Fiber Optic Installation
Module M.04:
How Fiber is Made
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Module Contents
• Fiber Construction
• Core
• Cladding
• Coating
• Buffer
• Standards
• Fiber Materials
• Manufacturing
FOI Course 2
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Module Contents
• Drawing Towers
• SMF and MMF
• Modal Dispersion
• Refractive Index Profiles
• Graded-Index Profile
• Depressed-Clad
• Bend Sensitivity
• Numerical Aperture
FOI Course 3
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Fiber Construction
Fiber has 3 main parts – core, cladding, coating
• Core – high refractive Coating
index, very transparent
• Cladding – a bit lower RI
• Coating – protective Cladding
polymer layer Core
FOI Course 4
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Core
• Material: SiO2
• SM fiber core: 8.10 µm
• MM fiber core: 50 & 62.5 µm
Coating
Cladding
Core 5..10 μm 125 μm 245..900 μm 50..62,5 μm 125 μm 245..900 μm
SMF MMF
FOI Course 5
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Cladding
• Serves to provide TIR in fiber
• Discovered by Bram van
Heel in 1953
• Sometimes, light can
propagate in cladding
(cladding modes)
• There can be several layers
of cladding
• Typical diameter = 125 µm
FOI Course 6
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Coating
Physical and environmental protection for
the fiber
Diameter = 250 or 900 µm
Materials:
• acrylates
• fluoroacrylate (medical use)
• silicone
• polymide
• carbon
FOI Course 7
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Buffer
• Loose buffer isolates from temperature
expansion and compression
• Tight buffer withstands mechanical crush
and stress
Coating Coating
Buffer Cladding
Cladding Core
Core
Loose tube Tight buffer
FOI Course 8
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Standards
Most widely used: ITU-T G.652 and G.657
G.652 G.657 (bend insensitive)
• Attenuation ~0.3 Minimum specified
to 0.5 dB at var λ bending radius:
• Macrobend ~ 0.5 • G.657.A1 – 10 mm
dB at var λ • G.657.A2, B2 – 7.5
mm
• G.657.B3 – 5 mm
FOI Course 9
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Fiber Materials
Common Materials:
• Glass (core & fiber of SiO2) – most communication
fibers
• Plastic (core & fiber of plastic) – special use +
consumer electronics
• Hybrid (core of glass, cladding of plastic) – special
use, harsh environments, extended lifetime.
Future material – ZrF4
Will provide attenuation 50 times less than present
FOI Course 10
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Manufacturing
Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD)
Tube rotation
Depositing
Reaction: particles
SiCl4 (gas) + O2 -> Gas mixture
SiCl4, GeCl4,
-> SiO2 (solid) + 2Cl2 O2, He
Soot
Soot
(in presence of heat)
Traversing high
temperature torch
FOI Course 11
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Manufacturing
Outside Vapor Deposition (OVD)
Tube rotation
Reaction: Soot preform Cladding
Core
SiCl4 (gas) + O2 -> Rotating
starting rod
-> SiO2 (solid) + 2Cl2
Soot
(in presence of heat) Gas mixture
SiCl4, GeCl4, vapor
Soot
Traversing high
temperature torch
Preform made on a rod
FOI Course 12
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Manufacturing
Vapor Phase Axial Deposition (VPAD)
Air Silica rod
Reaction: Rotation
SiCl4 (gas) + O2 -> Soot
-> SiO2 (solid) + 2Cl2 Gas mixture
SiCl4, GeCl4
(in presence of heat) Mid
temperature
Exhaust
torch
Preform also made on a rod Gas mixture
SiCl4, GeCl4, vapor
High temperature torch
FOI Course 13
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Manufacturing
Preform feed
Drawing fiber Furnace
• Drawing via free fall
Precise die
Optic diameter
measurement
of material Primary coating
• Speed – 10 to 20+ Optic concentricity
measurement
meters/sec Drying and UV curing
• Temp – 1900+ ˚C Fiber tensile
• Diameter – 125 µm
strength measurement
Length measurement
• Tolerance – 1 µm
Pulling mechanism
Fiber winding
FOI Course 14
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Drawing Towers
FOI Course 15
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
SMF and MMF
Cladding
Core Fundamental mode
Singlemode fiber
High-order mode
Cladding
Low-order mode
Core Zero-order mode
Multimode fiber
FOI Course 16
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Modal Dispersion
50 μm MMF - 300 modes
62.5 μm MMF - 1100 modes
Modal dispersion offsets waves by several
nanoseconds per km
Multimode fiber
MD restricts the
available bitrate and Low-order mode
length of MMF links High-order mode
Dispersion
FOI Course 17
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Refractive Index Profiles
Index Profile - radial distribution of the fiber
refractive index
Step-index Graded-Index
(several layers of
cladding)
FOI Course 18
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Graded-Index Profile
• Several layers with decreasing RI
• Higher modes bend, speed up and catch up
with the wavefront
Multimode fiber
Low-order mode
High-order mode
Mode front
FOI Course 19
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Depressed-Clad
• A layer of low RI bends the light harder back inside
the core
• Helps create bend insensitive fibers
• DC can be applied to any profile
Depressed-Clad Depressed-Clad
SMF Graded-Index MMF
FOI Course 20
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Bend Sensitivity
• Bend insensitive = RBS = reduced bend
sensitivity
• BI fiber can be bent with ~mm radius
• Ordinary fiber hard bending ~ 2 to 3 dB loss
• BI fiber hard bend ~ 0.2 to 0.3 dB loss
• BI and ordinary fibers are compatible (splicing)
• Good for home and office install
FOI Course 21
Module M.04: How Fiber is Made
Numerical Aperture
NA – ability to gather (accept) light
NA = sine of the largest angle an incident ray
can have for total internal reflection in the core
NA = n − n 2
1
2
2
Possible number of light modes
2
1 NA
M = D
2
FOI Course 22
