Fiber Optics

Unit-III

FIBER OPTICS
Introduction: In communication to carry the low frequency information signals
for long distance we need a high frequency wave known as carrier wave. The
information carrying capacity increases with increase of frequency. The optical
waves (1015Hz) are having more information carrying capacity than the Radio
waves (106Hz) and Microwaves (1010Hz) because of its high frequency. But the
propagation of light in atmosphere is impractical because of vagaries like vapour,
oxygen, dust practical etc... So, we need a guided medium for guiding
information carrying optical waves. That is Optical fiber.

Optical fiber communication: A communication system with light as carrier

wave and optical fiber as communication medium.

Basic Principle: The basic principle that can guide the optical signal through the
fiber is “TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION”.

When a light ray passing through the optically denser medium to rarer medium
then at the interface of two media the angle of incidence is more than the critical
angle the ray is totally internal reflected. This phenomenon is known as Total
Internal reflection.
Critical angle: At what angle incidence the angle refraction is 900 is the critical
angle.

2  2 = 90

1 c 1   c

From Snell’s Law: n1 Sin θ1 = n2 Sin θ2

At θ1= θc , θ2=90 n1 Sin θc = n2 Sin 90
Sin θc =

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Basic structure of an optical fiber: Optical fiber is a guided medium for information
carrying optical waves.
Optical Fibers are thin long (km) strands of ultra pure glass (silica) or plastic that can
transmit light from one end to another without much attenuation or loss.
It contains a central cylindrical
structure of refractive index ‘n1’
through which signal is propagating
known as core and is covered with a
layer of lesser refractive index ‘n2’
than core known as cladding. These
layers covered with buffer coating.
The size of the core diameter varies from
8 to 200µm and cladding 12 to 400µm.

Acceptance angle: Acceptance angle, αmax , is the maximum angle in which external light
rays may strike the air/Fiber interface and still propagate down the Fiber with <10
dB loss.
Lost
By applying the Snell’s law to the ray n2 θ<θ c
B
Cladding
Propagating outer medium to core then
n0 n1 θ > θc g Propagates
n0 sin  = n1 sin   n0 sin  = n1 sin[90 −  ]
φ Fiber axis A
n0 sin  = n1 cos   m Core

at  =  max ,  =  c A
   max
B

2
n 
 n0 sin  max = n1 cos c  n0 sin  max = n1 1 −,  2 
 n1 
n12 − n22
sin  max = if the outer medium is air n 0 = 1
n0

sin  max = n12 − n22   max = sin−1 n12 − n22 ( )

 ACCEPTANCE ANGLE ( MAX ) = Sin−1 n12 − n22 ( )
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Acceptance cone: By taking
acceptance angle as semi vertex
angle and form cone, known as
acceptance cone. Any ray entered
through this cone are guided
properly and outside this cone not
guided properly.

NUMARICAL APERTURE : It is the gathering power of the OPTICAL FIBER and is defined as sin of acceptance angle
 NA = Sin ( max ) = n12 − n22
The Numerical aperture may also given in terms of Relative refractive index Δ
n12 − n22 n − n2
It is defined as = 2
 1 for  1
2n1 n1

 NA = n1 2
Classification of Optical fibers:

According to mode guiding optical fibers classified as Multimode and Single mode
fibers.
Multi Mode fiber: Allow more than one
mode.
Single mode fiber: Allow fundamental
mode ie LP01 only.
According to refractive index profile these
are classified as
1) Step index fiber.
2) Graded index fiber.

Step index fiber: n1 core

cladding
1. Refractive index profile: n(r) = n1; r ≤ a (Core) n n2
n(r) = n2 ; r > a (Cladding)
a → radius of the core, n1 → refractive index of core, a
n2 → refractive index of cladding (n1>n2)
-r→

2. The multimode step index fiber has the

core diameter of 50-200µm and cladding
diameter of 125-400µm. Along these fibers
the ray path is zig –zag.

Multimode Step index fiber

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3. Numerical aperture (NA) = .

4. The number of modes allowed through the fiber is given by normalized
frequency and also known as V-number. It is defined as
V-number = =

The number of modes allowed through step index fiber MSI = .

5. The single mode cut off value Vc = 2.405.
.
The single mode SI fiber has core diameter of 8-12µm and cladding diameter of
125 µm.

6. Pulse dispersion : The widening of pulses when they are propagating through
the optical fiber s known as pulse dispersion. This is due to different modes
travelling along different optical paths with same velocity. The information
carrying capacity decreases with increase of pulse dispersion.
The pulse dispersion is more in case of step index fiber.
The pulse dispersion in step index fiber is given by .
7. There is no pulse dispersion in single mode fiber, but it is very difficult to
couple the optical power in to fiber and we have to use laser only as an optical
source.

Graded index fiber:

1.Refractive index profile: n(r) =

(core)

n(r) = n2 ; r > a (cladding)

=1→ triangle graded index, =2 →parabolic graded index.

2. The multimode step index fiber has the

core diameter of 50-100µm and cladding
diameter of 125-140µm. Along these fibers
the ray path is sinusoidal.
Multimode graded index fiber
3.Numarical aperture = .
4.Number of modes allowed through the fiber MGI=

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5.The single mode cut off value for V-number is Vc = 2.405 .

6.Pulse dispersion when

This dispersion is very less when compared with Step index fiber.

Comparison of fiber structures:

Attenuation: When the optical signal is transmitting through the optical fiber the
strength of the signal is decreases. This transmission loss is known as
Attenuation.
If p(0) is the initial optical power and p(z) is optical power of the signal after
traversing a distance ‘z’ km then the power varies with distance as
, where ‘ p’ is the attenuation coefficient.
And it is defined as
For simplicity attenuation is expressed in dB/km.

The Basic attenuation Mechanisms:

• ABSORPTION
Related to fiber material.
• SCATTERING
Associated with fiber material & structural
imperfections.
• RADIATION
Originates from perturbations of the fiber
geometry.

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Absorption is caused by three different mechanisms:
1- Impurities in fiber material: from transition metal ions (must be in order of
ppb) & particularly from OH ions with absorption peaks at wavelengths 2700 nm,
1400 nm, 950 nm & 725nm.
2- Intrinsic absorption (fundamental lower limit): electronic absorption band (UV
region) & atomic bond vibration band (IR region) in basic SiO2.
3- Radiation defects.

Scattering loss is due to Small (compared to wavelength) variation in material

density, chemical composition, and structural in homogeneity scatters light in
other directions and absorb energy from guided optical wave.
Scattering is two types → Linear and nonlinear.
In the linear scattering the energy in one mode is transferred to another mode at
same frequency. There are two types of linear scatterings. Rayleigh scattering,
which is inverse proportional to fourth power of wavelength and Mie scattering.

In the nonlinear scattering the energy in one is transferred to same mode or

another at different frequency. There are two types of nonlinear scatterings.
(1) Stimulated Brillouin scattering (2) Stimulated Raman scattering.
Radiation Losses due to bending of fiber.
Bending Loss (Macro bending & Micro bending)
Macro bending Loss: The curvature of the
bend is much larger than fiber diameter.
Lightwave suffers sever loss due to radiation of
the evanescent field in the cladding region. As
the radius of the curvature decreases, the loss
increases exponentially until it reaches at a
certain critical radius. For any radius a bit
smaller than this point, the losses suddenly
become extremely large. Higher order modes
radiate away faster than lower order modes.
Micro bending Loss: microscopic bends of the
fiber axis that can arise when the fibers are
incorporated into cables. The power is dissipated
through the micro bended fiber, because of the
repetitive coupling of energy between guided
modes & the leaky or radiation modes in the
fiber.

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Block diagram of Optical fiber communication System:

The major blocks of any communication

system are transmitter, receiver, and
communication medium. In optical fiber
communication system, the medium is
optical fiber. It can guide the information
carrying optical waves with very less
attenuation.

In this system the major elements in the

transmitter are Light source and driving
circuit.
Light source provides the optical carrier
wave. As light source LED or SC Laser is
used.
Driving circuit drives the light source in accordance with Electrical input signal.
Then electrical variations converted into optical variations. These are coupled into
fiber, and they will guide the signal to receiver end.
The major elements in the receiver are Photo detector, Amplifier, and signal
restorer.
That photo detector converts the received optical variations into electrical
variations. As a photo detector most commonly Avalanche photo diode is used.
Amplifier amplifies the signal received from photo detector. Then signal are stored
in signal restorer. Then they can be further processed.

Advantages of Optical Communication system:

1. Much Wider Bandwidth (10 GHz)
2. Very High Information Carrying Capacity.
3. Less Attenuation (Order Of 0.2 Db/Km)
4. Small In Diameter and Size & Light Weight
5. Low Cost as Compared to Copper.
6. Greater Safety and Immune to EMI & RFI, Moisture & Corrosion
7. Flexible And Easy to Install in Tight Conduits
8. Is Dielectric in Nature So Can Be Laid in Electrically Sensitive Surroundings
9. Difficult to Tap Fibers, So Secure
10. No Cross Talk and Disturbances

Disadvantages of optical fibers:

1. The terminating equipment is still costly as compared to copper equipment.
2. Of is delicate so has to be handled carefully.
3. Last mile is still not totally fiberized due to costly subscriber premises equipment.
4. Communication is not totally in optical domain, so repeated electric –optical – electrical
conversion is needed.
5. Optical amplifiers, splitters, MUX-DEMUX are still in development stages.
6. Tapping is not possible. Specialized equipment is needed to tap a fiber.
7. Optical fiber splicing is a specialized technique and needs expertly trained manpower.
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8. The splicing and testing equipment are very expensive as compared to copper equipment.

Fiber optic sensors:

In fiber optic sensors optical fiber act as sensing element, or communication media. It can sense
physical stimuli like electrical field, magnetic field, temperature, displacement, pressure etc. Here
we discuss about temperature, displacement, and force sensors.

Temperature sensor:

Working Principle: In this sensor the temperature is sensed by modulation of

intensity of light reflected from a silicon layer. The operation of the sensor is
based on the 1µm wavelength absorption characteristics of silicon as a function
of temperature. Depending on the temperature the amount of light absorbed by
the silicon layer varies. Therefore, the change in the intensity of reflected light is
proportional to the change in the temperature.

Construction: The schematic diagram of

an intensity modulated temperature
sensor is shown in the figure. The fiber is
coated at one end with a thin silicon
layer. The silicon layer is in turn coated
with a reflective coating at the back. The
silicon layer act as sensing element.
Working: The light from a light source is
launched into the fiber from one end of its
branch fiber. It passes through the silicon
layer and reflects by the mirror. The reflected intensity is detected by means of
detector attached to the other branch of the fiber and converts it into electrical
signal. The absorption of light by silicon layer changes with its temperature so
the reflected intensity changes accordingly which leads to corresponding changes
in electrical signal generated by the detector. Therefore, the change in
temperature is directly proportion to the change electrical signal (either
voltage/current) that makes to sense the temperature changes. It can sense
temp. change up to 0.0010C.

Displacement sensor:
Principle: The basic principle applied here is to estimate the displacement of
object by measuring the intensity variation of reflected light from the displaced
object.
Construction: Fig. shows the schematic diagram of fiber optic displacement sensor. It contains
a set of two optical fibers arranged as shown in the figure. One will take the light signal from source
to displacing object known as transmission fiber and the other takes the reflected light from the
object to detector known as receiver fiber. The detector converts optical signal to electrical. Based
on the intensity variation in the reflected light the displacement of the objected can be estimated.

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Working: When the light source is switched on the
fiber attached to it takes the light signal to the object.
If the object is in contact with the fiber, then 100%
light will be reflected back to transmitted fiber and no
light enter in the receiver fiber, so, no output signal.
If the object displaced from the fiber end then some
fraction reflection light enter into the receiver fiber
and detected by the detector and gives some out
signal. The intensity of the output is signal directly
proportional to the displacement and by proper
calibration we can estimate the displacement by using
this sensor.

Optical fiber Force sensor:

Principle: When a fiber is pressed by applying a force then some transmission loss takes place in
the signal passing through it due micro bending of the fiber. By measuring the intensity loss in the
signal by comparing with reference
signal we can estimate the force applied.
Construction: In this setup there are two
fibers of same type, one will act as
sensing arm that optical fiber without
jacket is held between two corrugated
blocks, as shown in the fig. and the other
is act as reference arm to carry the
reference signal from source to
comparator. A beam splitter is used to
split the beam in to two parts, one part
will pass through the reference arm and
the other will pass through sensing arm. Comparator detects the intensity difference that is directly
proportional to the force applied on the sensing fiber.
Working: When the light source is switched on and there is no force applied on the sensing fiber
then there is no intensity difference in the reference and sensing signal. When a force is applied on
the sensing fiber through corrugated blocks then there is some transmission loss takes place in the
signal passing through sensing fiber due to microlending losses. So, a difference in the intensity of
the signal passing through sensing and reference arms observed by means of comparator. This
difference is directly proportional to the force applied, therefore by proper calibration we can
estimated the force applied.

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