UNIT IV

LASERS and OPTICAL FIBERS

LASER:
The acronym for LASER is Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
Characteristics features of lasers:
Laser light is characterized by
1. Directionality.
Laser light is highly directional and highly collimated beam of light.
2. Monochromaticity.
Laser light is characterized by a high degree of monochromatic.
Δλ = 10-7 Å

3. Coherence.
Laser light has high degree of coherence. There are two types of coherence,
a) Temporal coherence
If we consider two waves in the same wavefront, and the difference between the
wavelengths of them is less, then the source is said to be highly temporal coherence. Since
laser light is highly monochromatic, it has a high temporal coherence.
b) Spatial coherence
Consider phase difference between two points in a wave at any time, separated by
some distance. If the phase difference between the same two points in a wave at later time,
separated by same distance is constant, then one can say that the light is highly spatially
coherent.
4. Light intensity.
Because of the phase correlation and high monochromaticity, the laser light is
more intense among all the known sources.
5. Focussability.
Since the laser light is highly monochromatic and also a highly collimated beam, it
can brought to a sharp focus by using lens. It is so sharp that, the diameter of the spot will
be close to the wavelength of the focused light.
Interaction of Radiation with Matter:
Radiation Interacts with matter under appropriate conditions. The interaction leads
to an abrupt transition from one energy level to another. There are 3 kinds of transition
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involving electromagnetic radiation is possible between two energy levels E 1 and E2 in an
atom.
1. Induced Absorption:
If the atom is initially in the lower state E1, it can be raised to E2 by absorbing a
photon of energy E2 – E1 = hγ. This process is called induced absorption.

Incident photon

E1

a) Before b) After

Atom + Photon Atom*

2. Spontaneous emission:
If the atom is initially in the upper energy state E2, it can drop to E1 by emitting a
photon of energy hγ, this is spontaneous emission.

Emitted photon

a) Before b) After

Atom* Atom + Photon

3. Stimulated emission:
Einstein suggested that under certain conditions, it is possible to stimulate an
excited atom to emit a photon by another matching photon. An atom in an excited state
may under the influence of electromagnetic filed of a photon of frequency γ incident upon
it, jump to a lower energy state, emitting additional photon of same frequency γ. This is
known as stimulated emission of radiation. The radiated light waves are exactly inphase
with the incident ones. So the result is an enhanced beam of coherent light.

Incident photon Stimulated photon

Emitted photon
Before
After

Atom* + Photon Atom + (Photon + Photon)

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Boltzmann factor:
At thermal equilibrium the ratio of population of the upper energy state to the
lower energy state is given by,
h
 N2   E2  E1 
  
   e   KT   e KT
 N1 
E2 > E1, e-(hγ/KT) < 1, Then N2 < N1
Einstein’s coefficients [Expression for energy density at thermal equilibrium]
Consider two energy states E1 and E2 of a system of atoms. Let N1 and N2 be the
atoms with energy E1 and E2 per unit volume of the system. N1 and N2 are called the
number density of atoms in the states 1 and 2 respectively. Let the radiation be incident on
the system. Let ‘Uγ dγ’ be the energy incident per unit volume of the system in the
frequency range γ and γ + dγ. Here ‘Uγ’ is energy density.
Case i) Induced absorption
Here the radiation absorbed is a frequency γ. The number of such absorption per
unit time, per unit volume is called rate of absorption. The rate of absorption depends
upon,
a) the number density of lower energy state. i.e., N1 Incident photon
b) energy density, i.e., Uγ

Rate of absorption  N1Uγ

Or, Rate of absorption = B12 N1Uγ ---- (1)

Where ‘B12’ is constant of proportionality called Einstein’s
coefficient of induced absorption,
Case ii) Spontaneous emission
Here transition is voluntary. The number of spontaneous
emissions per unit time, per unit volume is called rate of
spontaneous emission. It depends upon only the number density
in the higher energy state, i.e., N2
 Rate of spontaneous emission = A21N2 ---- (2)

Where ‘A21’ is called Einstein’s coefficient of spontaneous emission.

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Case iii) Stimulated emission
Since the system requires an external photon of appropriate frequency γ, to stimulate the
atom. The number of stimulated emissions per unit time, per unit volume, called
rate of stimulated emission, is proportional to

a) the number density of the higher energy state, i.e., N 2

Before
b) the energy density, i.e., Uγ

 Rate of stimulated emission = B21 N2 Uγ ---- (3)

Where ‘B21’ is called Einstein’s coefficient of stimulated emission. After

Under thermal equilibrium, the number of photons absorbed by the system per
second must be equal to the number of photons it emits per second by both the stimulated
and the spontaneous emission processes.

i.e., Rate of absorption = Rate of spontaneous emission + Rate of stimulated emission

From equations (1), (2) and (3),

B12 N1Uγ = A21N2 + B21 N2 Uγ
Or, Uγ (B12 N1 – B21 N2) = A21N2
A21 N 2
Or, U 
B12 N1  B21 N 2
By rearranging the above equation, we get,
 
A21  1 
U    ---- (4)
B21  B12 N 1 
 B N  1
 21 2 
But, by Boltzmann’s law, we have,
h
 N2   E2  E1 
  
   e   KT   e KT
 N1 
h
N1
  e KT
N2

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 Equation (4) becomes,
 
 
A21  1 
U  ---- (5)
B21  B12 KTh

 e  1
 B21 
According to Planck’s law, the equation for ‘Uγ’ is
 
8h 3  1 
U  ---- (6)
c 3  KTh

 e  1
By comparing equations (5) and (6), we have,
A21 8h 3 B12
 and 1 or B12 = B21
B21 c3 B21

i.e., The probability of induced absorption is equal to the probability of stimulated

emission.
 At thermal equilibrium the equation for energy density is

A
U 
 h 
B e KT  1
 
Discussions of Einstein’s coefficients
i) Dependence of emission on frequency
A21 8h 3
We know that,  --- (1)
B21 c3
Where ‘A21’ is called Einstein’s coefficient of spontaneous emission.
and ‘B21’ is called Einstein’s coefficient of stimulated emission.
A21
  3
B21

 E 
Since     , When the energy difference between the two levels E 1 and E2 is large,
 h 
A 
Then,  21   1 OR A21  B21
 B21 
 For higher ΔE values, the probability of spontaneous emission is more.

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 ii) System in thermal equilibrium
 
8h 3  1  A21 8h 3
We know that, U   -- (2) and 
c 3  KTh
 B21 c3
 e  1
h
A21  KT 
   e  1 --- (3)

B 21 U   
h

Case (a): hγ >> KT: e KT   1

A 
Hence equ (3)   21   1 OR A21  B21
 B21 
Spontaneous emissions are much larger.
h

Case (b): hγ = KT: Here e KT

will be low and comparable to 1.  A21 and B21 are
comparable, which means that stimulated emission becomes significant
B21 >> A21
h
 KT   A21 
Case (c): hγ << KT:  e  1   1 and     1 OR B21  A21
 
   21 
B

Hence for lower frequencies, stimulated emissions dominate. This is what we observe at
room temperature.
iii) Non-equilibrium conditions leading to amplification

We know that, Rate of emissions = A21N2 + B21 N2 Uγ ---- (4)

Rate of absorption = B12 N1Uγ ---- (5)

Rate of emissions A 21 N 2 + B 21 N 2 U  N  A21  B 21U  

  2  
Rate of absorption B12 N 1 U  N 1  B12U  

Since B12 = B21

Rate of emissions N  A 
 2  21  1 --- (6)
Rate of absorption N 1  B12U  

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If ΔE < < KT i.e., hγ < < KT (Case 1)

 A21 
Then    1
 B12U  

Then equation (6) becomes

Rate of emissions N
 2
Rate of absorption N1

We know that in normal condition N2 < N1. If we made N2 > N1 by some means,
the system will be in non equilibrium condition since by Boltzmann factor.

In this case, rate of emission exceeds the rate of absorptions. Further if the photons
emitted in a particular direction are returned in to the system by reflecting them back and
forth, then the rate of stimulated emission exceeds the absorption rate. If right conditions
are provided, all the stimulated emissions could be arranged to be identical in respect of
wavelength, phase and direction to the starting stimulating radiation, then that itself has
been amplified. To achieve this we should maintain N2 > N1 always. This forms the basis
for functioning of every laser.
Laser action:
Conditions for Laser action
The system should have
1. Population inversion
2. Metastable state

Population inversion:
Any material consists of collection of atoms, molecules or ions. Under normal
circumstances there is always a large number of atoms in the lower energy state than in the
excited state. Then by some means, we can make number of atoms (N 2) in the excited state
is grater than the number of atoms (N1) in lower state, then one can say that population
inversion is attained by the atomic system.

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Metastable State

A Metastable state is one which has a relatively longer lifetime and electrons excited to
these levels will come down to lower energy levels at a much smaller rate than the rate at
which they are excited.
As shown in figure, a lasing medium must have at least one metastable state where atoms
can be trapped long enough (microseconds to milliseconds) for a population inversion to
occur. Although laser action is possible with only two energy levels, most lasers have
three or more levels.

Three level laser energy diagram

Basic Requisites of a Laser system

The important requisites of a typical laser system are
1. Active medium and matrix
2. Pumping
3. Optical resonance cavity or Laser cavity
1.Active medium and matrix

For interaction of matter with radiation, we need suitable atoms. Generally, the group of
atoms required for laser action is present in some other group of atoms. The material in
which laser action takes place is called active material. The group of atoms in which the

8
active material is embedded is called matrix. The matrix provides the energy levels for the
active material for laser action to take place.
2.Pumping

The process through which the atoms of the active medium are induced to absorb energy is
called pumping. The pumping can be achieved by photons-optical pumping, by electric
discharge-electrical pumping, or by chemical reaction-chemical pumping.
3.Laser cavity

The photons emitted by stimulated emission must be made to increase in number. This is
done inside a chamber called laser cavity or the resonant cavity. The laser cavity consists
of a chamber in which the active material and matrix are present. The chamber is fixed
with two mirrors, one fully reflecting, the other one partially reflecting. When the
stimulated emissions occur, the photons undergo repeated reflections and the population
builds up inside the chamber and ultimately the final beam emerges.
Partially
Amplifying chamber reflecting
mirror
Fully
reflecting
mirror Laser
output

Active medium + matrix

Collision of first kind

e1 + A e2 + A*
Collision of second kind

A* + B A + B*
Brewster window:
Reflected ray

Incident ray Refracted ray

Brewster angle ‘’ satisfies the condition, tan = µ, Where µ is RI of the material.

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Helium – Neon Laser:
The first gas Laser constructed by Javan in the laboratory was the Helium – Neon Laser.

Construction:

Power supply
Quartz tube
Electrodes
Polarized beam

λ = 6328 Å

Brewster’s windows Partially silvered mirror

Fully silvered mirror

It consists of a discharge tube made of fused quartz, with a diameter of 1.5 cm and
of length nearly 1 m. The tube is filled with a mixture of He and Ne gases in the ratio 10:1,
at a total pressure of about 1 torr (1 mm of Hg). The tube has parallel mirrors, one of them
partly transparent, at both ends. The spacing of the mirrors is equal to an integral number
of half wavelengths of laser light.
Working:

Helium Neon

λ = 33912 Å

λ = 6328 Å

λ = 11523 Å

Excitation of He atoms
due to electron collision

Ne atoms returns to ground state by

collision with walls of the tube
Ground State

Fig: He-Ne energy level diagram

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When a voltage of about 1000 V is applied across the two electrodes, a glow discharge of
the gases is initiated in the tube. The accelerated electrons collide with He atoms, and it is
a collision of first kind, wherein the He atoms are excited to two energy levels 2 1S and
23S, which are metastable states of He. The atoms remains stay longer time in 2 1S and 23S
states.

e1 + He e2 + He*

For Ne gas, there is a close coincidence in energy between two of its excited states 5S and
3S with two metastable states of 21S and 23S in He atoms. When excited He atoms collide
with ground state Ne atoms, resonant energy transfer takes place between them. As a
result Ne atoms gets excited to 5S and 3S levels, and He atoms returns to ground state.

This is a collision of second kind.

He* + Ne Ne* + He

Thus the population of the 3S and 5S levels of the Ne increases rapidly which leads
to population inversion. Once population inversion is established between the higher states
(5S and 3S) with respect to lower states (3P and 2P respectively), laser action starts. And
in Neon, there are mainly three types of laser emission takesplace.
1) Transitions from 5S level to 3P level give rise to radiation of wavelength 33912 Å,
which is in infra-red region.
2) Transitions from the 5S level to 2P level give rise to the visible radiation of
wavelength 6328 Å, which is red light (Most popular one).
3) Transitions from 3S level to 2P level giving rise to 11523 Å radiation which is also
in the infra-red region.
The atoms in the 1S level gets excited again to 5S and 3S levels by using external
energy, since 1S is a metastable state. And, or from 1S, Ne atoms returns to ground state
by collision with the walls of the tube.
The Brewster end windows allow light of one polarization to pass through without
any reflection losses. Because the electron impacts that excite the He and Ne atoms occur
all the time, a He-Ne laser operates continuously.
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Semi Conductor Laser
A semi conductor diode laser is a specially fabricated PN junction device that
emits coherent light when it is forward biased.
Construction:
A schematic diagram of semi conductor laser is shown in figure below.

P – Type
Laser light
HT

N – Type

Fig: Schematic diagram of semiconductor laser

The diode is extremely small in size with sides of the order of 1 mm. The junction
lies in a horizontal plane through the center with thickness 1 μm. A pair of parallel planes
are cleaved or polished perpendicular to the plane of the junction. The top and bottom
faces are roughened to prevent lasing action in that direction.
Working:
When a forward bias is applied to the semiconductor, perpendicular to the plane of
the junction a forward current flows. As the bias is increased, eventually a threshold
current is reached at which the stimulated emissions occurs and a monochromatic and
highly directional beam of light is emitted from the junction.

Condition to achieve laser action is, we have to pass a large current and both P –
type and N – type semiconductors are heavily doped. Because of large forward current a
holes moves from the P – to N – side and an electron moves from N – to P – side. At the
junction a recombination of electron and holes takes place and the energy is released in the
form of light, which is a stimulated radiation.

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 Recombination of
electron and hole

N – Type
hγ
+ + + +

+
P – Type

Junction

Fig: Energy level diagram

Here hγ = Eg

Where Eg is the energy gap

The frequency of the emitted light is given by

Eg

h

Advantages of semiconductor laser:

1. They are compact

2. They are efficient
3. They are highly stable
4. They can be easily fabricated
Applications of Lasers
Lasers find remarkable applications in the fields such as medicine (eye surgery,
cancer treatment, stomatology, plastic surgery, etc.), material processing (welding, cutting,
drilling etc.), communications (optical fibers), energy resource, photography, defense,
laser fusion, holography, etc,.
Holography
Holography has become an important information carrying technique these days. In 1948,
Dennis Gabor was working with ideas of holography. His main objective was to improve
the phase contrast of the final image in an electron microscope. The idea did not find
immediate extension to photographic imaging due to unavailability of monochromatic

13
sources of light. With the advent of lasers in 1960, holography took off as an important
imaging technique. In 1962, Leith and Upatnicks used Gabor’s idea and developed
holography.
In an ordinary photograph a two dimensional image of the object is recorded. This image
has information about the intensity variation of on the object. On the other hand, in
holography the intensity and the phase information of the object is recorded. A holograph
records an interference pattern and the image no way resembles the object. One needs to
reconstruct the image from the hologram. The word holography has originated from the
Greek words-holos meaning complete, graphy meaning writing. A holograph is supposed
to contain complete information about the object.
Principle: Holography is based on the principle of interference. The beam reflected from
the object interferes with the direct beam. The resulting interference fringes are formed on
the photographic plate. When the beam is incident on the object, the reflected beam has
wavefronts with various phases arising from many points on the object. These different
wavefronts while interfering with direct beam results in an extremely complex fringe
pattern. When the photographic film containing this pattern is illuminated suitably, the
image can be reconstructed.
Recording of a hologram

An extended laser beam is divided into parts

using a mirror. The part of the beam reflected
from the mirror is called the reference beam.
The second part of the beam is made to
incident on the object. This beam gets
reflected from the object. This beam called as
object beam and the reference beam undergo
interference on the photographic film. The
interference pattern is complex and does not
Reconstruction of the image
resemble the object. Through interference Laser beam
The hologram is illuminated hologram
pattern, both intensity and phase distributions
with laser beam identical to the
are recorded. real
one used in its construction. The image

various interference points on Virtual

image
the hologram diffract the
incident beam. The hologram
(also called the Gabor zone
14
plate) acts as a grating.
The wavefronts arising from the hologram interfere to give sense of object which was
hologramed. At one position a real will be formed. On the side of illumination by the
beam, a virtual image is seen. The real image can be photographed. If one changes the
position of the eye on the transmission side of the hologram, various wavefronts come into
interference giving different aspects of the object.
Applications of Holography:
Holography technique are used in
1. Holographic interferometer
The method used to study minute distortions of an object that takes place
such as due to stress or vibrations etc.,
2. Holographic diffraction grating
The method produces rulings much more uniformly than by a ruling engine
3. Acoustical holography
The hologram could be made for scanning of the human body with ultra
sound, after reconstructed three dimensional view will get.
4. Thick hologram
In this the interference pattern is recorded in three dimensions.
5. Information coding
In this method, the reference wave is passed through an encoding mask
which generates a special wave front. In order to get back the information
recorded, the hologram has to be illuminated with the same kind of wave
front only. Since the masking details are kept secret, the information in the
hologram is also guarded.

OPTICAL FIBERS
INTRODUCTION:
The first experimental proof that light could be guided was given by John Tyndall
nearly 120 years ago. The first glass fabrics were made in the 1920’s. But the concept of
cladding is introduced in 1950. Optical fiber communication is mainly because of the
14
inversion of lasers by Maiman in 1960. The optical frequencies are of the order of 5x10
Hz as compared to electrical communication frequencies which are about 10 10 Hz. So
there is a increase in the signal strength. At the early time some of the best optical glasses
had attenuations of the order of several thousands dB/km. For practical, communication is
possible only when the attenuation could be of the order of 20 dB/km or less.

15
 By 1970, the workers of corning glass works produced the first optical fiber with
loss under 20 dB/km. By 1979, the fiber loss was brought down to just 0.2 dB/km.

The first fiber optical communication was installed in Chicago, in 1977. A 24 –

fiber optical cable less than 2.5 cm diameter in size was employed to carry 16,000 voice
circuits to serve them. Around 1980, in USA alone more than 3 million kilometers of
optical fibers were laid to replace electrical communication across the country and the
decade 1980 is referred to as decade of glass.

The fiber optics communication is also known as light wave communication or

photonics.
Photonics is the enabling technology for optical fiber communication to improve
its performance and to reduce its cost.

Optical fibers construction:

Optical fibers are essentially light guides used in optical communications as wave
guides. They are transparent dielectrics and able to guide visible and infrared light over
long distances.

An optical fiber is made of mainly two parts. One is the inner cylindrical material
made of glass or plastic called the core. The outer part is called the cladding which
envelops the inner core as a concentric cylinder. The cladding is also made of similar
material but of lesser refractive index. There is a material continuity between core and
cladding. The cladding is enclosed in polyurethane jacket.

16
Optical fibers as waveguides:

A waveguide is a tubular structure through which energy of some sort could be

guided in the form of waves. Since light waves can be guided through a fiber, it is called
light guide. It is also called fiber wave guide or fiber light guide.

Light
Ray

Core
Light
Ray Cladding
The cladding has always lower refractive index than that of core. The light signal
which enters into the core can strike the interface of the core and cladding only at larger
angle of incidence. The light signal undergoes multiple reflections. Since each reflection
is a total internal reflection, the signal sustains its strength and also confines itself
completely within the core during propagation. Thus, the optical fiber functions as a wave
guide.
If the fiber has sharp bends, then there is no total internal reflection occurs, so
signal fails to come out from the fiber.

Total internal reflection:

When a light travels from denser medium to rarer medium and the angle of
incidence is greater than critical angle, the total internal reflection takes place.
From Snell’s law
n1sin θ1 = n2 sin θ2
At critical angle θ1 = θc and θ2 = 90°
∴n1sin θc = n2 sin 90 = n2

n 
or θc= sin -1  2 
 n1 
In case of total internal reflection, there is absolutely no absorption of light energy
at the reflecting surface.

17
Numerical aperture and Ray propagation in the fiber:

Let us consider the special case of a ray which suffers critical incidence at the core
cladding interface. Let ‘AO’ be the incident ray, entering to the core at an angle ‘θo’ with
the fiber axis. Let it be refracted along OB at an angle θ1 in the core, and further proceed
to fall at critical angle of incidence (90 – θ1) at B on the interface between core and
cladding. Since it is a critical angle of incidence, the ray is refracted at 90° to the normal
drawn to the interface i.e., it grazes along BC.
If the angle of incidence is less than ‘θo’ then, the ray will gets total internal
reflections. And the rays with incidence are greater than ‘θo’ will not take total internal
reflection. Therefore the incident rays which are within the cone AOA’ will get total
internal reflections.
The angle ‘θo’ is called the waveguide acceptance angle or the acceptance cone
half – angle, and ‘sinθo’ is called the numerical aperture (N A) of the fiber. The numerical
aperture represents the light – gathering capability of the optical fiber.
Condition for propagation:
Let no, n1 and n2 be the refractive indices of surrounding medium, core of the fiber
and cladding respectively.
Now, for refraction at the point of entry of the ray AO into the core, we have by
applying the Snell’s law that,
no sinθo = n1 sin θ1
At the point B on the interface, the angle of incidence = 90 – θ1.
∴ Again applying Snell’s law, we have,
n1 sin(90 – θ1) = n2 sin 90
or n1 cosθ1 = n2
n2
or cosθ1 = --------------------(2)
n1

18
 n1 n1 1
from (1), Sinθo = sin  1 = (1  cos 2 1 ) 2
n0 n0

n1 n2 n n12  n 22 n12  n 22
or sinθo = 1  22 = 1 =
n0 n1 n0 n12 no

If the medium surrounding the fiber in air, then no = 1

Or sin θo = n12  n22

If θi is the angle of incidence of an incident ray, then the ray will be able to propagate

If θi < θo or Sinθi < sin θo

or sin θ i < n12  n22

Thus the condition for propagation is sin θ i < N A
Fractional index change (Δ):
The fractional index change Δ is the ratio of the refractive index difference of the
core and cladding to the refractive index of core of an optical fiber.
(n1  n2 )
∴Δ= --------------- (3)
n1
Relation between N A and Δ:
From equation (3)

(n1 – n2) = n1 Δ

we have N A = n12  n22

= (n1  n2 ) (n1  n2 )

= (n1  n2 ) n1 

since n1 ≈ n2, ( n1 + n2) = 2 n1

∴ N.A. = 2n12 

or N.A = n1 2

19
 As Δ increases, N.A. increases and thus enchances the light gathering capacity of
the fiber. But we cannot increase ‘Δ’ to a very large value. Since it leads to ‘intermodal
dispersion’, which causes signal distortion.
Types of optical fibers and modes of transmission:
In any optical fiber, the whole material of the cladding has a uniform refractive
index value. But the refractive index of the core materials may either remains constant or
subjected to variation in a particular way. The curve which represents the variation of
refractive index with respect to the radial distance from the axis of the fiber is called
refractive index profile. The optical fibers are classified under three categories based on
geometry, refractive index profile and the number of modes that the fiber can guide.
a) single mode fiber
b) step-index multimode fiber
c) Graded index multimode fiber.
a) Single mode fiber:
A single mode fiber has a core material of uniform refractive index value.
Similarly cladding also has a material of uniform refractive index but of lesser value. This
results in a sudden increase in the value of refractive index from cladding to core. Thus its
refractive index profile takes the shape of a step. The diameter value of the core is about 8
to 10 μm. Because of its narrow core, it can guide just a single mode as shown in fig.
Hence it is called single mode fiber.

Single mode fibers are the most extensively used ones and they constitute 80% of
all fibers that are manufactured in the world today. They need Lasers as the source of
light. Though less expensive, it is very difficult to splice (join) them. They find particular
application in submarine cable system.

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 Geometry

Refractive Index
Profile

Ray Propagation

Fig: single mode fiber

b) Step – index multimode fiber:
Here core has larger diameter, so it is possible to propagate a large number of
modes as shown in fig. Its refractive index profile is similar to that of a single mode fiber
but with a larger plane regions for the core.
The step-index multimode fiber can accept either a laser or an LED as source of
light. It is the least expensive of all. Its typical application is in data links which has
lower band width requirements.

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 Geometry

Refractive Index
Profile

Ray Propagation

Fig. Step index multi mode fiber

c) Graded – index multimode fiber:
It is also called GRIN. The geometry of GRIN is same as that of step index
multimode fiber. Its core material has a special feature that its refractive index value
decreases in the radially outward direction from the axis and becomes equal to that of the
cladding at the interface. But the Refractive index of cladding remains constant. Either a
Laser or LED can be the source for the GRIN multimode fiber. It is most expensive of all.
Its splicing could be done with some difficulty. Its typical application is the telephone
trunk between central offices.

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 Geometry

Refractive Index
Profile

Ray Propagation

Fig.: Graded index multi mode fiber

Modes of propagation:
V – number:
The number of modes supported for propagation in the fiber is determined by a
parameter called V – number and is given by
d d
V  no n12  n22 or V  no ( N . A)
 
for v >>1, the number of modes supported by the fiber (approximately) is given by
V2
number of modes ≈
2
here d ⇒ core diameter
λ ⇒ wavelength of light propagating in the fiber.

Attenuation:
The loss of power suffered by the optical signal as it propagates through the fiber is
called attenuation. It is also called the fiber loss.
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The three mechanism through which attenuation takes place are
1. Absorption 2. Scattering 3. Radiation losses

 10 P 
 log 10  out  dB / km Where L is in km
L  Pin 
1. Absorption:
In this case, the loss of signal power occurs due to absorption of photons associated with
signal. Photons are absorbed.
a) By impurities in the silica glass of which the fiber is made of.
b) By intrinsic absorption by the glass material itself.
2. Scattering Losses:
While the signal travels in the fiber, the photons may be scattered because of sharp
changes in refractive index values inside the glass (non – crystalline) over long distances.
The sharp variation in refractive index value inside the fiber glass is induced by localized
structural in homogeneity in the material.

Scattered Photon

Scattering Center

3. Radiation losses:
Radiation losses occur due to bending of fiber. There are two types of bends.
a) Macroscopic bends: This refers to bends having radii that are large as compared
to the fiber diameter, such as ones which occur while turning it around a corner.

Escaping ray
b) Microscopic bends: These are repetitive small scale fluctuations in the linearity of
the fiber axis. Microscopic bending occurs due to non - uniformities in the

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 manufacturing of the fiber or by non uniform lateral pressures created during the
cabling of the fiber.

Advantages of optical communication system:

Escaping ray
1. Optical fibers can carry very large amounts of information in either digital or
analog form.
2. The raw materials used to make optical fibers are easily available at low cost.
3. Because of their compactness and light weights, fibers are much easier to transport.
4. Optical fibers are totally protected from interference between different
communication channels.
5. There is no signal disturbance in optical fibers.
6. The common grounding is irrelevant in optical fibers.
7. There is no energy radiation from a fiber.
8. Optical fibers are protected from corrosive and flammable environments.
9. Cost / meter/ channel for fiber would be lesser than that of metallic cable.
Limitations of optical communication system:
a. The optical connectors which are used to connect (splicing) two fibers are highly
expensive.
b. The fibers will not bent to smaller radius of curvature, which leads to breaking of
fiber.
c. The fibers undergo expansion and contraction with temperature, which leads to
loss in signal power.
d. Optical fibers facing maintenance costs.
Applications of fiber optics:
1. Optical fibers used for long distance transmission or communication of sound signals.
2. Optical fibers are used in Fiber – optic endoscope.
3. Optical fibers are used as sensing device.
4. Optical fibers are used for data link purpose.
5. Optical fibers are used as a communication device in Local Area Networks (LAN).

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