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EC5701 Millimeter and Optical

Wave Communication
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III. OPTICAL FIBER

CHARACTERISTICS
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Breakthrough in Communication
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Why High Frequency?

EM Spectrum
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• 1. SNR –Signal power to noise power ratio.

Higher SNR
 a) Higher signal power
 b) Additive noise - less noise in the medium

• 2. Bandwidth

Higher Bandwidth - As number of user increases

bandwidth requirement will be more.

Necessary Quantities for Reliable

Communication System
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• Do we have Medium to transmit?

• Do we have Sources?

Air • Change in parameters like

Glass – Loss 1000dB amplitude and frequency
• Impurities – refined – • Switching rate – on and off –
20dB bulb
• Similar to Coaxial cable • Wide Spectral width signals
and waveguide cant be switched faster
• With higher BW ~ 1000 • Sources like LASERS have
factors very narrow spectral width.

Both Fiber Cable and LASER were invented fairly

at the same time

Clarification Needed
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Elements of Optical Fiber System

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Optical Communication in
backhaul/backbone networks
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Operating windows – Optical Communication

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Optical Spectral Bands

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ITU has designated six spectral bands for Optical Communication.

▫ O band - the original (first) region used for single mode fiber links.
▫ E band - Links used can be extended for fibers with low water content.
▫ S band - consist wavelengths shorter than C band but higher than E band.
▫ C band - the wavelength region used for conventional Erbium Doped Fiber
Amplifier (EDFA).
▫ L band - longer than C band. In this longer wavelength band, the gain decreases
steadily to 1 at 1625nm.
▫ U band - the region beyond the response capability of an EDFA.

Optical Spectral Bands

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• Ultra High bandwidth

• Low loss (0.2 dB/km)
• Low Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)
• High security of transmission
• Low manufacturing cost
• Low weight and volume

Advantages
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• Intensity
• Wavelength (color)
• Spectral width (Purity of color)
• Polarization
▫ Elliptical
▫ Linear
▫ Circular
▫ Random

Characteristics of light
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Polarization
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Linear Polarization
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Circular Polarization
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• Light as Rays
• Light as Waves
• Refractive Index η
• Effective Refractive Index η𝑒𝑓𝑓
• Total Internal Reflection (TIR)
• Multiple TIR

Basics concepts of light and terms in optical fiber communication

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Structure of Optical Fiber

What do the fiber terms 9/125, 50/125 and 62.5/125 (micron)

Remember: A micron (short for micrometer) is one-millionth of a meter

Typically n(cladding) < n(core)

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Meridional, Skew and Axial rays representation

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Critical angle, Numerical Aperture and Acceptance cone:

▫ Light launching efficiency
▫ Sine of the maximum angle accepted by the fiber
𝑛
▫ Critical angle 𝜃𝑐 = sin−1 2
𝑛1
1
2 2 )2
▫ 𝑁𝐴 = 𝑆𝑖𝑛 𝜃0 𝑚𝑎𝑥 = (𝑛1 −𝑛2
▫ For high launching efficiency, NA should be as large as possible,
which implies that “cladding is undesirable”.

Light Propagation in Fiber

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Acceptance Cone
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Light Propagation in Fiber

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• At TIR
▫ Standing wave types of fields inside the core.
▫ Decaying fields in cladding.
▫ The ray undergo phase change at the reflecting
boundary.
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Light Propagation in Fiber

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• Modes – TE,TM and Hybrid

• Fig gives the lower order TE or TM mode fields

Modes
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• Classification:

▫ Single mode
 diameter of 6-8 µm
 No dispersion
 Very low launching efficiency
 Source (LASERS) should give highly collimated beam

▫ Multimode optical fiber

 diameter of 50 – 100 µm
 Pulse broadening
 High launching efficiency
 LED

• Diameter of cladding will be 125 µm – depending on the connectors.

• Profile:
▫ Step index
▫ Graded index

Fiber Nomenclature
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Classification of Fibers
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Fiber Nomenclature
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I. Fiber with core radius ‘a’ , Refractive index, Infinite cladding. Cylindrical
coordinate system (r,Ф,z).
II. Maxwell’s equation – Consideration: Source free, dielectric medium non magnetic.

D – Electric displacement vector, B – Magnetic flux density, E and H are electric and
magnetic field intensity, µ - permeability and ε - permittivity of the medium.

Mode theory of circular waveguides

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III. Decouple the equations (3) & (4), curl of equation (3) as

Mode theory
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Mode theory of circular waveguides

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IV. Solving for electrical and magnetic fields

Mode theory
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Modes
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Mode theory of circular waveguides

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Mode theory of circular waveguides

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𝑞 2 = 𝜔2 𝜇𝜀 − 𝛽 2

Mode theory
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• Solution to Bessel Equation – Bessel Function

𝑞 2 = 𝜔2 𝜇𝜀 − 𝛽 2

• q can be real, imaginary or complex value.

• When q is real

Bessel functions
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• When q is imaginary

Modified Bessel functions

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• Inside Core (r < a) • In Cladding (r>a)

▫ Ray model – TIR – Oscillatory fields ▫ Ray model – decaying field pattern.
patterns. ▫ Modified Bessel function of second
▫ Bessel function of first kind. kind.
▫ Electric field ▫ Electric field
𝐸𝑍1 = 𝐴 𝐽𝞶 𝑢𝑟 𝑒 𝑗𝞶φ−𝑗𝞫𝑧+𝑗𝜔𝑡 𝐸𝑍2 = 𝐶 𝐾𝞶 𝑤𝑟 𝑒 𝑗𝞶φ−𝑗𝞫𝑧+𝑗𝜔𝑡
▫ Magnetic field ▫ Magnetic field
𝐻𝑍1 = 𝐵 𝐽𝞶 𝑢𝑟 𝑒 𝑗𝞶φ−𝑗𝞫𝑧+𝑗𝜔𝑡 𝐻𝑍2 = 𝐷 𝐾𝞶 𝑤𝑟 𝑒 𝑗𝞶φ−𝑗𝞫𝑧+𝑗𝜔𝑡
where where
𝑞 2 = 𝜔2 𝜇𝜀 − 𝛽 2 𝑞 2 = 𝜔2 𝜇𝜀 − 𝛽 2
𝑢= 𝛽12 − 𝛽2 w= 𝛽 2 − 𝛽22
𝛽22 = 𝜔2 𝜇𝜀2 = 𝜔2 𝜇𝜀0 𝑛22 = 𝛽02 𝑛22
𝛽12 = 𝜔2 𝜇𝜀1 = 𝜔2 𝜇𝜀0 𝑛12 = 𝛽02 𝑛12

𝛽0 𝑛2 = 𝛽2 < 𝛽 < 𝛽1 = 𝛽0 𝑛1

Mode theory of circular waveguides

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Fields Core Cladding

Electric 𝐸𝑟1 , 𝐸𝜑1 , 𝐸𝑍1 𝐸𝑟2 , 𝐸𝜑2 , 𝐸𝑍2
Magnetic 𝐻𝑟1 , 𝐻𝜑1 , 𝐻𝑍1 𝐻𝑟2 , 𝐻𝜑2 , 𝐻𝑍2

Mode theory of circular waveguides

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Boundary condition at r = a
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Mode theory - Characteristics equation

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• Consider some case in

ν = 0 Circularly symmetric fields (Meridional rays)

ν=1 ν=2
max 0
-max max

0 0 0 0

max -max
-max 0

For all other values of ν, it represents skew rays.

Mode theory
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• For meridional rays the characteristics equation becomes

• Either

characteristics equation for as TE mode

• Or

characteristics equation for as TM mode

• Designation of modes:
• TEνm - TE01 , TE02 , TE03 , etc
• TMνm - TM01 , TM02 , TM03 , etc
• HE νm
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• Meridional rays (𝞶 = 0)

m=1 m=2 m=3

• Skew rays (m=0)

𝞶=1 𝞶=2 𝞶=3 𝞶=4 𝞶 =5

Modes
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2𝜋𝑎
Cut off wavelength, 𝜆𝑐 = (𝑁𝐴)
𝑉

V number (or) Normalized Frequency of a fiber

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• Cut off condition occurs when

• Relation between phase constant and frequency β and ω (dispersion

relation)

• Phase velocity, group velocity

2
𝑛𝑒𝑓𝑓 −𝑛22
• Normalized propagation constant 𝑏 =
𝑛12 −𝑛22
𝛽
• Effective index of propagation or modal index 𝑛𝑒𝑓𝑓 = 2𝜋
𝞴

0<b<1

Normalized propagation constant 𝞫

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b – v diagram of optical fiber

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𝑛1 −𝑛2
• ∆≡ <<1
𝑛1
• 𝐸𝑍 , 𝐻𝑍 → 0
• Fields are almost transverse.
• Propagation is weakly guiding. Fields become linearly polarized

LP modes
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LP modes
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𝑉2
• Number of modes, M =
2
• Valid when V >>1.

b-V for LP modes

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• Signal distortion
• Signal Non-linearities

Contents
Distortion in optical signal
Dispersion
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Bandwidth distance product – Measure of information capacity of a

optical waveguide (Mhz-Km) SM -20 Mhz – Km, MM – 2.5 Ghz-Km

𝜕𝜔 𝜕 1
Group Velocity 𝑉𝑔 = = 2𝜋𝐶
𝜕𝛽 𝜕𝛽 𝜆

1
Group Delay per unit length 𝑡𝑔 =
𝑉𝑔

𝑑𝑡𝑔 𝜎 𝑑𝛽 2
𝑑 𝛽
Pulse broadening 𝜏𝑔 = 𝜎𝜆 = − 𝜆 [2𝜆 + 𝜆2 2 ]
𝑑𝜆 2𝜋∁ 𝑑𝜆 𝑑𝜆
It is the difference in group velocity per unit length over unit
spectral width.

Dispersion is the pulse broadening per unit distance travelled on the

fiber per unit spectral width of the source.
𝜏𝑔 𝑑𝑡𝑔
𝐷= = ps/Km/nm
𝜎𝜆 𝑑𝜆

Dispersion
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• RI is a function of wavelength
2𝜋
• 𝛽= n λ
𝜆
𝜕𝛽
• 𝑡𝑔 =
𝜕𝜔
𝑑𝑡𝑔
• 𝐷= 𝑑𝜆
𝜆 𝑑2 𝑛
• 𝐷𝑚𝑎𝑡 = − 𝐶 𝑑𝜆2

Wavelength (nm) D (ps/Km/nm)

850 -85
1310 0.1
1550 20

• D= +ve, 𝑡𝑔 increases as λ increases

• D= -ve, 𝑡𝑔 decreases as λ increases
• Sign of D effectively changes the
distribution of frequencies in the
envelope.
• Pulse broadening = |D|
• Out of our control. Material dispersion
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Due to modal nature of fiber.

b – v is a non linear function.

Waveguide Dispersion
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Waveguide Dispersion
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Dispersion due to nonlinear b-v diagram

𝑛2 𝑉 𝑑 2 (𝑏𝑉)
𝐷𝑊𝐺 = − V
∁𝜆 𝑑𝑉 2

𝐷𝑊𝐺 -Structure dependent quantity

𝐷𝑊𝐺 peaks around V=1.2

At 800 nm 𝐷𝑚𝑎𝑡 ≫ 𝐷𝑊𝐺

At 1300 nm 𝐷𝑚𝑎𝑡 ≪ 𝐷𝑊𝐺

For V << 1.2, NA or ‘a’ should be very small which affects the launching
efficiency of fiber.

At V about 2.4 , 𝐷𝑊𝐺 is about 20% of the peak value at V=1.2

To reduce waveguide dispersion V number should be close to but not

greater than or equal to 2.4

Waveguide Dispersion
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• Both are due to finite bandwidth of the signal, they are called
Chromatic Dispersion on the optical fiber.
𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝐷𝑚𝑎𝑡 + 𝐷𝑊𝐺

Chromatic Dispersion
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• Low loss large window 1300 – 1600 nm

• BW = 300 nm = 300 * 100 GHZ

Dispersion Shifted and Dispersion Flattened fibers

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• Field Distribution
• To have multiple fibers joints in a communication system, MFD plays a
major role.
When MDF are not equal the loss

• Multimode propagation
• Different values of group delay for individual modes.
𝑛1 ∆𝐿
𝛿𝑇𝑚𝑜𝑑 = 𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝑇𝑚𝑖𝑛 = ∁

MFD, Intermodal Dispersion

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• Variation in shape of fiber.

• When is perfectly circular

• Not perfectly circular due to manufacturing process hence,

• State of polarization continuously changes, distance over which it changes

2𝜋
(phase changes by 2π) is called Beat length = 𝛽 (𝑛 −𝑛 )
0 𝑥 𝑦

• Two polarization so two group velocities

Polarization mode dispersion

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• Intrinsic losses - present even

in ideal conditions.
• Scattering ~ 𝜆−4
• Glass- Infrared loss
• OH molecules – absorption
peaks.

Attenuation – Scattering, Absorption

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Operating windows – Optical Communication

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• Normal to the fiber is changed hence the light no more satisfies the
critical angle condition
• Fiber deformation– microbendings.
• Radiation loss (Macrobending) – fiber is gently bent over a large arc
and the radius of the arc is very large compared with the
wavelength.
• Higher modes and large bends have higher radiation losses.

Attenuation – Bending
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• For Step index fiber

• For Graded index fiber

Core and cladding losses

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Ρz   Ρ0e  αΡ z
1  Ρ0
 p  ln 
z  Ρz 
 Ρ0
 dΒ / km 
10
log    4.343 km 1

 Ρ z  

z

(Pt)dBW = 10 log (Pt)W

(Pt)dBm = 10 log (Pt)mW
1 mW corresponds to 0 dBm or -30 dBW
10 mW corresponds to 10 dBm or -20 dBW

1 μW corresponds to -30 dBm or -60 dBW

Fiber loss/ Fiber Attenuation

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Medium property remains invariant with time

Loss and refractive index are independent of optical signal power

Linear fiber optics

Variation in the medium characteristics because of the propagating signal Several

high strength optical fields from different signal wavelengths – and interact with
acoustic wave and molecular vibration
Media in which the polarization density responds non-linearly to the electric field
E of the light

Non linear fiber optics

Non linear fiber optics

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• Consider a dielectric medium, when an electric field is imposed on the

material there is induced polarization in the material which is given by the
susceptibility of the medium.

• First order susceptibility – dielectric constant.

P  e 0  c (1) E  c (2) E 2  c (3) E 3  ...

where P -- induced polarization of medium

e0 --dielectric constant of vacuum
E --- electric field
ci) -- i th order susceptibility
c2) is very small for glass

• Refractive index RI = n(ω) +𝑛2 |𝐸|2

3
𝑛2 = 8𝑛 c3) = 2.3 ∗ 10−22 𝑚2 /𝑉 2
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• Categories of non linearities

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Non linear effects

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• Effective length,
• For an attenuation of 0.22 dB/km at 1550 nm, the effective length is about 20 km.
• The effective area is modeled as a central area of the fiber core within which the intensity is assumed to be uniform
Second term is +ve or –ve thereby altering the frequency

Self Phase Modulation

Cross phase Modulation
• Four-wave mixing is a third-order nonlinearity in silica fibers that is analogous to
intermodulation distortion in electrical systems.

• When wavelength channels are located near the zero-dispersion point, three optical
frequencies (νi, νj, νk) will mix to produce a fourth intermodulation product νijk
ωijk= ωi+ωj -ωk with i, j ≠ k
ω123=ω1+ω2- ω3=ω4
• If the channels are equally spaced, a number of the new waves will have the same
frequencies as the injected signals.

• FWM leads to interchannel crosstalk in WDM systems.

• It generates additional noise and degrades system performance.

Four Wave Mixing

 3 ITU channels with 0.8 nm FWM mixing
spacing
components

Channel nm
l123 1541.34
l213 1541.34
l321 1544.54
l231 1544.54
l312 1542.94
Three signals combine to form a fourth spurious or l132 1542.94
mixing component, l112 1541.34
hence the name four wave mixing
l113 1540.54
l221 1543.74
l123 l1l2l3=1542.14 + 1542.94 - l223 1542.14
1543.74=1541.34nm l331 1545.34
l332 1544.54
Note the interference to wanted channels caused by the
FWM components l312, l132, l221 and l223

Four Wave Mixing

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• SRS - lightwaves and the vibrational modes of silica molecules

• If a photon with energy hγ1 is incident on a molecule having a vibrational frequency

vm, the molecule can absorb some energy from the photon.

• Photon is scattered, thereby attaining a lower frequency γ2

• The modified photon is called a Stokes photon.
• Optical signal as pump wave

• SRS can severely limit the performance of a multichannel optical communication

system by transferring energy from short-wavelength channels to neighboring
higher-wavelength channels.

Stimulated Raman Scattering

SRS
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• SBS - strong optical signal generates an acoustic wave that produces variations in the
refractive index.
• lightwaves scatters in the backward direction
• Backscattered light experiences gain from the forward-propagating signals

Stimulated Brillouin Scattering