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How Light Travels in A Fiber

This document discusses how light travels through optical fibers. It explains that optical fibers consist of a core and cladding layer, with the core having a higher refractive index to keep light trapped inside. It describes the differences between single-mode and multi-mode fibers, including their core diameters and number of light paths. It also discusses how graded-index multi-mode fibers reduce modal dispersion. The document provides details on fiber specifications, applications, sources of loss and dispersion, and more recent developments in optical networks.

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Tejaswi Nisanth
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39 views30 pages

How Light Travels in A Fiber

This document discusses how light travels through optical fibers. It explains that optical fibers consist of a core and cladding layer, with the core having a higher refractive index to keep light trapped inside. It describes the differences between single-mode and multi-mode fibers, including their core diameters and number of light paths. It also discusses how graded-index multi-mode fibers reduce modal dispersion. The document provides details on fiber specifications, applications, sources of loss and dispersion, and more recent developments in optical networks.

Uploaded by

Tejaswi Nisanth
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How Light Travels in a Fiber

Optical Fiber

Core
Glass or plastic with a higher
index of refraction than the
cladding
Carries the signal

Cladding
Glass or plastic with a lower index
of refraction than the core

Buffer
Protects the fiber from damage
and moisture

Jacket
Holds one or more fibers in a
cable

Singlemode Fiber

Singlemode fiber has a core diameter


of 8 to 9 microns, which only allows
one light path or mode

Index of
refraction

Multimode Step-Index Fiber

Multimode fiber has a core diameter


of 50 or 62.5 microns (sometimes
even larger)
Allows several light paths or modes
This causes modal dispersion some modes
take longer to pass through the fiber than
others because they travel a longer distance

Index of
refraction

Multimode Graded-Index Fiber

The index of refraction gradually


changes across the core
Modes that travel further also move faster
This reduces modal dispersion so the
bandwidth is greatly increased

Index of
refraction

Step-index and Graded-index

Step index multimode was developed


first, but rare today because it has a
low bandwidth (50 MHz-km)
It has been replaced by graded-index
multimode with a bandwidth up to 2
GHz-km

Plastic Optical Fiber

Large core (1 mm) step-index


multimode fiber
Easy to cut and work with, but high
attenuation (1 dB / meter) makes it
useless for long distances

Sources and Wavelengths

Multimode fiber is used with


LED sources at wavelengths of 850 and
1300 nm for slower local area networks
Lasers at 850 and 1310 nm for networks
running at gigabits per second or more

Sources and Wavelengths

Singlemode fiber is used with


Laser sources at 1300 and 1550 nm
Bandwidth is extremely high, around
100 THz-km

Fiber Optic Specifications

Attenuation
Loss of signal, measured in dB

Dispersion
Blurring of a signal, affects bandwidth

Bandwidth
The number of bits per second that can be
sent through a data link

Numerical Aperture
Measures the largest angle of light that can
be accepted into the core

Measuring Bandwidth

The bandwidth-distance product in


units of MHzkm shows how fast data
can be sent through a cable
A common multimode fiber with
bandwidth-distance product of 500
MHzkm could carry
A 500 MHz signal for 1 km, or
A 1000 MHz signal for 0.5 km

From Wikipedia

Bit Rate Distance Product

B= Transmission bit rate


L= Repeater spacing
BL measures the transmission of
optical fiber links

Fiber Types and Specifications

From Lennie Lightwave (www.jimhayes.com/lennielw/fiber.html )

Gigabit Ethernet

62.5 micron multimode fiber did not have


enough bandwidth for Gigabit Ethernet
(1000 Mbps)
LEDs cannot be used as sources for
Gigabit Ethernet they are too slow
So Gigabit Ethernet used a new,
inexpensive source:
Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser
(VCSEL)

Dont Mix Fiber Types

You cant mix singlemode and


multimode fiber you lose 20 dB at
the junction (99% of the light!)
Mixing 50 micron and 62.5 micron
multimode is not as bad, but you
lose 3 dB (half the power) which is
usually unacceptable

Index of Refraction

When light enters a dense medium like


glass or water, it slows down
The index of refraction (n) is the ratio of
the speed of light in vacuum to the speed
of light in the medium
Water has n = 1.3
Light takes 30% longer to travel through it

Fiber optic glass has n = 1.5


Light takes 50% longer to travel through it

Fiber Applications

Step-index Multimode

Large core size, so source power can


be efficiently coupled to the fiber
High attenuation (4-6 dB / km)
Low bandwidth (50 MHz-km)
Used in short, low-speed datalinks

Graded-index Multimode

Useful for premises networks like


LANs, security systems, etc.
62.5/125 micron has been most
widely used
Works well with LEDs, but cannot be
used for Gigabit Ethernet

50/125 micron fiber and VSELS are


used for faster networks

Singlemode Fiber

Best for high speeds and long


distances
Used by telephone companies and
CATV

Fiber Performance

Attenuation

Modern fiber material is very pure, but there is


still some attenuation
The wavelengths used are chosen to avoid
absorption bands
850 nm, 1300 nm, and 1550 nm
Plastic fiber uses 660 nm LEDs

Three Types of Dispersion

Dispersion is the spreading out of a


light pulse as it travels through the
fiber
Three types:
Modal Dispersion
Chromatic Dispersion
Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD)

Modal Dispersion

Modal Dispersion
Spreading of a pulse because different
modes (paths) through the fiber take
different times
Only happens in multimode fiber
Reduced, but not eliminated, with
graded-index fiber

Chromatic Dispersion

Different wavelengths travel at


different speeds through the fiber
This spreads a pulse in an effect
named chromatic dispersion
Chromatic dispersion occurs in both
singlemode and multimode fiber
Larger effect with LEDs than with lasers
A far smaller effect than modal
dispersion

Polarization Mode Dispersion

Light with different polarization can


travel at different speeds, if the fiber
is not perfectly symmetric at the
atomic level
This could come from imperfect
circular geometry or stress on the
cable, and there is no easy way to
correct it
It can affect both single mode and
multimode fiber.

Modal Distribution

In graded-index fiber, the off-axis


modes go a longer distance than the
axial mode, but they travel faster,
compensating for dispersion
But because the off-axis modes travel
further, they suffer more attenuation

Recent Developments

Non Linear effects


Solitons
Slow light and fast light

Optical Networks

Network Topologies
Sonet/SDH
With the advent of high capacity fiber optic
transmission lines in the 1980s, service providers
established a standard signal format called
synchronous optical network (SONET) in North
America and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH)
in other parts of the world. These standards
define a synchronous frame structure for sending
multiplexed digital traffic over optical fiber trunk
lines

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