0.95 and 0.75μm
 In addition at 1.24, 1.13 and 0.88 μm
additional absorption bands appear
 The total absorption spectra is
shown
0.2 db/Km at 1.55μm is the
minimum
Scattering Process :
Linear Scattering:
a) Rayleigh scattering
 Microscopic variation in material density
• glass is randomly connected network of molecules having regions
of lower or higher than the average density
 RI fluctuations take place in these regions known as micro centers
responsible for scattering of light
 If the dimensions of the micro centers is much smaller than the wave
length, light get scatter from these centers.
 It is strong function of wavelength and
inversely proportional to λ4 given by the
formula for single component glass as
Alternatively the above formula can be expressed as

Where
n  refractive index, kB  Boltzmann constant
βT  isothermal compressibility , P  photo elastic coefficient
Tf  Fictive temperature Where the density fluctuations are frozen

 Reduces with wave length

 Rayleigh scattering coefficient is related to the transmission loss

factor fiber
L = exp(-αL) where L is the length of the fiber
Ans: The formula is

On substitution
 α =

α =

α =
Non linear scattering losses:
Bending losses:
 Optical fiber undergoes radiation losses whenever it undergoes bend of
finite radius of curvature
 Two types of bends
• Microscopic bending:
random microscope bends of the fiber axis that can arise when the fibers
are laid in the cable
Conclusions :
Macro bending losses:
 Radius of bending must be larger than the fiber diameter
 the losses created by such bends are commonly known as bending losses
 The loss occurs due to the evanescent field at the bent exceeding the
the velocity of light in the cladding , hence inhibits the guiding mechanism
which causes the light energy to be radiated.

𝑑𝜃 𝜔 𝑑𝜃 𝜔
(𝑅 + 𝑥𝑐 ) = but R =
𝑑𝑡 𝛽0 𝑑𝑡 𝛽𝑧

𝑥𝑐 =
For a single mode fiber
the critical radius is
Dispersion:
Spectrum of Radio signal frequency Frequency spectrum of the un modulated Optical signal

• If the above optical signal is amplitude modulated by modulating signal of frequency fm , side
bands are completely masked by carrier signal due to its large band width
• Understanding of dispersion is different in optical frequencies when compared with radio
frequencies.
 • Spreading occurs in single mode
only
• Group velocity is a function of λ
• Distortion increases with spectral
width which is denoted by𝜎𝜆

3 . Polarized mode dispersion

 Optical carrier expressed in terms of numerous narrow band carriers
 Each of the narrow band carrier signal is modulated by modulating frequency fm and
launched in to the fiber simultaneously.
 Each signal with different frequency travels with different speeds along the fiber length,
carries the same information and takes different times to reach the destination
 Thus pulse broadening take place in fiber for single mode which is known as material
dispersion or intra-modal dispersion
 Larger the spectral width of the carrier signal , more is the pulse broadening
 Pulse broadening effect

• Let us consider the time domain propagation of the modulated signal along the fiber core
• Let the modulated signal of all pulses of wide-band carrier signal enters at time t0
• As the signal propagating the pulses are separating from each other with time and confines
the shape of carrier signal
• Thus in optical communication system the pulse broadening depends on i) spectral width of
the carrier signal ii) Distance travelled by the pulse in the fiber core
Group delay and material dispersion calculation:
 To calculate material dispersion, assume that wave guide dispersion is negligible
 The fiber is assumed to be extended to infinity
𝜕𝜔 𝜕
 The group velocity of the group of pulses in the fiber is given by vg = = 2πc (1/λ)
𝜕𝛽 𝜕𝛽
𝜕 𝜕𝜆 2𝜋𝑐 𝜕𝜆
vg = 2πc x (1/λ) =- x ----- (1)
𝜕λ 𝜕𝛽 𝜆2 𝜕𝛽
𝜕𝛽 2𝜋 𝑑𝑛1 𝑛1
but β = 2πn1/λ -- = ( - ) ----(2)
𝛿𝜆 𝜆 𝑑𝜆 𝜆
2𝜋𝑐 𝜆 𝑐
Substituting 2 in to 1 gives vg = - 2 x 𝑑𝑛 𝑛 = 𝑛 𝑑𝑛 = C/ Ng
𝜆 2𝜋( 1 − 1)
𝑑𝜆 𝜆
( 𝜆1 − 𝑑𝜆1)

𝑛1 𝑑𝑛1
where Ng = ( − ) is known as group index of the fiber
𝜆 𝑑𝜆

𝑛1 𝑑𝑛1
The group delay per unit length tg = 1/ vg = ( − ) /C ------ (3)
𝜆 𝑑𝜆

The rms (effective) pulse broadening which is the delay between the first and last pulse
𝑑𝑡𝑔
can be written as 𝜏𝑔 = 𝜎𝜆 where 𝜎𝜆 is the spectral density
𝑑𝜆
𝑑𝑡𝑔 1 𝑑𝑛1 𝑑 2 𝑛1 𝑑𝑛1 1 𝑑 2 𝑛1
= ( - 𝜆 2 - ) = |𝜆 2 | --------- (4)
𝑑𝜆 𝑐 𝑑𝜆 𝑑𝜆 𝑑𝜆 𝑐 𝑑𝜆

𝑑𝑡𝑔 𝜎𝜆 𝑑 2 𝑛1
𝜏𝑔 = 𝜎𝜆 = |𝜆 2 |
𝑑𝜆 𝑐 𝑑𝜆

𝐿𝜎 𝑑 2 𝑛1
For length of ‘L ‘ of fiber 𝜏𝑔 = 𝜆 |𝜆 2 | = 𝐿 𝜎𝜆 Dm ---- ( 5)
𝑐 𝑑𝜆

𝜆 𝑑 2 𝑛1
where Dm is material dispersion can be expressed as Dm = − ( 2) --- (6)
𝑐 𝑑𝜆

• Material dispersion is directly proportional to wavelength

• directly proportional to second order derivative of RI

• Units are ps/Km/nm
RI as a function of wave length for material glass shown below

• RI decreases as wave length increases

• Change of curvature occurs at 1.27μm
• Second order derivative goes to zero
at 1.27 μm
• If light launched at 1270nm the material
dispersion either low or zero , hence highest
possible data rate is possible
• Material dispersion for different windows
Wave length ( λ) nm Dm ( ps /km/nm)
850 85
1310 0.1
1550 -20
Variation of RI with wave length
• At 1550 nm Dm is negative means decrease in group delay per unit length
for an increasing value of wavelength
• We know that group delay is reciprocal of group velocity , means decrease in
group delay means increase in velocity with wavelength
• Longer wave lengths travel with higher velocities than shorter

Wave Guide dispersion:

• Material dispersion is assumed to be zero
• Fiber is considered to be a finite one
• Due to variation of group velocity with wave length for particular mode
• Wave guide dispersion can be expressed in terms of b , V parameters
where b is normalized propagation constant and V is normalized frequency
In the Weakley guided approximation Δ <1 the guided mode condition is

𝛽2 < 𝛽 < 𝛽1  𝑛2 𝛽0 < 𝛽 < 𝑛1 𝛽0 , since the differences of core and

𝛽−𝛽1
cladding is very small b = , re arranging the terms the β for mode
𝛽1 −𝛽2
𝜔
Becomes 𝛽 = 𝛽1 + b( 𝛽1 −𝛽2 ) ⟹ 𝛽 = 𝛽2 { 1+Δb} ⟹ 𝛽 = 𝑛 { 1+Δb}
𝑐 2
then the group delay is

Note:
Since we are interested to show in b , V
But On substitution

n2 /C is the group delay in the cladding and

it is independent of wavelength.
Interesting one is the behavior in
parenthesis with wave length

Differentiating tg with wave length gives wave length dispersion

𝑑𝑡𝑔 𝑛2∆ 𝑑 𝑑 𝑛 𝑑 𝑑 𝑑𝑉
𝐷𝑤𝑔 = = ( (bV) ⟹ 2∆ ( (bV)
𝑑𝜆 𝑐 𝑑𝜆 𝑑𝑉 𝑐 𝑑𝑉 𝑑𝑉 𝑑𝜆
𝑑𝑉
Evaluating and on substitution
𝑑𝜆
 Dwg can be calculated from b-v diagrams

Chromatic dispersion = material

dispersion + wave guide dispersion
• At 1310nm dispersion is almost zero but
Loss figure is high
• At 1550nm loss figure is low but dispersion loss is high
• A good communication system requires a low loss and higher band width
• Advanced technology led us to a new fiber where dispersion loss can be shifted
known as DS ( Dispersion shifted ) fibers
Dispersion shifting in fibers
Polarized mode dispersion(PMD):
Inter modal dispersion
for multimode index fiber:

𝐿𝑛1 ∆ 𝑁𝐴2
= but ∆ = 𝐿(𝑁𝐴)2 This is based on modal analysis but not for skew
𝑐 2𝑛1 2 ∆𝑡 =
2𝑛1 𝐶 rays
 Inter modal dispersion in Graded Index fiber:

𝐿 𝑛2 𝐿
∆𝜏 = ∆2 = (NA)4
𝑐 8𝐶𝑛13

Rigorous analysis by using electromagnetic mode theory gives the absolute temporal

width 𝐿 𝑛2 2 ∆2
∆𝜏 = ∆ which corresponds to increase by 8 in transmission time
8𝑐
by slow mode when compared to faster mode. The best theoretical intermodal rms
𝐿𝑛1 ∆2
broadening for graded index fiber is Dg =
20√3𝐶
 Modal Noise/ Speckle noise:
Noise generated in an optical fiber system by the combination of mode-dependent optical
losses and fluctuation in the distribution of optical energy among the guided modes or in the
relative phases of the guided modes

The condition which give rise to the modal noise are

Modal noise may be avoided