UNIT-1

Optical Fiber Structures

Dr. TANUJA P PhD, PostDoc
Dept. of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Technology
Bangalore
tanujapatgar.ec@drait.edu.in
 Evolution of fiber optic system
First generation
• Uses GaAs semiconductor laser
• Operating region was near 0.8 μm.
• Bit rate : 45 Mb/s
• Repeater spacing : 10 km
Second generation
• Bit rate: 100 Mb/s to 1.7 Gb/s
• Repeater spacing: 50 km
• Operation wavelength: 1.3 μm
• Semiconductor: InGaAsP
 Third generation
• Bit rate : 10 Gb/s
• Repeater spacing: 100 km
• Operating wavelength: 1.55 μm
Fourth generation
• Fourth generation uses WDM technique
• Bit rate: 10 Tb/s
• Repeater spacing: > 10,000 km
• Operating wavelength: 1.45 to 1.62 μm
Fifth generation
▪ Uses Roman amplification technique and optical solution
8 Bit rate: 40 - 160 Gb/s
Elements of an Optical Fiber
Transmission link
Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to
another by sending pulses of light through an optical fiber. The light forms an
electromagnetic carrier wave that is modulated to carry information.

Fiber is preferred over electrical cabling when high bandwidth, long distance, or immunity
to electromagnetic interference are required. This type of communication can transmit
voice, video, and telemetry through local area networks, computer networks, or across
long distances. Optical fiber is used by many telecommunications companies to
transmit telephone signals, Internet communication, and cable television signals.
Researchers at Bell Labs have reached internet speeds of over 100 peta bit ×km per
second using fiber-optic communication.

The process of communicating using fiber-optics involves the following basic steps:
1. creating the optical signal involving the use of a transmitter, usually from an electrical
signal
2. relaying the signal along the fiber, ensuring that the signal does not become too
distorted or weak
3. Receiving the optical signal
4. Converting it into an electrical signal

Advantages of Optical Fiber

⚫ Thinner
⚫ Less Expensive
⚫ Higher Carrying Capacity
⚫ Less Signal Degradation& Digital
Signals
⚫ Light Signals
⚫ Non-Flammable
⚫ Light Weight
 Much Higher Bandwidth (Gbps) - Thousands of channels can be multiplexed
together over one strand of fiber
Immunity to Noise- Immune to electromagnetic interference (EMI)
Safety - Doesn’t transmit electrical signals, making it safe in environments like
a gas pipeline.
High Security - Impossible to “tap into”

Less Loss - Repeaters can be spaced 75 miles apart (fibers can be made to have only 0.2 dB/km of
attenuation)
Reliability- More resilient than copper in extreme environmental conditions
Size - Lighter and more compact than copper.
Flexibility - Unlike impure, brittle glass, fiber is physically very flexible.
Fiber Optic Advantages

⚫ greater capacity (bandwidth up to 2

Gbps, or more)

⚫ smaller size and lighter weight

⚫ lower attenuation

⚫ immunity to environmental
interference

⚫ highly secure due to tap difficulty and

lack of signal radiation

 Disadvantages of fiber optics

⚫ Disadvantages include the cost

of interfacing equipment
necessary to convert electrical
signals to optical signals. (optical
transmitters, receivers) Splicing
fiber optic cable is also more
difficult.
Areas of Application

⚫ Telecommunications
⚫ Local Area Networks
⚫ Cable TV
⚫ CCTV
⚫ Optical Fiber Sensors
 RAY OPTICS
Refraction and Total Internal Reflection
⚫ Optical fibers work on the principle of total
internal reflection
⚫ The angle of refraction at the interface between
two media is governed by Snell’s law:

n1 sin 1 = n2 sin 2
 Numerical Aperture
⚫ Light gathering and acceptance capability of fiber
⚫ The angle of acceptance is twice that given by the numerical aperture

N.A. = n12 − n22

Total Internal Reflection in Fiber
 Optical Fiber
An optical fiber is cylindrical transparent waveguide that conveys electromagnetic waves at
Optical frequency. It consists of
1. Core : The core is the inner part of the optical fiber. It is the medium, which
allows the light to pass through it. The core region has the highest refractive index in the
optical fiber. The core is made up of Glass or Plastic.
2. Cladding : The cladding is the substance that surrounds the core. It's made of
glass or plastic and has a lower refractive index than the core

The centre of the cable is referred to as the core. It has a highter refractive index than
the cladding, which surrounds the core. The contact surface between the core and
cladding creates an interface surface that guides the light; the difference between
refractive index of the core and cladding is what causes the mirror like interface
surface, which guides light along the core. Light bounces through the core from one end
to the other according to the principle of total internal reflection, as explained by the
laws of light. The cladding is then covered with a protective plastic or PVC jacket.
The diameters of the core, cladding, and jacket can vary widely; for a single fiber optic
cable can have core, cladding, and jacket diameters of 9, 125, and 250 um, respectively.
⚫ The index of refraction of the cladding is less than that of the core,
causing rays of light leaving the core to be refracted back into the core
n1>n2
⚫ A light-emitting diode (LED) or laser diode (LD) can be used for
the source
⚫ Jacket:
⚫ Advantages of optical fiber include:
➢ Greater bandwidth than copper
➢ Lower loss
➢ Immunity to crosstalk
➢ No electrical hazard
 Optical Fiber Modes and Configurations
➢ The optical fiber is a dielectric waveguide that operates at optical frequency.
➢ The propagation of light along a waveguide can be described in terms of a set of guided
electromagnetic waves called the modes.
➢ These guided modes are referred to as bound or
trapped modes.
➢ Only certain discrete number of modes can propagate along fiber.
➢ Modes satisfies the homogeneous equation in the fiber and boundary conditions a the
surface.
Mode is the one which describes the nature of propagation of electromagnetic waves in
a wave guide. i.e. it is the allowed direction whose associated angles satisfy the conditions
for total internal reflection and constructive interference.
Based on the number of modes that propagates through the optical fiber, classified as:
• Single mode fibers
• Multi mode fibers
Modes and configurations

2
 Single mode and multimode

27
 Single mode Fiber:
➢ Core size is small. Typical core sizes are 2 to 15 μm.
➢ Only one mode can propagate through the cable.
➢ Single mode fiber is also known as fundamental or mono mode fiber.
➢ Does not suffer from mode delay differences(Dispersion)
In a fiber, if only one mode is transmitted through it, then it is said to be a single mode fiber.
• A typical single mode fiber may have a core radius of 3 μm and a numerical aperture
of 0.1 at a wavelength of 0.8 μm.
• The condition for the single mode operation is given by the V number of the fiber
which is defined as such that V ≤ 2.405.
• Here, n1 = refractive index of the core; a = radius of the core; λ = wavelength of the light
propagating through the fiber; Δ = relative refractive indices difference
• V-number is less than 2.405, Only one path is available
• Core diameter is small
• No dispersion
• Higher band width (1000 MHz)
• Used for long haul communication
Multimode Fiber:
o If more than one mode is transmitted through optical fiber, then it is said to be a
multimode fiber.
o The larger core radii of multimode fibers make it easier to launch optical power into the
fiber and facilitate the end to end connection of similar powers.
o More than one path is available
o V-number is greater than 2.405 Types of fibers based on Refractive Index Profile
Based on the index profile the optical fibers are two types

➢ Step-index fibers
➢ Graded-index
⚫ Step-index fibers: Index of refraction changes radically between the core and
the cladding.
➢ Core size is small. Typical core sizes are 50 to 1000 μm.
➢ Multiple modes can propagate through the cable.
➢ Suffer from mode delay differences(Dispersion).Txn BW is low
Graded-index fibers: The index of refraction gradually decreases away from the
center of the core.
⚫ Graded-index fiber has less dispersion than a multimode step- index fiber

➢ Core refractive index diminishes gradually from the center axis out toward
the cladding.
➢ The core size is varying from 50 to 100 μm.
➢ The light ray is propagated through the refraction
➢ The light ray enters the fiber at many different angles
➢ Minimizing dispersion losses.
 Single mode fiber structure
Single mode fibers can be constructed by
➢ Core diameter be a few wavelengths(usually 8-12)
➢ Small index difference
➢ Large variations in values of the physical size of core a and index difference
∆
➢ V-Number< 2.4
➢ Example: For typical single mode fiber a=3μm, NA=0.1 and λ=0.8μm
Yields V=2.356
Mode Field Diameter
➢ In single mode fibers geometric distribution of light is important to predict the performance of
fiber.
➢ The mode filed diameter is fundamental parameter of a single mode fiber.
➢ This parameter is determined from mode field distributions of fundamental LP01 mode.
➢ The method is how to approximate electric field distribution.
➢ For a Gaussian distribution, the MFD is given by the 1/e2 width of the optical power
➢ The Gaussian distribution
E ( r ) = E0 exp(- r /W0)
E0=Field at zero radius W0=Width of electric field distribution

➢ The spot size W0 is gives as –

MFD = 2W0
 Propagation modes in single mode fiber:
➢ In single mode amplifier, there are two independent degenerate modes.
✓ Horizontal mode
✓ Vertical mode
➢ These modes very similar , but their polarization planes are orthogonal
➢ Constitute fundamental HE11 mode
➢ Modes propagate with equal propagation constants
(Kx=Ky)
 ➢ The modes propagating with different phase velocities and the difference
between their effective refractive indices is called the fiber birefringence.
Bf=ny-nx
➢ Similarly ,the birefringence may define as

β=k0(ny-nx)
k0=2π/λ is the free space propagation

Graded –Index fiber Structure

➢ The index of refraction gradually decreases with increasing radial distance r from
center, but constant in the cladding.
➢ Refractive index variation in core

α Indicates shape of index profile.

➢ Index difference

➢ The total numerical aperture is

➢ Axial numerical aperture is define as

 Fiber Materials
Most of the fibers are made up of glass consisting of either Silica (SiO2) or Silicate.
High- loss glass fibers are used for short-transmission distances and low-loss glass fibers
are used for long distance applications. Plastic fibers are less used because of their
higher attenuation than glass fibers. Glass Fibers are made from oxides. The most
common oxide is silica whose refractive index is 1.458_at 850 nm. To get different
index fibers, the dopants such as GeO2, P2O5 are added to silica. GeO2 and P2O3
increase the refractive index whereas fluorine or B203 decreases the refractive index

Few fiber compositions are given below as follows,

GeO2 – SiO2 Core: SiO2 Cladding
P2Q5 – SiO2, Core; SiO2Cladding
The principle raw material for silica is sand.
 The glass composed of pure silica is referred to as silica glass, nitrous silica or fused
silica. Some desirable properties of silica are,
• Resistance to deformation at temperature as high as 1000°C
• High resistance to breakage from thermal shock.
• Good chemical durability.
• High transparency in both the visible and infrared regions.

Basic Requirements and Considerations in Fiber Fabrication

(i) Optical fibers should have maximum reproducibility.
(ii) Fibers should be fabricated with good stable transmission characteristics the fiber
should have invariable transmission characteristics in long lengths.
(iii) Different size, refractive index and refractive index profile, operating
wavelengths material. Fiber must be available to meet different system applications.
(iv) The fibers must be flexible to convert into practical cables without any degradation of their
characteristics.

(v) Fibers must be fabricated in such a way that a joining (splicing) of the fiber should not
affect its transmission characteristics and the fibers may be terminated or connected
together with less practical difficulties.

Fiber Fabrication in a Two Stage Process

(i) Initially glass is produced and then converted into perform or rod.
(ii) Glass fiber is a mixture of selenides, sulfides and metal oxides.
It can be classified into,
1. Halide Glass Fibers
 2. Active Glass Fibers

3. Chalgenide Glass Fibers. Glass is made of pure SiO2 which refractive index 1.458 at
850 nm. The refractive index of SiO2 can be increased (or) decreased by adding
various oxides are known as dopant.
The oxides GeO2 or P2O3 increases the refractive index and B2O3 decreases the
refractive index of SiO2 .
The various combinations are,
▪ GeO2 SiO2 Core; SiO2 cladding
▪ P2O3 – SiO2 Core; SiO2 cladding
▪ SiO2 Core; B2O3, - SiO2cladding
▪ GeO2- B2O3- SiO2, Core; B2O3 - SiO2cladding
 From above, the refractive index of core is maximum compared to the cladding.
Halide Glass Fibers-- It contains fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine.
The most common Halide glass fiber is heavy "metal fluoride glass". It uses ZrF4 as a
major component. This fluoride glass is known by the name ZBLAN Since it is constit
uents are ZrF4, BaF2, LaF3 A1F3, and NaF. These materials add up to make the core

of a glass fiber. By replacing ZrF4 by HaF4, the lower refractive index glass is obtained. The
intrinsic losses of these glasses is 0.01 to 0.001 dB/km

Active Glass Fibers – These are formed by adding erbium and neodymium to the glass
fibers. The above material performs amplification and attenuation
Chalgenide Glass Fibers – The fibers are discovered in order to make use of the
nonlinear properties of glass fibers. It contains either "S", "Se" or "Te", because
they are highly nonlinear and it also contains one element from “Cl”, "Br”, “Cd”,
”Ba” or”Si”.The mostly used chalgenide glass is AS2-S3, AS40S58Se2 is used to make
the core and AS2S3 is used to make the cladding material of the glass fiber. The insertion
loss is around 1 dB/m.

Plastic Optical Fibers- The optical fibers are the fibers which are made up of plastic
material. The core of this fiber is made up of Polymethylmeth acrylate (PMMA)
or Perflourmated Polymer (PFP). Plastic optical fibers offer more attenuation than glass
fiber and is used for short distance applications. These fibers are tough and durable due to
the presence of plastic material.
The modulus of this plastic material is two orders of magnitude lower than that of silica
and even a 1 mm diameter graded index plastic optical fiber can be installed in
conventional fiber cable routes. The diameter of the core of these fibers is 10-20 times
larger than that of glass fiber which reduces the connector losses without sacrificing
coupling efficiencies. So we can use inexpensive connectors, splices and transceivers made
up of plastic injection-molding technology. Graded index plastic optical fiber is in
great demand in customer premises to deliver high-speed services due to its high bandwidth.
 TRANSMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF
OPTICAL FIBERS
There are 2 main characteristics of optical fiber
Signal attenuation
Signal distortion

Comparison of NA for fibers having various α profiles

Signal Attenuation
It determines the maximum unamplified or repeater less
distance between transmitter and receiver.

Signal Distortion
• Causes optical pulses broaden.
• Overlapping with neighboring pulses, creating errors in the
receiver output.
• It limits the information carrying capacity of a fiber.
Attenuation
Attenuation is a measure of decay of signal strength or loss of light power that
occurs as light pulses propagate through the length of the fiber.

Attenuation Units: As light propagates through the fiber, its power

decreases with distance. Let the couples optical power is p(0) i.e. at origin
(z = 0). Then the power at distance z is given by,
Z=0
P(0) mW Z= l

Where, αp is fiber attenuation constant (per km).

mw
 Attenuation as a function of Wavelength

Optical fiber attenuation as a function of wavelength yields nominal values of 0.5

dB/km at 1310 nm and 0.3 dB/km at 1550 nm for standard single mode fiber.
Absorption by the water molecules causes the attenuation peak around 1400nm
for standard fiber. The dashed curve is the attenuation for low water peak fiber.
 Signal Degradation
in the Optical Fiber

Signal Distortion/ Attenuation

Dispersion

Scattering Radiative
Intramodal
Absorption Losses losses
Intermodal Polarization
Dispersion/
Delay/ -mode
Chromatic
Modal Delay Dispersion Extrinsic
Intrinsic Atomic
Dispersion (Impurity
Absorption Defects
atoms)

Material Waveguide
Absorption Absorption Inhomogeneities Compositional
Dispersion Dispersion in in Microscopic Macroscopic
or defects fluctuations
Infrared Ultraviolet bends bends
in fiber in material
region region
 Attenuation

The Basic attenuation mechanisms in a fiber:

1. Absorption:
It is related to the fiber material.

2. Scattering:
It is associated both with the fiber material and with the
structural imperfections in the optical waveguide.

3. Radiative losses/ Bending losses:

It originates from perturbation (both microscopic and
macroscopic) of the fiber geometry.
Absorption is caused by three different mechanisms:
1. Absorption by atomic defects
2. Extrinsic Absorption
3. Intrinsic absorption

1. Absorption by atomic defects

Atomic defects are imperfections in the atomic structure of the fiber
material.
Examples:
• Missing molecules
• High density clusters of atom groups
• Oxygen defects in the glass structure.

• Absorption losses arising from these defects are negligible compared with intrinsic
and impurity absorption.
• Can be significant if the fiber is exposed to ionization radiations.
1 rad(Si) = 0.01 J/Kg
Absorption
2. Extrinsic absorption by impurity atoms
The dominant absorption factor in silica fibers is the
presence of minute quantities of impurities in the fiber
material.
• These impurities include
• OH- (water) ions dissolved in the glass.
• Transition metal ions, such as iron, copper,
chromium and vanadium
 Absorption
3. Intrinsic absorption by the basic constituent atoms
Intrinsic absorption is associated with the basic fiber
material (e.g pure SiO2).
Intrinsic absorption results from:
1. Electronic absorption bands in the ultraviolet region
2. Atomic vibration bands in the near infrared region

Electronic absorption (EA) occurs when a photon interacts with an electron

in the valance band and excites it to a higher energy level.
The electronic absorption is associated with the band gap of the material.

where, x is mole fraction of GeO2, λ is operating wavelength.

The infrared absorption is associated with the vibration frequency of
chemical bond between the atoms of which the fiber is composed.
**Optical fiber attenuation characteristics and their limiting mechanisms
for a GeO2 doped low loss water content silica fiber.
Scattering Losses
Scattering losses in glass arise due to
1. Compositional fluctuations
2. Inhomogeneities or defects occurring during fiber manufacture
➢ These two effects give rise to refractive index variation, within the glass
over distances.
➢ These index variation case Rayleigh-type scattering of the light and
inversely proportional to wavelength.
➢ It decreases dramatically with increasing wavelength.
Scattering loss for single component glass is given by,

where, n = Refractive index, KB = Boltzmann‘s constant

βT = Isothermal compressibility of material
Tf = Temperature at which density fluctuations are frozen into the glass as it
solidifies
 Rayleigh scattering in an optical fiber

Combining the infrared, ultraviolet, and scattering losses for single mode fiber.
Radiative losses / Bending Losses
Radiative losses occur whenever an optical fiber undergoes a bend of
finite radius of curvature.
Fiber can be subject to two types of bends:
1. Macroscopic bends
2. Microscopic bends
1. Macrobending losses or bending loss:
➢ Losses due to curvature and an abrupt change in radius of curvature.
Ex: Fiber turning edge of the room.

➢ Radiation losses depend on the value radius of curvature R

➢ As the lower order modes remain close to the core axis and the higher
modes are closer to the cladding so the higher modes will radiate out
of the fiber first
Macro bending
Radiative losses / Bending Losses
Microbending losses:
➢ Microbending is a loss due to small bending or distortions
➢ Microbends are repetitive small scale fluctuations in radius
of curvature of the fiber axis.
➢ Microbends causes repetitive coupling of energy between
the guided modes and the leaky or nonguided modes in
the fiber.
Caused by:
• Nonuniformities in the manufacturing of the fiber
• Nonuniform lateral pressures during cabling
• High pressures
Microbending losses
Minimizing microbending losses:

A compressible jacket extruded over a fiber reduces microbending resulting from

external forces.

Bends are shown full size — and may have caused damage to the fiber
 ignal Distortion in Fibers

Optical signal weakens from attenuation mechanisms and broadens due

to distortion effects.
➢ The pulse gets distorted as it travels along the fiber lengths as
consequence of pulse spreading.
➢ Pulse spreading in fiber is referred as dispersion
➢ Dispersion is caused by difference in the propagation times of light rays
that takes different paths during the propagation.
➢ Dispersion limits the information bandwidth
Pulse Broadening And Attenuation
Dispersion

➢ Dispersion distorts both pulse and analog modulation

signals.
➢ In a pulse modulated system, this causes the received pulse
to be spread out over a longer period.
➢ It is noted that actually no power is lost to dispersion, the
spreading effect reduces the peak power.

➢ Pulse dispersion is usually specified in terms of

“Nanoseconds-per-kilometer”.
Dispersion
Dispersion occurs due to following mechanisms:
➢ Intermodal Delay or Modal Delay
➢ Intramodal Dispertion or Chromatic Dispersion
❖ Material Dispertion
❖ Waveguide Dispertion
➢ Polarization –Mode Dispersion

1. Intermodal delay/ modal delay:

➢ Intermodal distortion or modal delay appears only in multimode fibers.
result of each mode having a different value of the group velocity at a single
frequency.
➢ The amount of pulse spreading is a function of the number of modes
and length of the fiber
➢ Broadening of pulse is simply obtained from ray tracing for a fiber of
length L:
∆T= Tmax – Tmin = (Ln1∆/c)
Light rays with steep incident angles have longer path lengths than lower angle rays.

How to minimize the effect of modal dispersion?

1. Graded index fiber 2. Single mode fiber
➢ We could decrease the number of modes by increasing the
wavelength of the light
V = 2πa / λ x (n12 – n22)1/2 = 2πa / λ x (NA)
➢ Change in the numerical aperture can help but it only makes a
marginal improvement.
➢ The smaller the core, the fewer the modes.
Step Index Multi-mode

Graded Index Multi-mode

 Unit-II
Fiber Optical Sources and Detectors
 Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

➢ A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when an electric current flows through it.
➢ When current passes through an LED, the electrons recombine with holes emitting light in the process.
➢ LEDs allow the current to flow in the forward direction and blocks the current in the reverse direction.
➢ The LED symbol is the standard symbol for a diode, with the addition of two small arrows denoting the emission
of light.
➢ The two main types of LEDs presently used for lighting systems are aluminum gallium indium
phosphide (AlGaInP, sometimes rearranged as AlInGaP) alloys for red, orange and yellow
LEDs; and indium gallium nitride (InGaN) alloys for green, blue and white LEDs
 LED STRUCTURES

• For photonic communications requiring data rate 100- 200 Mb/s with multi mode
fiber with tens of microwatts, LEDs are usually the best choice.

• LED configurations being used in photonic communications:

Surface Emitters (Front Emitters)
Edge Emitters
 Double heterojunction structures
▪ As shown it is GaAs/AlGaAs based Double Heterojunction LED.
▪ As shown thin layer of GaAs is sandwiched between two layers of AlGaAs. GaAs is lightly doped and
has narrower bandgap (Eg1) of about 1.43 eV. AlGaAs layers have wider bandgap (Eg2) of about 2.1
eV.
▪ When forward bias is applied through its top and bottom contacts as shown in the figure, electrons are
injected from highly doped (n+) AlGaAs layer to central active (p-) GaAs layer.
• The injected electrons are trapped within the middle layer due to double heterojunction potential barriers
(Eg2 > Eg1) existing on both the sides of the middle layer.

The figure depicts energy band diagram when it is forward biased. Electrons are forced to recombine with
the holes without too much diffusion from interfaces.
▪ They recombine radiatively with energy equal to the band gap of GaAs.
▪ As recombination between electrons and holes is limited to narrower central part, internal quantum
efficiency of such LED is higher compare to single junction LED.
Surface-Emitting LED
Benefits or advantages of Surface Emitting LED

➨LED offers high optical coupling efficiency.

➨Optical loss (due to internal absorption) is very low. This is because of carrier recombination near its

top heterojunction.

➨InP/InGaAsP based LED is used for long wavelength applications.

➨It offers higher efficiency with low to high radiance.

Drawbacks ➨The surface emitting LED can transmit data rate less than 20 Mbps than edge emitting

LED.

➨It contains short optical link with large NA (Numerical Aperture).

Edge-Emitting LED
Benefits or advantages ➨It offers higher efficiency with low to high radiance.
➨It offers better modulation bandwidth and more directional emission pattern.
➨It offers 5-6 times more coupled power into NA (Numerical Aperture) of step/graded index fibers.

This is due to small beam divergence.

➨It offers high data rates (> 20 Mbps) than surface emitting LED.

Drawbacks ➨Its structure is complex.

➨It is difficult to design heat sink.

➨It is expensive compare to other LED types.

➨There are many issues to be handled during mechanical mounting and installation.
 Light Source Materials
• active region material of an optical source must have direct band gap.
• In direct band gap materials, radiative recombination is sufficiently high to produce adequete optical
emission.
• These materials are compound of group III elements( Al, Ga or In) and of group IV elements(P,As).
• These materials determine the wave length of light emitted.

Quantum Efficiency & LED power

• When there is no external carrier injection, the excess density decays exponentially due to
electron-hole recombination.

n(t) =n 0 e−t/τ
n0 : initial injected excess electron density τ:carrier lifetime.

• Bulk recombination rate R:

dn n
R =− =
dt τ
 • Bulk recombination rate (R)=Radiative
recombin0 ation rate + nonradiative recombination rate
• n is the excess carrier density,
η : internal quantum efficiency in the active region
int
Rr
η = τnr τ
= =
int R +R τ +τ τ
r nr r nr r
Optical power generated internally in the active region in the
LED is:

I hcI
P =η η
hν=
int int int
q qλ

Pint : Internal optical power,

I : Injected current to active region
 External Quantum Efficiency

No.of photons emitted from LED

η =
ext
No.of LED internally generated photons

• In order to calculate the external quantum efficiency, we need to consider the reflection effects at the
surface of the LED. If we consider the LED structure as a simple 2D slab waveguide, only light falling
within a cone defined by critical angle will be emitted from an LED.
 η = φc φ π φ φ
1 )(2 sin )d
ext ∫T(
4π 0
4n1n2
T(φ) : FresnelTransmission Coefficient ≈T (0) =

1 (n1 +n )2
If n2 =1⇒ η ≈ 2
e n1(n 1+1)2
xt
 Pint
LED emitted optical power, P = ext Pint ≈
n1(n 1+1) 2

Modulation of LED

• The frequency response of an LED depends on:

Doping level in the active region
Injected carrier lifetime in the recombination region,τ .

Parasitic capacitance of the LED

• If the drive current of an LED is modulated at a frequency of the output optical power of the device
will vary as:

P( ) = P0

1+( )i
 Advantages

• LEDs consume less power, and they require low operational voltage
• The emitted light is monochromatic.
• In expensive
• Reliable
• Easy to handle
• Less tempareture dependance

Disadvantages
• Low output power
• Short distance communication
• More harmonic distortion
 APLLICATIONS
• LEDs are used at 850nm and 13510 nm
• Lan & wan
• CCTV
• Used for TV back-lighting
• Used in displays
• Used in Automotives
• LEDs used in the dimming of lights
Spectral width of LED types
 LASER

• LASER means light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

• It is widely used optical source for optical communication.
• It is working on the principle of stimulated emission.

• It has coherent light.

• Laser diode suffers from 3 problems when used as optical source :

• Temperature sensitivity

• Back reflections

• Susceptible to optical interference

 Pumped Active Medium
• Three main process for laser action:

• Photon absorption
Spontaneous emission
Stimulated emission

Energy absorbed from

the incoming photon Random Coherent
release of release of
energy energy
 Lasing in a pumped active medium
• In thermal equilibrium the stimulated emission is essentially negligible, since the density of
electrons in the excited state is very small, and optical emission is mainly because of the
spontaneous emission. Stimulated emission will exceed absorption only if the population of the
excited states is greater than that of the ground state. This condition is known as Population
Inversion. Population inversion is achieved by various pumping techniques.

Stimulated Emission
Mirror Reflections
How a Laser Works
 Laser Diode
• Laser diode is an improved LED, in the sense that uses stimulated emission in semiconductor from optical
transitions between distribution energy states of the valence and conduction bands with optical resonator
structure such as Fabry-Perot resonator with both optical and carrier confinements.
 Laser Diode Modes
• Nanosecond & even picosecond response time (GHz BW)

• Spectral width of the order of nm or less

• High output power (tens of mW)

• Narrow beam (good coupling to single mode fibers)

• Laser diodes have three distinct radiation modes namely, longitudinal, lateral and transverse
modes.
• In laser diodes, end mirrors provide strong optical feedback in longitudinal direction, so by
roughening the edges and cleaving the facets, the radiation can be achieved in longitudinal direction
rather than lateral direction.
 DFB(Distributed FeedBack) Lasers

The optical feedback is provided by fiber Bragg Gratings € Only one wavelength get positive feedback
 Threshold Condition

• To determine the lasing condition and resonant frequencies, we should focus on the optical wave
propagation along the longitudinal direction, z-axis. The optical field intensity, I, can be written as:

I ( z, t) =I ( z)e j(ωt−βz)

• Lasing is the condition at which light amplification becomes possible by virtue of population
inversion. Then, stimulated emission rate into a given EM mode is proportional to the intensity of
the optical radiation in that mode.
gth =βJ th
Optical output vs. drive current
Rate equations
Rate equations relate the optical output power, or # of photons per unit volume, Φ , to the diode drive
current or # of injected electrons per unit volume, n. For active (carrier confinement) region of depth d,
the rate equations are:

dΦ Φ
=Cn Φ +R –
dt sp
τ ph
dn J n
= −
−Cn Φ
dt qd τsp

Photon rate =stimulated emission +spontaneou s emission +

photon loss
 Threshold current Density & excess electron density

• At the threshold of lasing: Φ ≈0, dΦ/ dt ≥0, Rsp ≈0

1
from eq.[4 - 25] ⇒ CnΦ −Φ /τph ≥0 ⇒ n ≥
Cτ ph =nth
[4-26]

• The threshold current needed to maintain a steady state threshold

concentration of the excess electron, is found from electron rate equation
under steady state condition dn/dt=0 when the laser is just about to lase:

Jth nth nth

0= − ⇒ J th =qd
qd τ sp [4-27]
sp
 Laser operation beyond the threshold
J >J t h

• the steady state photon density, resulting from stimulated emission and spontaneous
emission as follows:

s th ) ph Rsp
qd
 External quantum efficiency

• Number of photons emitted per radiative electron-hole pair recombination

above threshold, gives us the external quantum efficiency.

ηi (gth −α)
η ext =
gth
 Resonant Frequencies
• Lasing condition:
m =1,2,3,...
exp(− j2βL) =1 ⇒ 2βL =2mπ ,

2πn
• Assuming β= the resonant frequency of the mth
mode is:

ν = mc m =1,2,3,...
m
2Ln
c

⇔ ∆λ = λ2 [4-30]
∆ν =ν −ν =
m m−
1 2Ln [4-31]
2Ln
Spectrum from a Laser Diode