ETE505/EEE503/CNC602 Optical Fiber Communication

Dr. Feroz Ahmed

Associate Professor
School of Engineering and Computer Science
Independent University, Bangladesh
E-mail: fahmed@iub.edu.bd
 Course Outline
 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications
 Fibers and Transmission Characteristics
 Optical Sources and Transmitters
 Optical Detectors and Receivers
 Lightwave Systems and Optical Amplifiers
 Optical Components: Active and Passive
 Dispersion Management and Multichannel Lightwave
Systems (WDM/DWDM)
 Optical Solitons and Coherent Lightwave Systems
 Test Equipments for Optical Fiber Communications
 OFC Systems Simulation Using Matlab & Optiwave
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 2
 Fibers and its
transmission
characteristics

 Fiber Fundamentals
 Different types of fiber
 Theory related to Light Propagation through the fiber
 Attenuation
 Macro and micro bending losses
 Dispersions in optical fibers
 Nonlinear effects in optical fibers
 Fiber manufacturing technology and fiber-optic cables

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 3

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 4
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 5
 Fiber Fundamentals (Cont..)

Condition for waveguiding: n1 > n2

b
A finite number of modes can propagate in the fiber. a n1 n2 C n3
Modes are solutions to Maxwell's equations +
boundary conditions.
core cladding protective coating
One mode: single-mode fiber 10m
10 m 125125m
m
Several mode: multi-mode fiber

Most commonly used fiber material is silica (SiO2).

To change index of refraction dopants are added:
GeO
1.48 2
Examples: GeO2 - SiO2 core / SiO2 cladding

Refractive index
1.46 B O
SiO2 core / B2O3 - SiO2 cladding 2 3
F
Core: n1 = 1.47 Cladding: n2 = 1.46
1.44
a = 50 m (for MMF) b = 125 m 0 5 10 15 20
= 10 m (for SMF) dopant addition [mol %]
Buffer: high, lossy n3, c = 250 m F = Fluorine

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 6

 Acceptance Angle and Numerical Aperture

n2 = n1(1-∆) where ∆ is the

Guided Ray Fraction index change
n0 =1 at the core-cladding
θ interface =
θr
(n1- n2)/n1<< 1
θi
Core, n1 ∆ ≈ 1-3% for MM fibers,
∆ ≈ 0.1-1% for SM fibers
Cladding, n2
Unguided Ray

Apply Snell's law at the input interface: n0 sin(θi) = n1 sin(θr)

For total internal reflection at the core/cladding interface we have a
critical, minimum, angle: n1 sin(θc) = n2 sin(90°); sin(θc) = n2/n1

Relate to maximum entrance angle: n0 sin(θi,max) = n1 sin(θr,max) =

n1 sin(90-θc) = n1 cos(θc) = n1 [1 - sin2(θc)] = (n12- n22)=NA
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 7
 Acceptance Angle and Numerical Aperture (Cont..)

Acceptance n2 cladding
Cone i,max
n1 core
n2 cladding

• The numerical aperture, NA, is a measure of the light gathering power of

an optical system, originating from microscopy. [Maximum angle of incidence]

NA  n0 sin  i ,max  n1  n2  n1 2
2 2
• For fibers it is defined as

Example:

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 8

 Skew Ray and Meridional Ray
Along the fiber
1 3 1, 3
M erid ional ray
(a) A meridional
ray always
Fiber axis crosses the fiber
axis.

2 2

1 (b) A skew ray

2 1 does not have
Skew ray 2
Fiber axis
to cross the
5
3
fiber axis. It
5 zigzags around
3 4
4 the fiber axis.

Ray path along the fiber Ray path projected

on to a plane normal
to fiber axis
Illustration of the difference between a meridional ray and a skew ray.
Numbers represent reflections of the ray.

© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 9

 Fiber Modes
• Shape-preserving solution of Maxwell’s equations

• Constitutive Relations

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 10

 Fiber Modes (cont..)
D  E, B  H
(  H ) 2E
  (  E )     2
t t
2H
  (  H )   2
t
  (  Y )  (.Y )   2 (Y )
2E 2H
 E   2
2
 H   2
2 Wave equations
t t
1  2 1 1
  2
2
p  
 p t 2 (  )1/ 2  r  r  0 0
Psi
1  is the permittivity (dielectric cons tan t )
c
 0 0  is the permeabili ty of the medium.

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 11

 Fiber modes can be classified as guided, leaky and radiation modes, however
signal transmission in OFC systems takes place through the guided modes.
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 12
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 13
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 14
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 15
Normalized Propagation constant

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 16

 Fibers support only HE11 mode

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 17

 E(ρ)

E0/e=0.37E0
w0
w is the spot size; Effective core area= w2; ρ
(definition is given bellow)
MFD=2w0

MFD=Mode-field diameter

Cutoff wavelength

2an1
c  (2)1/ 2
Vc
Vc, is the cutoff
normalized frequency

A mode is uniquely determined by its propagation constant β. It is useful to introduce a

quantity ñ= β/ko, called mode index or effective refractive index and having the physical
significance that each fiber mode propagates with an effective refractive index ñ, whose
value lies in the range n1> ñ>n2.
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 18
 Field Distribution in the Fiber
y
Field of evanescent wave
(exponential decay)

n2

Field of guided wave E(y,z,t) = E(y)cos (t – 0z)

E(y) Light

m =0 n1
n2

The electric field pattern of the lowest mode traveling wave along the
guide. This mode has m = 0 and the lowest . It is often referred to as the
glazing incidence ray. It has the highest phase velocity along the guide.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 19
Power in the cladding
Higher Wavelength 
More Evanescent Field
y y

Cladding

1 > c 2 > 1

v g1 Core v g2 > v g1

1 < cut-off 2 < 1

Cladding
E(y)

The electric field of TE 0 mode extends more into the

cladding as the wavelength increases. As more of the field
is carried by the cladding, the group velocity increases.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)

Mode-field diameter
Vs wavelength
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 20
 Phase velocity and Group Velocity

Phase velocity p 


Group velocity   g 


Mode coupling/mixing
• Variation in the core diameter, irregularities at the core-cladding
interface and refractive index variations may change the propagation
characteristics of the fiber. These will have the effect of coupling energy
traveling in one mode to another depending on the specific perturbation.
• Individual modes do not normally propagate throughout the length of
fiber without large energy transfers to adjacent modes, even when the
fiber is exceptionally good quality and is not strained or bent by its
surrounding. This mode conversion is known as mode coupling or
mixing.
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 21
 Fiber Types
Single-mode step-index Multi-mode step-index Multi-mode graded-
fibers: fibers: index fibers:

n n n
ρ ρ
ρ
a: 5-12 µm, b:125 µm a: 50-100 µm, b:125-140 µm
a: 50-200 µm, b:125-400 µm

Single-mode step-index Fiber

Advantages:
• Minimum dispersion: all rays take same path, same time to travel down
the cable. A pulse can be reproduced at the receiver very accurately.
• Less attenuation, can run over longer distance without repeaters.
• Larger bandwidth and higher information rate
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 22
 Single-mode step-index Fiber (Cont..)

Disadvantages:
 Difficult to couple light in and out of the tiny core
 Highly directive light source (laser) is required.
 Interfacing modules are more expensive

Multimode step-index Fibers:

 inexpensive; Large core radius and easy to couple light into Fiber
 LEDs can be used
 result in higher signal distortion; lower TX rate (Intermodal
dispersion reduces the fiber bandwidth)

Multimode graded-index Fiber:

 intermediate between the other two types of Fibers (Reduced
intermodal dispersion gives higher bandwidth)

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 23

 Different Types of Fiber (cont.)

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 24

 Other Fibers

 Photonic Crystal Fibers

 Hollow core photonic crystal fibers
 Solid core photonic crystal fibers
 Plastic Fibers

Plastic fibers

PCF
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 25
 Step and Graded Index Fibers
n2
n1
3 (a) Multimode step
2 index fiber. Ray paths
1 n are different so that
O
rays arrive at different
times.

n2
(b) Graded index fiber.
3 Ray paths are different
2 but so are the velocities
O 1 n along the paths so that
O' O'' 2 n1 all the rays arrive at the
3
same time.

n2
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 26

 Step and Graded Index Fibers (cont..)

(a) TIR (b) TIR

n decreases step by step from one layer Continuous decrease in n gives a ray
to next upper layer; very thin layers. path changing continuously.

(a) A ray in thinly stratifed medium becomes refracted as it passes from one
layer to the next upper layer with lower n and eventually its angle satisfies TIR.
(b) In a medium where n decreases continuously the path of the ray bends
continuously.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap,Optoelectronics (P rentice Hall)
TIR=Total internal reflection

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 27

 Observed light propagation
p o lyme r p rofile:
4

guide height (µm)

3

0
0 100 200 300 400
x (µ m)

experiment

simulation

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 28

 Attenuation in Fiber (Cont.)
P (0)dB  P ( z )dB
 Attenuation Coefficient  dB/km
z
 Silica has lowest attenuation at 1550 nm
 Water molecules resonate and give high attenuation around 1400 nm in
standard fibers
 Attenuation happens because:
 Absorption (due to impurities in fiber materials)
 Scattering losses (Rayleigh, Raman and Brillouin…)
 Bending losses (macro and micro bending), splicing and connector losses

All Wave Fiber for DWDM

Lowest attenuation occurs at

1550 nm for Silica

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 29

 Problems

Pin
Total attenuation in dBtotal   dB L  10 log 10
Pout
To find the numerical value

dB  loss in dB / km
Pout
 10( dB /10)  Transmissi on
Pin

Loss ( )  1  Transmissi on  1  10( dB /10000 )  m1

Example: If   0.2dB / km
Loss( )/m= 4.6x10-5

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 30

 Bending Loss Power loss in a curved fiber

Field distribution Microbending

Escaping wave
Cladding

Core
  
c 

Sharp bends change the local waveguide geometry that can lead to waves
escaping. The zigzagging ray suddenly finds itself with an incidence
angle  that gives rise to either a transmitted wave, or to a greater
cladding penetration; the field reaches the outside medium and some light Power in the evanescent field evaporates first
energy is lost.

© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 31

Bending-induced attenuation Bending effects on loss Vs MFD

Micro-bending losses

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 32

 Major Dispersions in Fiber
 Modal Dispersion: Different modes travel at different velocities,
exist only in multimodal conditions
 Waveguide Dispersion: Signal in the cladding travel with a
different velocity than the signal in the core, significant in single
mode conditions
 Material Dispersion: Refractive index n is a function of
wavelength, exists in all fibers, function of the source line width

Effects of Dispersion and Attenuation

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 33

 Modal Dispersion
High order mode Low order mode

Broadened
Cladding ligh t pulse
Light pulse
Inten sity Core
Inten sity

Axial
Spread, 

t t
0

Schematic illustration of light propagation in a slab dielectric waveguide. Light pulse

entering the waveguide breaks up into various modes which then propagate at different
group velocities down the guide. At the end of the guide, the modes combine to
constitute the output light pulse which is broader than the input light pulse.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap,Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 34

 Ln12
 
cn2

Most fiber ∆<0.01; BL<100(Mb/s)-km for ∆=2x10-3

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 35

   Step-index
 2 Parabolic

 1 Triangular

∆T/L=n1 ∆2/8c

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 36

 Material Dispersion
Input Cladding
v g ( 1 )
Core Output
Emitter v g ( 2 )
Very s hort
light pulse

Intensity Intensity Intensity

Spectrum, ² 
Spread, ² 

 t t
1 o 2 0 

All excitation sources are inherently non-monochromatic and emit within a

spectrum, ² , of wavelengths. Waves in the guide with different free space
wavelengths travel at different group velocities due to the wavelength dependence
of n1. The waves arrive at the end of the fiber at different times and hence result in
a broadened output pulse.

Dr.© 1999
Feroz S.O.IUB
Ahmed, Kas ap, Optoelectronics
ETE505(Prentice Hall)
Optical Fiber Communications 37
 Material Dispersion

Zero
Dispersion
Wavelength

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 38

 Modifying Chromatic Dispersion

 Chromatic Dispersion = Material dispersion

 + Waveguide dispersion
 Material dispersion depends on the material properties
and difficult to alter
 Waveguide dispersion can be altered by changing the
fiber refractive index profile
 1300 nm optimized
 Dispersion Shifting (to 1550 nm)
 Dispersion Flattening (from 1300 to 1550 nm)

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 39

 Different Index Profiles

1300 nm optimized

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB Dispersion Shifted

ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 40
 Different Index Profiles (Cont..)

Dispersion
Flattened

Large area dispersion

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB
shifted Large area dispersion flattened
ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 41
 SM-fiber Dispersions

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 42

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 43
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 44
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 45
 1
 d   dn 
ng  n   
vg   
   n k0  n  / c
 d   d 

dT d  L  d 2

T       L   L 2 
d d v  d 2
 g 
Vg = c / ñg
  2c /  ,   (2c / 2 )

d  L  2c d  1 
   2
  DL  dn d 2n 
T  D 2  2  
d  vg
  d  v g 
 2  d
2 
d 
D  DM  DW
d  1  2c
where , D    2 2
d  vg   DM 
1 dn2 g
c d
BT  1 2  n 2 2 g Vd 2 (Vd ) dn2 g d (Vd ) 
DW   2   
  n2 dV 2
d dV 
BL D   1

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 46

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 47
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 48
 Polarizations of fundamental mode

Two polarization states exist in the fundamental mode

in a single mode fiber

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 49

 Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD)

Each polarization state

has a different velocity 
PMD

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 50

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 51
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 52
 Each frequency component of the optical field propagate in a SMF as:

F(x,y)= field distribution, B(0,w)=initial amplitude

Different spectral components of an
optical pulse propagate inside the fiber according to the simple relation:

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 53

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 54
 Fiber Nonlinearities
Fiber Nonlinearities
When light enters matter, atoms of the matter and photons interact and under certain
circumstances, photons may be absorbed by atoms and excite them to higher energy levels.
Many atoms, when excited to a higher energy state, are not stable. New photons may trigger
them to come down to their initial, lower energy level by releasing photon at longer
wavelength and phonon (the acoustic quantum equivalent of light). The photon-atom
interaction causes photon to propagate through the matter with a frequency that depends on
its energy, . In addition to photon-atom interaction, there are photon–photon and photon-
atom-photon interactions that result in some complex phenomena, some of them not well
understood yet. These interactions are known as nonlinear phenomena.

The nonlinearities in optical fibers fall into two categories:

• The first occurs due to scattering effects in the fiber medium due to the interaction of light
waves with photons/phonons in the silica medium. The two main effects in this category are
Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) and Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS).
• The second set of effects is the optical Kerr effect due to changes in the refractive index
with optical power. These categories include Self-Phase Modulation (SPM), Cross-Phase
Modulation (CPM) and FWM.

While stimulated scatterings are responsible for intensity dependent gain or loss, the
nonlinear refractive index is responsible for intensity dependent phase shift of the optical
signal. One major difference between the scattering effects and the Kerr effect is the
stimulated scatterings have threshold power levels at which the nonlinear effects manifest
themselves while the Ker effect does not have such threshold.
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 55
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 56
 Stimulated Brillouin Scattering

Optical waves, and acoustic waves produced from the molecular

vibration (tendency of the materials to become compressed in the
presence of electric field-a phenomenon termed electrostriction) in
optical fiber can interact to cause SBS. When the SBS threshold is
exceeded, a significant fraction of the transmitted light is redirected
back toward the transmitter. This result in a saturation of optical power
that reaches the receiver, as well as problems associated with optical
signals being reflected back into the laser. The SBS process also
introduces significant noise into the system, resulting in degraded
BER performance.

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 57

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 58
 TB is the life time of
acoustic phonon

Double peak due to inhomogeneous

distribution of Ge within the core

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 59

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 60
 Note

If the SBS threshold is defined as the input power at which the scattered power
increases as large as the input power at the output in the undepleted pump
approximation, the SBS threshold power is proportional to
1  VS 
PBth ~ 1   (1.1)
gB  VB 
Where g B is the Brillouin gain coefficient, V is the linewidth of the source, and V is
S B

the Brillouin linewidth. Eq.(1.1) indicates that the threshold power will be
increased as the linewidth of the source increases. For optical fibers, the
Brillouin linewidth is generally below 100 MHz, so optical signals modulated at
higher bit rates will experience lesser effects of SBS. From a system point of
view, the relatively narrow gain spectrum of SBS prevents interactions among
channels in WDM system, which makes SBS independent of channel number.
Only each individual channel signal needs to be below the threshold power.
Another characteristics of SBS which make it less troublesome compared to
other nonlinear effects is that the threshold of SBS does not decrease in a long
amplified system because practical optical amplifiers have one or more optical
isolators. The optical isolators prevent accumulations of back-scattered light
from SBS. Therefore, although SBS could be a detrimental nonlinear effect in an
optical communication system, system limitations are usually set by other
nonlinear effects.
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 61
 Stimulated Raman Scattering
In optical fiber, spontaneous Raman scattering converts a small fraction of the
incident power from an optical beam to another optical beam at a frequency
downshifted by an amount determined by the vibrational modes of the medium.
This process is called the Raman effect. SRS can be expressed by considering
two light sources, one of a short wavelength and the other of a longer wavelength
propagating within the same fiber. The short wavelength source excites atoms to
a high energy level as shown in Fig. (b) (see next slide). Then, due to the
nonlinear properties of the medium excited atoms are triggered by other photons
and “drop” to an intermediate energy level by releasing optical energy of a longer
wavelength; this longer wavelength depends on the medium. If the other source is
of the same “longer wavelength” with the released wavelength, then the photon at
the longer wavelength stimulates emission of a new photon. Eventually, all atoms
at the intermediate level will „drop‟ to their initially low (or ground) energy level by
releasing the remaining energy. This is known as stimulated Raman scattering. As
there is a wide range of vibrational states above the ground state, a broad range
of possible transitions are providing. This is shown in Fig. (b) by means of the
shaded region.

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 62

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 63
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 64
 Transmission Fiber
f f

Difference Between SRS and SBS

1. SBS occurs only in the backward direction whereas SRS can occur in
both directions
2. Scattered light is shifted in frequency by about 10GHz for SBS but
by 13THz for SRS
3. Brillouin gain spectrum is extremely narrow (<100MHz) compared
with the Raman-gain spectrum that extends over 10-20THz

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 65

 = Nonlinear index coefficient

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 66

 The Refractive Index of Silica versus Optical Power

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 67

 >

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 68

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 69
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 70
 Four-Wave Mixing

In a multi-channel system, the beating between two or more channels causes

generation of one or more new frequencies at the expense of power depletion of the
original channels. We can consider three lightwave frequencies, wi , w j and w k closely

spaced (in terms of wavelength). Then from the interaction of the three waves, light waves
at frequencies wi  w j  wk are generated. Among these signals, the most troublesome one

is the signal corresponding to [30]

wijk  wi  w j  wk , i  k, j  k (1.5)

This phenomenon is known as Four- Wave Mixing. The name four-photon mixing is also
used for this process synonymously. Depending on the individual frequencies, this beat
signal may lie on or very close to one of the individual channels in frequency, resulting in
significant cross talk to that channel. In a multi-channel system with W channels, this
effect results in W (W  1) 2 of interfering signals corresponding to i, j, k varying from 1
to W .

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 71

 Four-Wave Mixing
FWM requires strong phase matching of coincident energy from all three
wavelengths. The effect of FWM on optical transmission is signal-to-noise
degradation and cross talk.

1 2 3
113 213 223 132 221 231 331
123 312 321
112 332

Four-wave mixing terms caused by the beating of three equally spaced

channels at frequencies 1, 2, and 3.

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 72

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 73
In the first stage, a vapor-deposition method is used to make a cylindrical preform with the
desired refractive-index profile. The preform is typically 1m long and 2cm in diameter.
In the second stage, the preform is drawn into a fiber by using precision-feed mechanism
that feeds the preform into a furnace at the proper speed.

: commonly used techniques are:

MCVD technique

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 74

 Note
Successive layers of SiO2 are deposited on the inside of a fused silica tube
by mixing the vapors of SiCl4 and O2 at a temperature of about 1800oC. To
ensure uniformity, a multiburner torch is moved back and forth across the
tube length using a automatic translation stage. The refractive index of
cladding lays is controlled by adding fluorine to the tube. When a sufficient
cladding thickness has been deposited, the core is formed by adding the
vapors of GeCl4 or POCl3. These vapors react with oxygen to form the
dopants GeO2 and P2O5:
GeCl4+O2 GeO2+2Cl2,
4POCl3+O2 2P2O5+6Cl2

The flow rate of GeCl4 or POCl3 determines the amount of dopant and
corresponding increase in the refractive index of the core. When all layers
forming the core have been deposited, the torch temperature is raised to
collapse the tube into a solid rod of preform.

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 75

1. The preform is fed into a furnace in a
controlled manner where it is heated to a
temperature about 2000oC.
2. The melted preform is drawn into a fiber by
using a precision-feed mechanism.
3. The fiber diameter is monitored optically by
diffracting light emitted by laser from the
fiber. A change in diameter changes the
diffracting pattern, which in turn changes
the photodiode current. This current
change acts as a signal for a servocontrol
mechanism that adjusts the winding rate of (Polymer coating)
the fiber.
4. Fiber diameter can be kept constant to
within 0.1% by this technique.
5. A polymer coating is applied to the fiber
during the drawing step.

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 76

 Note
Diameter of coated fiber is typically 250 μm
The winding rate is typically 0.2-0.5m/s.
Several hours are required to convert a single preform into a fiber of
about 5km length.

Fiber Cables
Cabling of fibers is necessary to protect them from deterioration during
transportation and installation. For some application it may be enough to buffer
the fiber by placing it inside a plastic jacket. For others the cable must be made
mechanically strong by using strengthening elements such as steel rods.
A light duty cable is made by surrounding the fiber by a buffer jacket of hard
plastic. A tight jacket can be provided by applying a buffer plastic coating of 0.5-
1mm thickness on top of the primary coating applied during the drawing process.
In an alternative approach the fiber lies loosely inside a plastic tube.
Microbending looses are nearly eliminated in this loose-tube construction, since
the fiber can adjust itself within the tube. This construction can also be used to
make multifiber cables by using a slotted tube with a different slot for each fiber.

Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 77

 Plastic tube

Buffer plastic
coating on top of
primary coating

Heavy-duty cables use steel or strong polymer such as Kevlar to provide the mechanical
strength. In the loose tube construction, fiberglass rods embedded in polyurethane and a Kevlar
jacket provide the necessary mechanical strength. The same design can be extended to
multifiber cables by placing several loose-tube fibers around a central steel core. When a large
number of fibers need to be placed inside a single cable, a ribbon cable is used. The ribbon is
manufactured by packaging typically 12 fibers between two polyester tapes. Several ribbons
are then stacked into a rectangular array which is placed inside a polyethylene tube.
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 78
Dr. Feroz Ahmed, IUB ETE505 Optical Fiber Communications 79
Fiber Cable Connectors