Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

a device that produces a coherent and focused beam

of photons
“Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”

A device produced strong, monochromatic, Collimated and

highly coherent beam of optical radiation by stimulating
electronic, ionic, or molecular transitions to higher energy levels
When they return to lower energy levels by stimulated emission,
they emit energy.
The LASER is the out growth of MASER “Microwave
Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”.
Built by Gorden Gieder & Townes in 1954. Later awarded Nobel
prize in Physics in 1964.
In 1958, Towne showed the MASER principle can be extended in
to visible region and finally in 1960, T. H. Maiman built first
LASER using ruby as an active medium. Later in 1961, He-Ne
LASER was developed by Ali Jawan.
 single colour

Monochromatic; Concentrate in a narrow range of

wavelengths (one specific colour).
same phase

Coherent; All the emitted photons bear a constant phase

relationship with each other in both time and phase
High degree of Directionality; A very tight beam is very
strong unidirectional. The divergence of a Laser beam is
limited by diffraction and the actual divergence can be less
than 10-5 radian. This property of laser is applicable in
remote sensing.
High Power/Intense; Laser beam is highly intense. A
continuous laser beam has a power of 105 Watt, while a pulse
laser beam has energy approximate 50000 Joule. Due to this
laser beam is applicable to welding, cutting, laser fusion, etc.
 Tight Focusing; Due to very high directional in nature,
laser beam can be focused in few m2. So laser is used in
surgery, material processing, compact disc etc.
Spectral Purity; Laser beam can have an extremely small
spectral width  = 10-6 A0. Due to this property laser is
applicable in holography, optical communication,
spectroscopy etc.

In 1960 laser was introduced as an appealing method for

the production of intense, monochromatic, collimated and
highly coherent beam of light.
The principle of laser is based on the phenomenon of
stimulated emission first predicted by Einstein in 1916-17..
 Basic concepts for a laser

Atoms are characterized by discrete energy

levels/states. According to Einstein there are different
(three) ways in which an atom can interact with
electromagnetic radiations.

Absorption (Stimulated absorption)

Spontaneous Emission

Stimulated Emission.
 Absorption
E2
Energy is absorbed by
an atom, the electrons
h
are excited into higher
energy state.
E1
E2  E1  h
The probability of this absorption from state 1 to state 2
is proportional to the energy density u() of the
radiation
P12  B12u (v)
where the proportionality constant B12 is known as
the Einstein’s coefficient of absorption of
radiation and depends on the properties of states 1&2.
 Spontaneous Emission
E2 E2

h

E1 E1

The atom decays from level 2 to level 1 through the

emission of a photon with the energy hv. It is a
completely random process. E2  E1  h

Let an atom is in excited state and it remains in it for

only 10-8 sec. Then it (of its own record) jumps to the
lower energy state emitting a radiation.
 Spontaneous Emission
If there are large number of atoms in excited states then
the photons emitted by different atoms have a random
phase and hence they are incoherent.

The probability of occurrence of this spontaneous

emission transition from state 2 to state 1 depends only
on the properties of states 2 and 1 and is given by

( P21 ) sp  A21

where the proportionality constant A21 is known as

the Einstein’s coefficient of spontaneous emission.
 Stimulated or induced Emission
E2 E2

h

E1 E1

If an atom is in excited state, then an incident

photon of correct frequency (or energy) may cause
the atom to jump to the lower energy state emitting
an additional photon of same frequency. Thus now,
two photons of same frequency are present.
This phenomenon is called stimulated emission.
These two photons are coherent and travel in the
same direction
 Stimulated or induced Emission
If the photon of frequency  is made incident on it,
then the atom jumps to the lower energy state
emitting an additional photon of same frequency .
The probability of this emission from state 2 to state 1 is
proportional to the energy density u(v) of the radiation
and depends on the properties of states 1 & 2.
P21  B21u (v)
where the proportionality constant B21 is known as
the Einstein’s coefficient of stimulated emission of
radiation
So the total probability of emission from energy state 2
to 1 is the sum of spontaneous and stimulated
probabilities. P21  A21  B21u (v )
 The stimulated photons have unique properties:
In phase with the incident photon.
Same wavelength as the incident photon.
Travel in same direction as incident photon
E 2 E 2 E 2
h  h 
h  h  In
Out
h 

E E 1 E
1 1

(a) Absorption (b) Spontaneous emission (c) Stimulated emission

Absorption, spontaneous (random photon) emission and stimulated

emission.

Stimulated emission leads to a chain reaction and laser emission

If a medium has many excited molecules or atoms, one photon can become many.
Excited medium

This is the essence of the laser.

Relation between Einstein’s Coefficients
 N1 B12u ( )  N 2 [ A21  B21u ( )]

N 2 A21
u ( ) 
N1 B12  N 2 B21
But Einstein proved thermodynamically that probability of
(stimulated) absorption is equal to the probability of stimulated
emission, So
B12  B21

N 2 A21
u ( ) 
N1 B21  N 2 B21
A21 1
u ( ) 
B21 ( N1 / N 2 )  1
According to Boltzmann’s law, the distribution of atoms among the energy
states E1 and E2 at the thermal equilibrium at temperature T is given by

N1 N e  E1 / kT
or, N1
 0
e ( E 2  E1 ) / kT
 e h / kT
N 2 N 0e  E 2 / kT N2
where N0 is the total number of atoms present and k is the Boltzmann constant

A21 1
or, u ( )  (1)
B21 e h / kT ( B12  1)
B21
Planck’s radiation formula gives the energy density of radiation u() as

8h 3
1
u ( )  h / kT
(2)
c 3
e 1
 from equation (1) and (2)

A21 8h 3 B 12
 and 1
B21 c 3 B 21

This equation gives the relation between the probabilities of

spontaneous and stimulated emission. “The ratio of spontaneous
emission to the stimulated emission is proportional to 3”.

ie., probability of spontaneous emission dominates over stimulated

emission more as energy difference b/w two states increases
 Necessary Condition for the laser operation;
population inversion

If N1 > N2
•radiation is mostly absorbed
• spontaneous radiation dominates.

if N2 >> N1 - population inversion

•most atoms occupy level E2, weak absorption
stimulated emission prevails
•light is amplified

Population Inversion
•This situation in which the number of atoms in the higher
state exceed that in the lower state (N2 > N1) is known as
population inversion.
 Pumping
The process of moving the atoms from their ground state to an excited
state is called pumping. The objective is to obtain a non-thermal
equilibrium.

Optical Pumping
The atoms are excited by bombarding them with photons. Example: Ruby Laser

Lasers that have a short-lived population inversion produce pulsed output

– these are pulsed lasers

Electrical Pumping

The atoms are excited by Electron collision in a discharge tube. Example: He-Ne
Laser

Lasers that maintain a population inversion indefinitely produce

continuous output – termed CW (for continuous wave) lasers
 Ruby Laser; Introduction
A ruby laser is a solid-state laser that uses a synthetic ruby
crystal as its gain medium.

It was the first type of laser invented, and was first operated by
Theodore H. "Ted" Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories on
1960-05-16 .

The ruby mineral (corundum) is aluminum oxide with a small

amount(about 0.05%) of chromium which gives it its
characteristic pink or red color by absorbing green and blue
light.

The ruby laser is The ruby laser is used as a pulsed laser,

producing red light at 694.3 nm. After receiving a pumping flash
from the flash tube, the laser light emerges for as long as the
excited atoms persist in the ruby rod, which is typically about a
millisecond.
 Ruby Laser (Three Level Laser)
Ruby (Al2O3) monocrystal, Cr doped.

Xenon Flash Light tube

Partially silvered mirror

 Working of Ruby laser
Ruby laser is based on three energy levels. The upper energy level E3 I
short-lived, E1 is ground state, E2 is metastable state with lifetime of
0.003 sec.
 Ruby Laser (Three Level Laser)

Short-live state 10-8sec

E3
Radiation-less Transition
Optical
Pumping
Metastable state 10-3sec
E2
5500 Å Stimulated 6943 Å
Spontaneous Emission
Emission 6943 Å 6943 Å

E1
Ground State
 He-Ne Laser (Four Level Laser)
The Helium-Neon laser was the first continuous laser.
It was invented by Javan et. al. in 1961.

A He-Ne laser, is a type of small gas laser. He-Ne lasers have

many industrial and scientific uses, and are often used in
laboratory demonstrations of optics.

He-Ne laser is a four-level laser.

Its usual operation wavelength is 632.8 nm, in the red portion

of the visible spectrum.

It operates in Continuous Working (CW) mode.

 He-Ne Laser (Four Level Laser)
Ruby laser does not generate a continuous laser beam. To over
come this difficulty, Ali Javan in 1961, developed a gas laser
which emits a continuous laser beam. It is a mixture of He-Ne
gases. The excitation of He & Ne atoms to higher energy states
is performed by means of radio (high) frequency
electromagnetic field.

Construction of He-Ne laser

It consists of;
1. Active medium: The gain medium of the laser, as suggested
by its name, is a mixture of helium and neon gases, in a 5:1 to
20:1 ratio, contained at low pressure (an average 50 Pa per cm of
cavity length ) in a glass envelope.
 Construction of He-Ne laser
It consists of;
2. Pumping: The energy or pump source of the laser is
provided by an electrical discharge of around 1000 volts
through an anode and cathode at each end of the glass tube. A
current of 5 to 100 mA is typical for CW operation.

2. Resonant Cavity: The resonant cavity consists of a discharge

tube of length approximate 50 cm and bore diameter of
approximate 1 cm. The optical cavity of the laser typically
consists of a plane, high-reflecting mirror at one end of the
laser tube, and a concave output coupler mirror of
approximately 1% transmission at the other end.
The spacing of the mirrors is equal to an integral number of
half wave-lengths of the laser light.
He-Ne Laser (Four Level Laser)
 WORKING: He-Ne Laser (Four Level Laser)
In-elastic collision
Energy
20.61 eV Meta-stable state 20.66 eV
Transfer

6328 Å 6328 Å

6328 Å
Electron
Impact 18.70 eV
Spontaneous
Emission
c

Radiation-less
Transition
Ground
He State Ne
 Working of He-Ne laser
The working of He-Ne laser is based on the fact that the Ne has
energy levels very close to meta-stable energy levels of He.

When the power is switched on, the electrons from the

discharge tube excite the gaseous atoms, thereby pumping takes
place and He & Ne atoms excited and reaches to excited energy
levels at meta stable state of 20.61 eV.

Some of the excited He atoms transfer their energy to Ne atoms

by inelastic atom-atom collision with an amount of 0.05 eV. Thus
the purpose of He atoms is to help in achieving the population
inversion in Ne-atoms.

When an excited Ne-atom passes through the excited state of

20.66 eV to the lower state of 18.70 eV, it emits a photon of
wavelength 6328 Å.
 This photon travel through the gas mixture, and if it is moving
parallel to the axis of the tube, it reflect back and forth by the
mirror ends until it stimulates an excited Ne-atom and causes it
to emits a fresh photon of 6328 Å in exact phase with the
stimulating photon.

This stimulated transition from 20.66 eV to the lower state of

18.70 eV level is the laser transition. This process is continue for
all the excited Ne-atoms and when a beam of coherent radiation
becomes sufficiently intense, a portion (and all) of it escapes
through the partially silvered end.

The Ne atoms passes from the 18.70 eV level, spontaneously to

the lower meta-stable state emitting incoherent radiation and
finally the Ne atoms come down to the ground state through
collision with the tube walls. The radiation from lower meta-
stable state to the ground state is radiation less transition.
 A He-Ne laser operates in continuous wave mode. The narrow
red beam of this laser is used in super markets to read the bar
codes. The optical output powers is ranging from 1 mW to 100
mW.

The He- Ne Laser is used in Holography in producing the 3D

images of objects.

He-Ne lasers have many industrial and scientific uses, and are
often used in laboratory demonstrations of optics.
 APPLICATIONS OF LASER

Lasers are profitably used in every field of science including

fundamental research. The common applications of laser are;

Laser beams are very intense so are used for welding, cutting of
materials.

Laser beam is used to vaporize unwanted materials during the

manufacture of electronic circuits on semiconductors chips.

CO2 gas laser of about 100 w output are helpful in surgery as

they seal small blood vessels. Lasers are used for eye surgery,
treatment of dental decay and skin diseases.

Lasers are used to detect and destroy missiles during war.

 APPLICATIONS OF LASER

Low power semiconductors laser are used in compact disc

players, laser printers and laser copiers etc.

High power semiconductors laser are used to bring about

thermo-nuclear reactions which would become the ultimate
power source for human civilization.

Lasers are being employed for separating the various isotopes of

an element.

The narrow red beam of He-Ne laser is used in super markets

and library to read the bar codes.

The He- Ne Laser is used in Holography in producing the 3D

images of objects.
Holography
 Holography
Holography is the production of three-dimensional images of
objects.

The physics of holography (different type of photography) was

developed by Dennis Gabor in 1947-48. Holography is a technique
that allow the light scattered from an object (to be recorded) and
later re-constructed so that it appears the same when it was
recorded. The recorded image of an object is called hologram. The
hologram has no resemblance with the recorded object, though it
contains all the information about the object in a special kind of
optical code. When it is illuminated by a coherent source of light,
a three dimensional image of the original object is formed. The
formation of image from hologram is called the re-construction
process. For this work, Gabor was awarded Nobel Prize in Physics
in 1971.
 Holography
In Holography both the amplitude and phase
components of light wave are recorded on a light
sensitive medium such as a photographic plate.
Holography is a two step process.

First step is the recording of the Hologram, where the

object is transformed into a photographic record.
Second step is the reconstruction in which the
Hologram is transformed into the image

The laser (1960) met the requirement of coherent light

needed for making holographic images.
 Principle of Holography; Construction

Mirror
Reference
Beam

Incident
Laser
Object
Beam

Photographic Object Beam

Plate (Hologram)
 Principle of Holography; Construction
Gabor recorded the wave pattern on the photo-graphic plate by
mixing of two beams namely reference beam and object beam.
An object to be recorded, is illuminated by highly monochromatic
and coherent laser beam. Light is reflected from the object and
fall on the entire photo-graphic plate. A part of the incident beam
is also allowed to fall on a plane mirror which reflects it towards
the photo-graphic plate. This is called reference beam.

Holography is the interference between two waves, an object

wave, scattered from the object and the reference wave, which is
the light reaching the photographic plate directly after reflecting
from mirror. The film records the intensity of the light as well as
the phase difference between the scattered object and reference
beams.
The phase difference results in the 3-D perspective.
Principle of Holography; Re- Construction

Laser
Beam

Hologram

Virtual Image Real Image

 Principle of Holography; Re-Construction
In the re-construction process, the hologram is illuminated by a
collimated laser beam which undergoes diffraction phenomenon. A
hologram works as a diffraction grating.

One of the diffracted beam emerging from the hologram, when

projected back, a virtual image is formed and can be observed by
looking through the hologram.

The other beam produces a real image which can be recorded on

the a photographic plate.

Thus the holography is a two stage process. In the first stage, the
hologram is recorded in the form of interference pattern. And in
the second stage, the hologram acts as a diffraction grating for the
re-construction beam and the image of the project is
reconstructed from the hologram.
 Principle of Holography; Re-Construction
According to diffraction theory, each point in the object acts as a
point source of light. Each of these point sources interfere with
the reference beam, giving rise to an interference pattern. The
resulting pattern is the sum of large number of point sources plus
the reference beam interference pattern.

Conventional Photography:
2-d version of a 3-d scene

Photograph lacks depth perception or parallax.

Phase relation (i.e. interference) are lost

Holographic photography:
Freezes the intricate wave-front of light that carries all the
visual information of the scene.

Provides depth perception and parallax.

Gives information about amplitude as well as phase of an

object.

The hologram is a complex interference pattern of

microscopically spaced fringes.
 APPLICATIONS OF HOLOGRAPHY

Data storage: can store information at very high density inside

crystals and polymers.

Security; security holograms are very difficult to forge because

they are replicated by a master hologram, which requires very
expensive, specialized and technologically advanced equipments.
They are used in credit cards, bank cards etc.

Determining cubic dimensions; holographic sensors used in

post offices, larger shipping firms, automated conveyor systems to
determine the three dimensional images/size of the packets.

In movies etc.
 National Geographic

First major
publication to put a
hologram on its cover

March 1984 issue

carried nearly 11
million holograms
around the world
FIBRE OPTICS
 FIBRE OPTICS

Fibre optics deals with the transmission of light through fibres

of glass, plastic and other transparent materials and works on the
principle of total internal reflection.

The first scientific demonstration of this phenomenon was

given by John Tyndall in 1870. He demonstrated that light can be
guided along a curved stream of water which after total internal
reflection gets confined to the water stream and the water stream
appears luminous.

In electronic communication, optical fibers are preferred over

copper wires, because optical fibers are extremely small, light in
weight and can be accommodated in a very small region/space. By
using optical fibers the number of signals that can be transmitted
simultaneously is enhanced.
 FIBRE OPTICS

The invention of laser in 1960 opens a variety of applications in

day to day life and optical fibre communication is one of the
important application of coherent light, which brought a
revolution in the communication technology.

Optical fibres and laser together increase the capacity of

communication system by 1,00,000 times than the conventional
systems. As an example, in 1973 Airborne Light Optical Fibre
Technology Programme replaced 302 cables of approximate 40 kg
weight by fibre system of 1.7 kg weight.

Apart from the use of communication channel, optical fibers are

widely employed in other areas like sensors, displaying system,
coping machines etc. Flexible fibro-scopes are used in medical
diagnosis.
 OPTICAL FIBRES

Optical Fiber is an optical transmission device which works on

the principle of total internal reflection. These are glass or plastic
pipes as thin as human hair that carries light along its length.

When a light signal is directed at one end of the fiber at a

suitable angle, it undergoes repeated total internal reflection
along the length of the fiber and finally comes out at the other
end with a very small loss of light through the side walls.

Optical fiber consists of essentially four regions.

 Core
 Cladding
 Buffer &
 Protective sheet
 CROSS-SECTIONAL VIEW OPTICAL FIBRES

The central part is core. The

refractive index of core is always
grater than the cladding and it
carries the signals.

The middle region is call

cladding. It keeps the light
waves within the core.

Buffer Protects the fiber from

damage and moisture.

Outer region is called

protective sheet or jacket Holds
one or more fibers in a cable..
 FABRICATION

Optical fibres are fabricated from glass or plastic which are

transparent to the optical frequencies. With these materials, the
major types of fibres are;

Plastic core with plastic cladding.

Glass core with plastic cladding.

Glass core with glass cladding.

In case of plastic fibre, core may be made up of poly-styrene,

poly-methyl-meta-acrylite and the cladding is generally of silicon
or teflon.
 FABRICATION

The glass is made up of silica (SiO2). It has a refractive index of

1.458 at  = 8500 Å. A small amount of various components such
as boron, germanium, phosphorus etc is added to change the
refractive index of the fibre.

If the basic silica material is doped with Germania (GeO2) or

Phosphorus-Penta-Oxide (P2O5), the refractive index of the
material increases. Such materials are used to made the core of
the fibre and pure silica may be used to made the cladding.

However, when pure silica is doped with Boria (B2O3) or

fluorine, its refractive index decreases. These materials may be
used as cladding while the pure silica may be used to made the
core of the fibre.
 EXTRA
When light travels from a
medium of higher refractive index 1>2 r> i
to a medium of lower refractive
index, then the ratio 1/2 is greater r
than 1. So the angle (sin r) will be i
greater than angle (sin i) i.e., the
refracted ray is bent away from the 1 2
normal.

While, when light travels from a 1<2 r< i

medium of lower refractive index to
a medium of higher one, then the r
ratio 1/2 is less than 1. So the
angle (sin i) will be greater than
i
angle (sin r) i.e., the refracted ray is
bent towards the normal.
1 2
 TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION
When the light ray
2 travels from medium
1>2 with higher refractive
index to a medium
with lower refractive
1 index and strikes the
 1  c boundary at more than
critical angle c, then
all light will be
1 reflected back in to the
2 incident medium i.e. it
1 TIR
will not penetrate in to
2 c the second medium.
This phenomenon is
2>c called the total
internal reflection.
 Light propagation in fiber: Acceptance Angle

Let us consider the light propagation in an optical fibre. The

end at which the light enters in the fibre is called launching end.
Let the refractive index of the fibre core is 1 and the refractive
index of the fibre cladding is 2 (i.e., 1 > 2).
refracted ray
B Cladding (  2 )
Air (  o )  Core ( 1 )
A r Axis
i C

incident ray TIR ray

 Light propagation in fiber: Acceptance Angle
Let the outside medium through which the light is launched into
the fibre has refractive index 0. Let the light ray enters the fibre at
an angle i to the axis of the fibre and the refracted ray makes and
angle r with the axis and strike the core-cladding interface at an
angle  (as in fig.).

When the light ray travels from medium with higher refractive
index to a medium with lower refractive index and strikes the
boundary at more than critical angle c, then all light will be
reflected back in to the incident medium i.e. it will not penetrate in
to the second medium. This phenomenon is called the total internal
reflection.

If  >> c [i.e. critical angle c = sin-1(1/)], then the ray undergoes

TIR until it emerges out of the other end of the fibre. The light ray is
guided through it from one end to another without any energy loss.
 Light propagation in fiber: Acceptance Angle
Applying Snell’s law at the launching face of the fibre;
we have,  sin  i   sin  r (1)
o 1

Now largest value of i occurs when  = c.

From triangle ABC;
sin r  sin(90   )  cos 
From eq. (1); 1 1
sin  i  sin  r  cos  ( 2)
o o
Now when  = c then i = max, So;
1
sin  max  cos  c ( 3)
o
When  = c then according to Snell’s law at the interface of core-
cladding;  sin 90 o

1 sin c   2 sin 90 0 1

2 sin  c
 Light propagation in fibre: Acceptance Angle
and, 2
sin  c 
1
 12   22
so , cos  c  1  sin 2  c  (4)
 12

So, from eqs. (3) and (4)

1   2 2
 
2 2
sin  max  1
 2 1 2
(5)
o 12
o

If (12 - 22) >> 02 then for all values of incident angle i, total
internal reflection will occur.
 Light propagation in fiber: Acceptance Angle
Assuming 0=1 the maximum value of sin i, for a ray to be
guided by the optical fibre is given by;

sin  max  12   22 (6)

and
 max  sin 1
 
1
2 2
2 (7 )
This equation gives a relation between the acceptance angle and the
refractive indices of the core and the cladding.

The angle max is called the acceptance angle of the fibre and may be
defined as “maximum angle that the light ray can have relative to the
axis of the fibre”

The light ray contained within the cone having a full angle 2 max are
accepted and transmitted along the fibre. This cone is known as
acceptance cone.
Fractional refractive index change: This parameter is defined
as the ration of the difference between the refractive indices of
core and cladding to the refractive index of core and denoted by ;
1   2

1
 is always positive as the refractive index of core is always
greater than the refractive index of cladding for the total internal
reflection condition.

Numerical aperture: It is the measure of the light gathering

capacity of the fiber and is defined as the product of sine of the
acceptance angle and the refractive index of the medium to which
the end faces of the fiber are exposed. NA   sin i
o max

Taking 0 =1 for air, we get; NA  sin imax  12   22

Numerical aperture: NA  12   22  1 2 

because ,     ( 1   2 ) ( 1   2 )
1
2 2
2

( 1   2 )
 .( 1   2 ) 2
2
( 1   2 )
let ,  1
2
1   2
and ,   , or 1  1   2
1

so , 12   22  1 . 2 1  2 12   1 2 

 Types of Optical Fabre (Based on core size)
Two types of optical fibres;
1. Single mode (step-index) optical fibre.
2. Multi-mode optical fibres.
This can be sub-classified as;
a. Multi-mode step index fibre and
b. Multi-mode graded index fibre.

Single mode (step-index) optical fibre: Also known as mono-

mode optical fibres.

Single mode step index fiber has a narrow core of diameter approx
8 to 9 microns, which only allows one light path or mode. The
core has uniform refractive index of approx 1.50. The diameter
of cladding is nearly 125 micro meter. The cladding is also
made up of a material of uniform refractive index 1.48.
 Single mode (step-index) optical fiber:
Since the refractive index steps down from 1.50 t0 1.48 at the
core cladding interface therefore the fibre is called step index.
Single mode fiber have a lower numerical aperture, low signal
loss and a higher information capacity or bandwidth than a
multimode fiber.

Index of
refraction
 Multi- mode step-index optical fiber:
Structure of this fibre is similar to the single mode fibre with
two differences; i.e., central core is bigger and the cladding
thickness is smaller as compared to the single mode fibre.
Multimode fiber has a core diameter of 50 to 100 microns
(sometimes even larger). The diameter of cladding is about 125
micron. The refractive index of the core has the same value
through the core. The refractive index is also same throughout the
cladding. The name multi mode is due to the fact that the
different wave-lengths in the light signal follow multiple light
paths in side the fiber.

Index of refraction
 Multi- mode graded-index optical fiber:
In graded index fibre, the refractive index of the core is
maximum along the axis and decreases parabolically towards the
cladding interface till it attains a constant value at the interface.
The core dimensions are 10 – 100 micron while the cladding is of
100 – 400 micron.
Due to the continuous changing refractive index from the
centre to the cladding interface, there is no abrupt change in the
direction of light. The ray of longer path length spend a greater
proportion of their in a medium of lower refractive index and
hence travel faster causes low dispersion.

Index of refraction
 Multi- mode graded-index optical fiber:
A ray inclined to the axis, entering the fibre keeps bending
towards the axis following Snell’s law. This is because the
continuous lowering refractive index bends the ray away from the
normal.

Allows several light paths (~100) or modes.

This causes modal dispersion – some modes take longer to

pass through the fiber than others because they travel a
longer distance.

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.
Modes of fiber: Normalized frequency OR V-number
The optical fibre is also called an optical wave guide. The
energy/signals in the cable is propagated by electric and magnetic
field vectors of electromagnetic waves, which can be analyzed by
Maxwell’s field equations. The Maxwell’s equations have discrete
sets of solutions called modes.

The number of modes of multimode fiber cable depends on the

wavelength of light, core diameter and material composition. This
can be determined by the Normalized frequency parameter (V)
given by;
2a 2a
V   
2 2
N . A.
 
1 2

Where , a = fiber core radius (d is diameter)

λ = wavelength of light
N.A.=numerical aperture
Modes of fiber: Normalized frequency OR V-number
For a single mode fiber, V ≤ 2.405 and for multimode fiber,
V ≥ 2.405.

Mathematically, the number of modes for a multimode fiber is

given by;

The no of modes in a multimode step index fiber is;

2
V
N
2
The no of modes in a multimode graded index fiber is;
2
V
N
4
The wavelength corresponding to the value of V=2.405 is known
as the cut-off wavelength of the fiber
 ATTENUATION
Attenuation or transmission loss is the loss of optical power as
light travels down a fiber. Attenuation controls the distance that
an optical signal can travel. The decrease in signal strength along
a fiber optic waveguide caused by absorption of light, scattering
and bending of fiber.

Attenuation constant: Attenuation or transmission loss and

dispersion are two most important factors in telecommunication.

The attenuation of an optical beam is usually expressed in dB/Km

or decibel/Km. In general, the attenuation is defined by the
formula;
Pin
L  10 log10
Pout
where α is the attenuation coefficient of the fiber
 Dispersion
Dispersion, expressed in terms of the symbol ∆t, is defined as
pulse spreading in an optical fiber. As a pulse of light propagates
through a fiber, elements such as numerical aperture, core
diameter, refractive index profile, wavelength, and laser line width
cause the pulse to broaden. This poses a limitation on the overall
bandwidth of the fiber.
The General Communication
System
 The Optical fibre
Communication System
Potential low cost: The glass which generally provides the
optical fiber transmission medium is made from sand (SiO2).

Enormous band width: The optical carrier frequency in the range

1013 to 1016 Hz.
In metallic cable systems band width is 500-700 MHz's. The
amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of
time.
Signal security: Optical fibers provides the high degree of signal
security.

Using an Optical fiber, 15000 independent speeches

can be sent where as using a pair of copper wires, only
48 independent speeches can be sent
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
 Acceptance angle
 Measures the largest angle of light that can be accepted
into the core
continue
 Intramodal Dispersion- also known as the chromatic
dispersion, depends upon the wavelength and
therefore, its effect on signal distortion increase with
the spectral width of optical source.
 (i) Material dispersion
 (ii) Wavelength dispersion
 Intermodal Dispersion