OPTICAL FIBERS

Optical fibers are thin flexible, strand of glass or plastic which guide the light waves to propagate
along curved path by the principle of total internal reflection.

Structure of optical fiber

It consists of three coaxial regions. The innermost light guiding region is known as the Core.
It is surrounded by a coaxial middle region known as the cladding. This layer serves to
confine the light to the core. Core and cladding are made up of transparent dielectric materials
like glass and plastic. The refractive index of cladding is always lower than that of the core.
The outermost region is called as sheath or buffer. This protects the cladding and core from
abrasions, contamination and moisture. The sheath also increases the mechanical strength of
the fiber.

Principle of optical fibers: Basic principle of transmission of light through an optical fibre is total
internal reflection.

Total internal reflection- When light travels from denser to rarer medium and angle of incidence
in the denser medium is greater than critical angle for the pair of media, the light gets reflected
back in the denser medium. This phenomenon is known as total internal reflection.

Critical angle- The angle of incidence in the denser medium for which angle of refraction in the
rarer medium is 900, is called critical angle for the pair of media.

1
 Optical fiber consists of core and cladding where core material refractive index is more than the
refractive index of the cladding material.

n1 ‡ R.I. of core, n2 ‡ R.I. of cladding. Such that n1 > n2.

When light is made to incident at the one end of core, for a particular angle of incidence qo (less
than acceptance angle) the light ray will undergo total internal refraction at the boundary of core
and cladding.
Acceptance angle. (qo)
It is the maximum allowed angle that a light ray can have relative to the axis of fiber for
transmission through fiber i.e. It is that angle of incidence made by light ray at the one end of the
core of an optical fiber measured with respect to the axis of fiber, for which refracted ray inside the
core grazes the interface or boundary between core and cladding. For any other angle of incidence
qi < qo, light ray undergoes total internal reflection and it propagates through the optical fiber with
multiple internal reflection.
For any other angle of incidence greater than the acceptance angle i.e., qi > qo light ray
entering the fiber refracts out of the core and cladding and thus escapes out of the optical fiber
without total internal reflection.

Acceptance cone-It is the cone in which the light incident at acceptance angle or less than the
acceptance angle can propagate through the fibre after total internal reflection.

Numerical Aperture (N.A).

It is a measure of light gathering capacity of the optical fibre. It is defined as the sine of
acceptance angle.
i.e. NA = sin θo

Expression for numerical aperture and condition for propagation:

Let, no be the R.I. of medium in which optical fiber is placed.

n1 be the R.I. of core medium and n2 be the R.I. of cladding medium such that, n1 > n2 > no.

2
Let OA be the light ray incident on one end of the core at A, with angle of incidence qo (measured
with respect to axis of the fiber XY).
Let AB be the refracted ray with angle of refraction q1 in the core.

Let q2 be the angle of incidence made by ray AB at B on the boundary-separating core and
cladding such that q2 is the critical angle for pair of media core and cladding.

As we have assumed q2 is the critical angle, AB ray refracts along the boundary separating core
and cladding as BB'.
Applying Snell’s law (ni sinqi = nr sinqr) for the refraction at A,
We get,
no sinqo = n1 sinq1 (1)

Similarly applying Snell’s law for the refraction at B,

We get,
n1 sinq2 = n2 sin90o = n2

from geometry q2 = 90-q1 ,

therefore n1 cosq1 = n2
n
cosq1 = 2 (2)
n1

n1 sin q 1
From eq (1) sinqo =
n0

n1
= 1 - cos 2 q1
n0

n1 n22
= 1- 2
n0 n1
n12 - n22
Therefore sin q 0 =
n0
Here qo is called acceptance angle and sinqo is called numerical aperture which is measure of
light gathering capability of an optical fiber.

3
 Condition for propagation:

If the surrounding medium is air,

Then no = 1
Therefore, sin q 0 = n12 - n22

From the expression for Numerical aperture

N . A. = n12 - n22
It is clear that only for the angle of acceptance satisfying sin q 0 = n12 - n22 , the light ray will
undergo refraction in such way that refracted ray will be within the core of the fiber. If qi, is the
angle of incidence at one end of the core of an optical fiber such that qi is less than qo, then q2
becomes more than the critical angle at B as a result of which the ray undergoes total internal
reflection at the boundary separating the core and cladding.
Condition of propagation:
The ray will propagate through the fiber if the angle of incidence θi ≤ θo
or sin θi ≤ sin θo ≤ NA
θi ≤ sin-1 (NA)

Fractional index change (∆)

It is the ratio of the difference in refractive indices of core and cladding to the refractive index of
core of an optical fiber.
n1 - n 2
D=
n1
Relation between N.A and fractional index change (∆).

NA = =

Since n1 ≈ n2 , we can write ( n1 + n2) ≈ 2n1

Therefore NA= ≈

4
 Modes of propagation in an optical fiber
Modes can be visualized as possible number of paths for light rays in optical fiber.
Geometrically these modes can be treated as light rays propagating through the optical fiber.
Single mode fiber allows only one path for the propagation where as multimode fiber allows
more than one path and each mode can be used as one channel for communication.
V- number (or) Normalized frequency:
The number of modes sustained in an optical fiber depends on radius of the core, refractive index
of core(n1)and cladding (n2) and wavelength of light used, which can be calculated by parameter
called V- number given by is,

V= (NA) =

where d= core diameter, λ= the wavelength of light propagating in the fiber.

The number of modes supported by the fiber, N

Refractive index profile: The graph showing the variation of refractive index with respect to
radial distance from the axis of fiber is called the refractive index profile.

Types of optical fibers

Optical fibers mainly have been classified according to their refractive index profile as
1. Step index single mode fiber.
2. Step index multimode fiber.
3.Graded index multimode fibers.

5
Step index fibers
Fig ( 1 ) shows R.I. profile of step index fiber where R.I. profile appears like a step. The
refractive indices of the core and cladding vary like a step and so it called as step index fiber. It has
constant higher value of refractive index of core and constant lower value of refractive index of
cladding. The light rays propagating through it are in the form of meridional rays which will cross
the fiber axis during every reflection at the core-cladding boundary and are propagating in a zig-zag
manner. The variation of refractive index of a step index fiber as a function of radial distance can be
mathematically represented as
n(r)=n1 [r<a, inside core]
=n2 [r>a, in cladding]

Step index fibers can be divided as Step index single mode fiber and Step index multi-mode
fiber.
Step index single mode fiber
A single mode fiber is one in which light follows a single path for the propagation through the
core. These fibers will have the core diameter of the order of 8 to 10 mm and cladding diameter of
the order of 60 to 70 mm. Because of narrow core only zeroth order mode is allowed in a single
mode as shown in fig.
Characteristics of single mode step index fiber
1. It has small core diameter.
2. It has high bandwidth.
3. It has small numerical aperture around 0.02.
4. It has less attenuation.
Advantages
It has very high capacity. Nearly 80% of the fibers are of step index single mode.
Fabrication of fibers, Launching of light into single mode fibers and joining of two fibers are very
difficult.
They need lasers as a source and are used in long distance communications. They find
application in submarine cable systems.

6
 Step index multi-mode fiber
Multimode fiber is one in which light follows many path (more than one) through the core for the
propagation. These fibers will have core diameter of the order 50 to 200 mm and cladding diameter
of 100 to 250 mm. Due to large core diameter it can support large number of modes as shown in
fig.
Characteristics of Multimode step index fiber
1. It has high core diameter.
2. It has low band width.
3. It has high numerical aperture around 0.3.
4. They suffer from intermodal dispersion so attenuation is more.
Advantages
1. They are easier to manufacture.
2. They have simple circuitry.
LED or Laser can be used as a source. Fabrication, Launching of light into fiber and joining of
two fibers are easy in these fibers so they are cheap. They are used as data links for
communication purposes which has lower bandwidth requirements.

*Light propagation in step index fibers is by multiple total internal reflections. In multimode step
index fibers, there is a time delay between different pulses of lower order modes and high order
modes travelling along different paths as shown in fig. Hence the pulse received at the other end is
broadened. This is known as intermodal dispersion. This imposes limitation on the separation
between pulses and reduces the transmission rate and capacity. To overcome this problem, graded
index fibers are used.*

Graded Index fibers

Fig (2) shows R.I. profile of graded index fiber where refractive index of core is not constant
but decreases as we move away from the axis of the core. But refractive index of cladding remains
constant and its value is less than the core’s refractive index. As there is continuous variation in the
refractive index of the core, light propagates through refraction of light following a curved path as
shown in figure below. The variation of refractive index of core with radius in a graded index fiber
as a function of radial distance can be mathematically represented as
È a ˘
Ín1 1 - 2DÊÁ r ˆ˜ , r < a inside core˙
n( r ) Í Ëa¯ ˙,
Í ˙
Ín , r > a in cladding ˙
ÍÎ 2 ˙˚
where α is a dimensionless parameter which defines the shape of the index profile and 'a' is radius of core.
*The light rays travel along the region of lower refractive index faster as compared to light
travelling in the region of high refractive index, hence all the pulses of signals will reach at the other
end of fiber simultaneously. Thus the problem of intermodal dispersion can be reduced to a large
extent and attenuation is less in graded index fiber.* Light rays propagating through it are in the
form of skew rays (or) helical rays which will not cross the fiber axis at any time and are
propagating around the fiber axis in a helical (or) spiral manner as shown in fig. (3).
Characteristics of graded index multimode fibers

7
 1. It is a high quality fiber.
2. It has moderate bandwidth and capacity.
3. It has small numerical aperture.
4. It has low attenuation.

Advantage
LED or Laser can be used as a source for GRIN multimode fibers. It is most expensive of all. It is
easier to splice and interconnect. But these fibers are free from intermodal dispersion. It's typical
application is in telephone trunk between central offices.

Dispersion
The spreading of an optical pulse as it travels inside the core of an optical fiber is called dispersion.
It is expressed in units of ns/km
Types of dispersion
1) Intermodal dispersion
2) Intramodal dispersion
1) Intermodal dispersion
When light travels in the step-index multimode fiber, each ray is reflected many times. The higher
order modes travel longer distance than the lower order modes to reach the end of fiber. Hence
higher order modes arrive later than the lower order and pulses broaden causing signal distortion.
The path length of the zeroth order (along the axis of fiber) is the shortest among the allowed modes.

Therefore the part of the input energy that takes this mode arrives at the receiving end earliest
compared to those which take higher order modes. This type of distortion is known as intermodal
dispersion.
In graded index fiber light ray travel at different speeds in different parts of the fiber because
refractive index varies across the core. The rays near the outer edge of core travel faster than the rays
in the centre of the core and arrive at the end of the fiber at approximately at the same time.

8
2) Intramodal dispersion
Intramodal dispersion is again divided into two parts
(i) Material dispersion
(ii) Waveguide dispersion
i) Material dispersion
A light pulse is a wave packet, composed of a group of components of different wavelengths. The
different wavelength components will travel at different speeds along the fiber.. The short
wavelengths travel slower than long wavelengths. Consequently, pulses of light tend to broaden as
they travel down the fiber. It is often called the chromatic dispersion. Material dispersion occurs in
all type of fibers.

ii) Waveguide dispersion

Waveguide dispersion arises from guiding properties of the fiber. It occurs in single mode fibers. It
is caused by the different refractive indices of the core and cladding of an optical fiber. Regardless
of the nature of the light source and optical fiber, some light travels in the cladding as well. The
light propagating in the cladding travels faster than the light confined to the core and hence,
broadening of pulses occur.

In a multimode step index fiber, all three pulse spreading mechanism exist simultaneously. In case
of step index single mode fiber only material and waveguide dispersion exist.

Attenuation
Attenuation is the loss of power suffered by an optical signal as it travels down the optical fiber is
called as attenuation.
It is expressed in terms of attenuation coefficient.

10 ÈP ˘
Attenuation coefficient a =- log 10 Í out ˙
L Î Pin ˚
Generally α is expressed in decibel/km (dB/km),
where L is the length of the fiber in km, Pout is output power and Pin is input power in Watt.

9
 The losses or attenuation may be due to light absorption, scattering and extensive fiber bends.
These loss mechanisms can be explained as follows.
(1) Absorption losses.
Absorption losses occur due to absorption of photons associated with signal by the fiber material.
Intrinsic Absorption-In silica fibers SiO2 is the main constituent which can absorb part of the
optical signals and is called intrinsic absorption. Along with intrinsic absorption, there may be
impurity absorption.
Extrinsic Absorption-Generally impurities present are transition metal ions, OH (hydroxyl) ions
which will absorb photons during the propagation of light signals.
However by reducing impurity concentrations during the fabrication of fibers, we can reduce
impurity absorption but intrinsic absorption cannot be avoided which sets the lowest limit for
absorption loss. However limit is found to be of the order of 0.01 db / km. For plastic fiber this loss
is high.

(2)Scattering losses.
Scattering losses occur due to inhomogeneities and structural defects present in the fiber.
Rayleigh Scattering: While the signals travel in the fiber, the photons may be scattered because of
sharp changes in refractive index values inside the glass over distances that are small compared to
wavelength of light. These regions of dimensions less than the wavelength of light acts as a
scattering agents, as a result of which photon changes its direction and can escape out of the fiber
without undergoing total internal reflection and thus loss in optical signals occurs.
This kind of scattering is called Rayleigh’s scattering and the rate of scattering is inversely
proportional to fourth power of light wavelength used. To reduce this type of scattering losses
generally lights of longer wavelengths will be used for communication purpose.
Mie scattering- Non perfect cylindrical structure of the fiber and imperfections like irregularities in
the core-cladding interface diameter fluctuations, trapped gases bubbles, unreacted starting materials
etc. may create scattering which is termed as Mie scattering.
(3)Bending losses.
Bending loss or radiative loss occurs due to bending of a fiber. There are two types in bending one is
macroscopic bending and the other one is microscopic bending.
Macroscopic bends: refers to bends having radius that are much larger compared to the fiber
diameter which occur during turning the fiber around the corner while laying it.

Light ray encountering this sharp bend fails to get total internally reflected due to change in angle of
incidence at the boundary separating core and cladding. This kind of losses can be avoided by
avoiding sharp bends in the fibers during installation.

Microscopic bends:
These losses refer to repetitive small scale fluctuations in the linearity of the fiber axis due to non-
uniformities in the manufacturing the fiber or due to the non-uniform lateral pressures created during
the cabling of the fibers. The micro bends cause irregular reflections and some of them then leak

10
 through the fiber. Wrapping or coating compressible jackets over the fiber so that external pressure
effects in fiber can be avoided, can minimize signal losses due to geometric losses.

(4) Splicing or coupling losses For some applications, the optical fibers have to be laid over very
large distances then it becomes necessary to interconnect two fibers which are usually of kilometer
length. When the fibers are interconnected, losses occur due to mechanical misalignment. This is
called splicing or coupling losses.

POINT TO POINT COMMUNICATION USING OPTICAL FIBER.

Optical fiber communication is the transmission of information by propagation of optical signal

through optical fibers over the required distance which involves driving optical signal from electrical
signal at the transmitting end, and conversion of optical signal back to electrical signal at the receiving
end. As a simple example we can consider the basics of point to point communication system. Block
diagram for point to point communication using optical fibers is shown in the fig. given below.
Explanation:
Analog Information (such as voice) in the form of sound signals are fed to microphone
(transducer), which converts this into electrical signals in analog form. These electrical signals are fed
to encoder which converts analog electrical signals into binary data (0 and 1 bits) and are fed to photo
transmitter which consists of LED or laser like light sources and out put will be in the form of light
signals.
These light signals are fed to optical fibers where light signal propagates through it by means of
total internal reflection and reaches the other end. This output light is fed to photo detector which
consists of photo cathodes where light energy will be converted into electrical signals, and these
electrical signals are decoded by means of decoders. Output of decoders will be again in the form of
electrical pulses are fed to speakers which converts electrical signals back into original information in
the form of sound.
Block diagram for point to point communication using optical fibers is shown in the fig. given
below.

--

11
 Thus information will be transmitted from one point to other point for a long distance by means of
optical fibers.

Advantages of Optical Fiber communication.

a) Large band width: Optical fibers have a wider band width compared to conventional metallic
cables communication, which helps in transmitting voice, video and data on a single line and at
very fast rates.
b) Electromagnetic interference does not occur so noise level or “disturbance” in the transmission is
very less.
c) Optical fibers have low attenuation compared to metallic cables.
d) A typical standard single mode fiber can support a bandwidth rate of about 160 Gbps which is 30
times more than that of metal coaxial cable. Metal cable about 70mm diameter containing 900
twisted copper pairs (weighs 7kg/m) can carry only 21,000 channels where as , optical fiber cable
of 13mm diameter containig12 fibers (weighs 0.06 kg/m) can carry about 3,00,000 channels.
e) No electrical hazards: Since optical fibers are made of dielectric materials which carry only the
light, there will be any problems of short circuits and shock hazards.
f) Optical fiber cables are small in size, light weight and have along life can be used for the purpose
with less maintenance.

Disadvantages.

1) To avoid bend losses in optical fibers during cabling sharp bending should be avoided.
2) As optical fibers are delicate, should be protected from external pressure and loads acting on it.
3) External temperature conditions can cause expansion and contraction of fibers which causes
transmission losses.
4) As optical fibers are very thin, joining two fibers called splicing is difficult and costly.
5) Fabrication and maintenance is costly compared to metallic cables.

12