3. Optical Fibre
Optical fibers are used as the most popular transmission
medium in optical communication systems
Optical fibers exploit the principle of Total Internal Reflection
(TIR), where light entering the fiber at a certain angle remains
confined to the core due to reflections from the boundary of the
core
The reason for the reflection of light at the boundary of the core
is the significant change in the refractive index at the core
boundary
4. Optical Fibre
An optical fiber is made of silicon and it is cylindrical in shape,
consisting of two sections, the inner core and the outer cladding
The refractive index of the cladding is made significantly lower
than that of the core
Since a change in refractive index results in the reflection of
light, the light entered at a certain angle into the fiber remains
confined to the core
We will discuss the most common type of fiber used in optical
communications, namely the SMF
5. Single Mode Fibre
It is referred to as being single mode, since it allows only one
mode of light to pass through it, due to its small core radius
If the core radius is on the order of the wavelength of light
used, then only a single mode of light travels through it
following an almost a straight path without reflections
The refractive index profile for a SMF generally obeys a step-
index profile, since the refractive index of the core is a step
higher than that of the cladding, i.e. there is no gradual
transition between them
8. Single Mode Fibre
The core diameter of a typical SMF is 8 - 10 μm and its
cladding diameter is 125 μm
Since the core radius of SMF is comparable to the wavelength
of light used in optical communications, the TIR is no longer
responsible for the confinement of light to the SMF
Instead, it is the step-change in the refractive index of the SMF
that helps in confining the light to the fiber
9. Single Mode Fibre
In a transmission medium having a homogeneous refractive
index, light spreads due the phenomenon of diffraction
Therefore, the width of a beam of light traveling through a
homogeneous medium will increase, but fortunately the beam-
width may be controlled by carefully designing the refractive
index profile of the medium
If the refractive index of the medium near the center of the
beam is kept high compared to the periphery, then the light at
the center travels slower than at the periphery
10. Single Mode Fibre
The reduced speed of light at the center compared to that at
the periphery enables the medium to keep the light focused, by
preventing it from spreading out
The refractive index profile of the SMF shown in the Figure was
designed to keep the light focused, so that it travels along the
core for long distances
11. Impairments Induced by Fibre
Like any other transmission medium, optical fiber also imposes
impairments on the signal that is transmitted through it
The major impairments include:
a) Attenuation
b) Dispersion and
c) Nonlinear Effects
12. Attenuation of Fibre
The fiber attenuates any signal that passes through it
There are two main reasons for fiber attenuation, namely
material absorption and Rayleigh scattering
Material absorption can be further divided into two categories:
1. Intrinsic absorption and
2. Extrinsic absorption
Intrinsic absorption is due to the silica itself, which is used to
make the fiber, while extrinsic absorption is due to impurities in
silica.
13. Attenuation of Fibre
Material absorption exists due to the electronic or vibrational
resonances within the fiber material
The attenuation due to intrinsic absorption in silica occurs due
to electronic resonance occurring for wavelengths in the
ultraviolet region, while due to vibrational resonance for
wavelengths in the infrared region
The major impurity causing extrinsic absorption is the presence
of water vapors in silica
These vapors cause attenuation peaks near the 2.73 μm
wavelength region due to vibrational resonance of Oxygen and
hydrogen (OH) ions
15. Attenuation of Fibre
The dependence of material absorption on the wavelength of
light can be observed from Figure shown, which shows the
amount of attenuation in dB/km versus the wavelength for
different sources of material absorption
It can be observed from the Figure that the intrinsic absorption
occurs only in the ultraviolet as well as infrared region and it
remains small in magnitude
16. Attenuation of Fibre – Rayleigh Scattering
The second major source of attenuation in optical fibers is
Rayleigh scattering, which is caused due to minor refractive
index variations within the fiber core
These refractive index inhomogeneties are due to variations in
the silica density within the core, which are caused by imperfect
manufacturing of the fiber
A small part of the light traveling through the fiber is reflected
every time a change in refractive index is encountered
17. Attenuation of Fibre – Rayleigh Scattering
Since the reflected light is not received at the other end,
Rayleigh scattering is a major cause of optical signal
attenuation
It can be observed from Figure that the attenuation caused by
Rayleigh scattering is considerably higher than that of material
absorption
The Rayleigh scattering induced attenuation increases in
inverse proportionately with the fourth power of the wavelength
Therefore, as observed from Figure, the attenuation due to
Rayleigh scattering is lower at higher wavelengths
18. Attenuation of Fibre
Figure also shows the total attenuation due to the combined
effect of all the sources of absorptions
The overall attenuation 𝛼 of the fiber may be written
mathematically as:
Here Pin and Pout are the input and output optical powers of a
fiber of length L
19. Attenuation of Fibre
The peaks observed in the experimental plots are due to the
extrinsic absorption caused by water vapors in silica
In order to keep the signal attenuation to a low value, the
wavelengths of light chosen in optical communications are in
the 1.3 μm and 1.5 μm bands
As observed in the Figure, the overall attenuation of the fiber is
as low as 0.2 dB/km in these regions
20. Fibre Dispersion
Fiber dispersion is a phenomenon where light of different
wavelengths travels at different speeds within the fiber
The reason for dispersion is the wavelength-dependence of the
refractive index of silica used for manufacturing the optical fiber
An optical signal, be it CW or pulsed, is always composed of a
finite range of wavelengths
Hence due to refractive index variations, each wavelength
travels at a different speed along the length of fiber
21. Fibre Dispersion
This phenomenon where different spectral components of the
pulse travel at slightly different group velocities is referred to as
group-velocity dispersion (GVD)
Its also called intramodal dispersion or simply fibre dispersion
Intramodal dispersion has two contributions:
1. Material dispersion and
2. Waveguide dispersion.
22. Group Velocity Dispersion
Consider a single-mode fiber of length L
A specific spectral component at the frequency ω would arrive
at the output end of the fiber after a time delay T = L/vg, where
vg is the group velocity, given as:
Here 𝛽 is the propagation constant given as:
23. Group Velocity Dispersion
From the previous equations, we get:
Where 𝑛𝑔 is the group index given by:
If Δω is the spectral width of the pulse, the extent of pulse
broadening for a fiber of length L is governed by:
24. Group Velocity Dispersion
The parameter β2 = d2β /dω2 is known as the GVD parameter
It determines how much an optical pulse would broaden on
propagation inside the fiber
Generally, the frequency spread Δω is determined by the range
of wavelengths Δλ emitted by the optical source
It is customary to use Δλ in place of Δω
We will use, ω = 2πc/λ and Δω = (−2πc/λ2)Δλ
25. Group Velocity Dispersion
Therefore, in terms of 𝜆, the pulse broadening may be written
as:
Where:
D is called the dispersion parameter and is and is expressed in
units of ps/(km-nm)
26. Material Dispersion
Material dispersion DM occurs because the refractive index of
silica, the material used for fiber fabrication, changes with the
optical frequency ω
27. Material Dispersion
Material dispersion DM is related to the slope of ng by the
relation:
It turns out that dng/dλ = 0 at λ = 1.276 μm
This wavelength is referred to as the zero-dispersion
wavelength λZD, since DM = 0 at λ = λZD
The dispersion parameter DM is negative below λZD and
becomes positive above that
28. Waveguide Dispersion
It should be stressed that λZD = 1.276 μm only for pure silica
It can vary in the range 1.27–1.29 μm for optical fibers whose
core and cladding are doped to vary the refractive index
The zero-dispersion wavelength of optical fibers also depends
on the core radius a and the index step Δ through the
waveguide contribution to the total dispersion
Main effect of waveguide dispersion is to shift λZD by an amount
30–40 nm so that the total dispersion is zero near 1.31 μm
29. Material, Waveguide and Total Dispersion
Figure below shows material, waveguide and total dispersion
for a conventional SMF
30. Waveguide Dispersion
Waveguide dispersion also reduces D from its material value
DM in the wavelength range 1.3–1.6 μm that is of interest for
optical communication systems
Typical values of D are in the range 15–18 ps/(km-nm) near
1.55 μm
This wavelength region is of considerable interest for lightwave
systems, the fiber loss is minimum near 1.55 μm
High values of D limit the performance of 1.55-μm lightwave
systems
31. Fibre Dispersion
Figure shows the variation of dispersion with wavelength of the
optical signal
It can be observed from the figure that dispersion is negative
for wavelengths below 1310 nm and becomes positive for
wavelengths higher than 1310 nm
However, the slope of the dispersion versus wavelength plot,
which is also called the dispersion slope, remains positive over
the complete range of wavelengths
32. Fibre Dispersion
The wavelength of 1310 nm, where the dispersion changes
sign is generally termed as the zero-dispersion wavelength
Dispersion is the derivative of group refractive index of silica
with respect to wavelength
The sign change indicates that the group index decreases with
an increase in wavelength until 1310 nm
And increases for wavelengths beyond 1310 nm
33. Fibre Dispersion
The effect of dispersion is different for CW and pulsed
communication systems
The CW signals have a narrow bandwidth, therefore the
wavelengths at the edges of the spectral width have a small
difference between them
Due to this small difference in the wavelengths, their speed in
the optical fiber is almost similar, hence avoiding the
broadening of the signal in the time domain
34. Fibre Dispersion
Optical pulses have a narrow but finite pulse width which
results in a broad spectrum
The effect of a fixed kilometric fiber dispersion is more
pronounced on narrower pulses having a wide spectrum
Due to the presence of a wide range of frequencies, the
frequency component at one end of a broad spectrum travels at
a different speed compared to the frequency component at the
other end
This broadens the pulses in the time domain, which might
hence overlap with the adjacent pulses
36. Fibre Dispersion
As observed in the Figure, after the signal was transmitted over
a dispersive fiber, each pulse broadens in the time domain
The tails of two adjacent pulses might overlap, thus potentially
imposing detection errors
Since high-bit rate Optical TDM systems require short pulse-
widths, they suffer from the effects of dispersion
Increasing the fiber length further degrades the signal due to
high overall dispersion