Multi-mode optical fiber

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A 1.25 Gbit/s multi-mode fiber

Multi-mode optical fiber (multimode fiber or MM fiber or fibre) is a type of optical fiber
mostly used for communication over short distances, such as within a building or on a campus.
Typical multimode links have data rates of 10 Mbit/s to 10 Gbit/s over link lengths of up to 600
meters (300 m for 10 Gbit/s)—more than sufficient for the majority of premises applications.

Contents
 [hide] 

 1 Applications
 2 Comparison with single-mode fiber
 3 Types
o 3.1 Comparison
 4 See also
 5 References

[edit] Applications
The equipment used for communications over multi-mode optical fiber is less expensive than
that for single-mode optical fiber.[1] Typical transmission speed and distance limits are 100
Mbit/s for distances up to 2 km (100BASE-FX), 1 Gbit/s up to 1000 m, and 10 Gbit/s up to
550 m.[2]

Because of its high capacity and reliability, multi-mode optical fiber generally is used for
backbone applications in buildings. An increasing number of users are taking the benefits of
fiber closer to the user by running fiber to the desktop or to the zone. Standards-compliant
architectures such as Centralized Cabling and fiber to the telecom enclosure offer users the
ability to leverage the distance capabilities of fiber by centralizing electronics in
telecommunications rooms, rather than having active electronics on each floor.

[edit] Comparison with single-mode fiber

The main difference between multi-mode and single-mode optical fiber is that the former has
much larger core diameter, typically 50–100 micrometers; much larger than the wavelength of
the light carried in it. Multi-mode fiber has higher "light-gathering" capacity than single-mode
fiber. In practical terms, the larger core size simplifies connections and also allows the use of
lower-cost electronics such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and vertical-cavity surface-emitting
lasers (VCSELs) which operate at the 850 nm and 1300 nm wavelength (single-mode fibers used
in telecommunications operate at 1310 or 1550 nm and require more expensive laser sources.
Single mode fibers exist for nearly all visible wavelengths of light).[3] However, compared to
single-mode fibers, the multi-mode fiber bandwidth-distance product limit is lower. Because
multi-mode fiber has a larger core-size than single-mode fiber, it supports more than one
propagation mode; hence it is limited by modal dispersion, while single mode is not. The LED
light sources sometimes used with multi-mode fiber produce a range of wavelengths and these
each propagate at different speeds. In contrast, the lasers used to drive single-mode fibers
produce coherent light of a single wavelength. This chromatic dispersion is another limit to the
useful length for multi-mode fiber optic cable. Because of their larger core size, multi-mode
fibers have higher numerical apertures which means they are better at collecting light than
single-mode fibers. Due to the modal dispersion in the fiber, multi-mode fiber has higher pulse
spreading rates than single mode fiber, limiting multi-mode fiber’s information transmission
capacity.

Single-mode fibers are most often used in high-precision scientific research because the
allowance of only one propagation mode of the light makes the light easier to focus properly.

Jacket color is sometimes used to distinguish multi-mode cables from single-mode ones. The
standard TIA-598C recommends, for civilian applications, the use of a yellow jacket for single-
mode fiber, and orange or aqua for multi-mode fiber, depending on type.[4]

[edit] Types
Multi-mode fibers are described by their core and cladding diameters. Thus, 62.5/125 µm multi-
mode fiber has a core size of 62.5 micrometres (µm) and a cladding diameter of 125 µm. The
transition between the core and cladding can be sharp, which is called a step-index profile, or a
gradual transition, which is called a graded-index profile. The two types have different
dispersion characteristics and thus different effective propagation distance.[5]

In addition, multi-mode fibers are described using a system of classification determined by the
ISO 11801 standard — OM1, OM2, and OM3 — which is based on the modal bandwidth of the
multi-mode fiber. OM4 (defined in TIA-492-AAAD) was finalized in August 2009,[6] and was
published by the end of 2009 by the TIA.[7] OM4 cable will support 125m links at 40 and 100
Gbit/s.

For many years 62.5/125 µm (OM1) and conventional 50/125 µm multi-mode fiber (OM2) were
widely deployed in premises applications. These fibers easily support applications ranging from
Ethernet (10 Mbit/s) to Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gbit/s) and, because of their relatively large core
size, were ideal for use with LED transmitters. Newer deployments often use laser-optimized
50/125 µm multi-mode fiber (OM3). Fibers that meet this designation provide sufficient
bandwidth to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet up to 300 meters. Optical fiber manufacturers have
greatly refined their manufacturing process since that standard was issued and cables can be
made that support 10 GbE up to 550 meters. Laser optimized multi-mode fiber (LOMMF) is
designed for use with 850 nm VCSELs.

The migration to LOMMF/OM3 has occurred as users upgrade to higher speed networks. LEDs
have a maximum modulation rate of 622 Mbit/s because they can not be turned on/off fast
enough to support higher bandwidth applications. VCSELs are capable of modulation over
10 Gbit/s and are used in many high speed networks.

Cables can sometimes be distinguished by jacket color: for 62.5/125 µm (OM1) and 50/125 µm
(OM2), orange jackets are recommended, while Aqua is recommended for 50/125 µm "laser
optimized" OM3 and OM4 fiber.[4]

VCSEL power profiles, along with variations in fiber uniformity, can cause modal dispersion
which is measured by differential modal delay (DMD). Modal dispersion is an effect caused by
the different speeds of the individual modes in a light pulse. The net effect causes the light pulse
to separate or spread over distance, making it difficult for receivers to identify the individual 1's
and 0's (this is called intersymbol interference). The greater the length, the greater the modal
dispersion. To combat modal dispersion, LOMMF is manufactured in a way that eliminates
variations in the fiber which could affect the speed that a light pulse can travel. The refractive
index profile is enhanced for VCSEL transmission and to prevent pulse spreading. As a result the
fibers maintain signal integrity over longer distances, thereby maximizing the bandwidth.

[edit] Comparison

Transmission 100 Mb 1 Gb (1000 Mb) 10 Gb 40 Gb 100 Gb

Standards Ethernet Ethernet Ethernet Ethernet Ethernet
up to 550 33 meters Not Not
OM1 (62.5/125) 220 meters (SX)
meters (SX) (SR) supported supported
up to 550 82 meters Not Not
OM2 (50/125) 550 meters (SX)
meters (SX) (SR)[2] supported supported
up to 550 300 meters
OM3 (50/125) 550 meters (SX) 100 meters 100 meters
meters (SX) (SR)
up to 550 >400 meters
OM4 (50/125) 1000 meters (SX) 150 meters[2] 150 meters[2]
meters (SX) (SR)
[edit] See also
 Fiber-optic communication
 Graded-index fiber
 ISO/IEC 11801

[edit] References
1. ^ Telecommunications Industry Association. "Multimode Fiber for Enterprise
Networks". http://www.fols.org/technology/. Retrieved Jun. 4, 2008.
2. ^ a b c d Furukawa Electric North America (pdf). OM4 - The next generation of multimode
fiber.
http://www.fols.org/fols_library/white_papers/documents/OFSOM4TheNextGenerationo
fMultimodeFiber.pdf. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
3. ^ ARC Electronics (2007-10-01). "Fiber Optic Cable Tutorial".
http://www.arcelect.com/fibercable.htm.
4. ^ a b "Fiber optic cable color codes". Tech Topics. The Fiber Optic Association.
http://www.thefoa.org/tech/ColCodes.htm. Retrieved Sept. 17, 2009.
5. ^ British FibreOptic Industry Association. "Optical Fibers Explained". http://www.fia-
online.co.uk/pdf/Guide/L3814.pdf. Retrieved Apr. 9, 2011.
6. ^ "Meeting Report #14" (PDF). Telecommunications Industry Association.
http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/committees/files/tr-42/tr4212-aug09-
280809115115.pdf.
7. ^ Kish, Paul (2010-01-01). "Next generation fiber arrives". # Cabling Networking
Systems. Business Information Group. http://www.cnsmagazine.com/issues/story.aspx?
aid=1000355010.

 Force, Inc. (2005-04-14). "Types of Optical Fiber". Archived from the original on Oct.
12, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071012030238/http://www.fiber-optics.info/
articles/fiber-types.htm. Retrieved Apr. 17, 2008.
 Hayes, Jim; Karen Hayes (Mar. 22, 2008). "Lennie Lightwave's Guide to Fiber Optics".
http://www.vdvworks.com/LennieLw/. Retrieved Jun. 4, 2008.
 International Engineering Consortium. "Fiber Optic Technology".
http://www.iec.org/online/tutorials/fiber_optic/topic02.html. Retrieved Jun. 4, 2008.
 Telecommunications Industry Association. "Multimode Fiber for Enterprise Networks".
http://www.fols.org/technology/. Retrieved Jun. 4, 2008.
 Telecommunications Industry Association (Sept. 2008) (pdf). Choosing the right
multimode fiber for data communications.
http://www.fols.org/uploads/mmfiberwhitepaper.pdf. Retrieved Nov. 17, 2008.

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Step-index profile
Last updated 1 year ago

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reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may
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For an optical fiber, a step-index profile is a refractive index profile characterized by a uniform
refractive index within the core and a sharp decrease in refractive index at the core-cladding
interface so that the cladding is of a lower refractive index. The step-index profile corresponds to
a power-law index profile with the profile parameter approaching infinity. The step-index profile
is used in most single-mode fibers and some multimode fibers.

A step-index fiber is characterized by the core and cladding refractive indices n1 and n2 and the
core and cladding radii a and b. Examples of standard core and cladding diameters 2a/2b are
8/125, 50/125, 62.5/125, 85/125, or 100/140 (units of µm). The fractional refractive-index

change . The value of n1 is typically between 1.44 and 1.46, and is

typically between 0.001 and 0.02.

Step-index optical fiber is generally made by doping high-purity fused silica glass (SiO2) with
different concentrations of materials like titanium, germanium, or boron.

Pulse dispersion in a step index optical fiber is given by

where

is the difference in refractive indices of core and cladding.

is the refractive index of core

is the length of the optical fiber under observation

[edit] See also
 Graded-index fiber
 Critical Angle
 Numerical aperture

[edit] References
  This article incorporates public domain material from the General Services
Administration document "Federal Standard 1037C" (in support of MIL-STD-188).

This optics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Fiber-optic communication
Last updated 16 days ago

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removed. (November 2009)

An optical fiber junction box. The yellow cables are single mode fibers; the orange and blue
cables are multi-mode fibers: 62.5/125 µm OM2 and 50/125 µm OM3 fibers respectively.

Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another

by sending pulses of light through an optical fiber. The light forms an electromagnetic carrier
wave that is modulated to carry information. First developed in the 1970s, fiber-optic
communication systems have revolutionized the telecommunications industry and have played a
major role in the advent of the Information Age. Because of its advantages over electrical
transmission, optical fibers have largely replaced copper wire communications in core networks
in the developed world.

The process of communicating using fiber-optics involves the following basic steps: Creating the
optical signal involving the use of a transmitter, relaying the signal along the fiber, ensuring that
the signal does not become too distorted or weak, receiving the optical signal, and converting it
into an electrical signal.

Contents
 [hide] 

 1 Applications
 2 History
 3 Technology
o 3.1 Transmitters
o 3.2 Receivers
o 3.3 Fiber cable types
o 3.4 Amplifiers
o 3.5 Wavelength-division multiplexing
o 3.6 Bandwidth–distance product
o 3.7 Dispersion
o 3.8 Attenuation
o 3.9 Transmission windows
o 3.10 Regeneration
o 3.11 Last mile
 4 Comparison with electrical transmission
 5 Governing standards
 6 See also
 7 References
 8 Notes
 9 External links

[edit] Applications
Optical fiber is used by many telecommunications companies to transmit telephone signals,
Internet communication, and cable television signals. Due to much lower attenuation and
interference, optical fiber has large advantages over existing copper wire in long-distance and
high-demand applications. However, infrastructure development within cities was relatively
difficult and time-consuming, and fiber-optic systems were complex and expensive to install and
operate. Due to these difficulties, fiber-optic communication systems have primarily been
installed in long-distance applications, where they can be used to their full transmission capacity,
offsetting the increased cost. Since 2000, the prices for fiber-optic communications have dropped
considerably. The price for rolling out fiber to the home has currently become more cost-
effective than that of rolling out a copper based network. Prices have dropped to $850 per
subscriber[citation needed] in the US and lower in countries like The Netherlands, where digging costs
are low.

Since 1990, when optical-amplification systems became commercially available, the

telecommunications industry has laid a vast network of intercity and transoceanic fiber
communication lines. By 2002, an intercontinental network of 250,000 km of submarine
communications cable with a capacity of 2.56 Tb/s was completed, and although specific
network capacities are privileged information, telecommunications investment reports indicate
that network capacity has increased dramatically since 2004.

[edit] History
In 1880 Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Charles Sumner Tainter created a very early
precursor to fiber-optic communications, the Photophone, at Bell's newly established Volta
Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Bell considered it his most important invention. The device
allowed for the transmission of sound on a beam of light. On June 3, 1880, Bell conducted the
world's first wireless telephone transmission between two buildings, some 213 meters apart.[1][2]
Due to its use of an atmospheric transmission medium, the Photophone would not prove practical
until advances in laser and optical fiber technologies permitted the secure transport of light. The
Photophone's first practical use came in military communication systems many decades later.

In 1966 Charles K. Kao and George Hockham proposed optical fibers at STC Laboratories
(STL) at Harlow, England, when they showed that the losses of 1000 dB/km in existing glass
(compared to 5-10 dB/km in coaxial cable) was due to contaminants, which could potentially be
removed.

Optical fiber was successfully developed in 1970 by Corning Glass Works, with attenuation low
enough for communication purposes (about 20dB/km), and at the same time GaAs
semiconductor lasers were developed that were compact and therefore suitable for transmitting
light through fiber optic cables for long distances.

After a period of research starting from 1975, the first commercial fiber-optic communications
system was developed, which operated at a wavelength around 0.8 µm and used GaAs
semiconductor lasers. This first-generation system operated at a bit rate of 45 Mbps with repeater
spacing of up to 10 km. Soon on 22 April 1977, General Telephone and Electronics sent the first
live telephone traffic through fiber optics at a 6 Mbit/s throughput in Long Beach, California.

The second generation of fiber-optic communication was developed for commercial use in the
early 1980s, operated at 1.3 µm, and used InGaAsP semiconductor lasers. These early systems
were initially limited by multi mode fiber dispersion, and in 1981 the single-mode fiber was
revealed to greatly improve system performance, however practical connectors capable of
working with single mode fiber proved difficult to develop. By 1987, these systems were
operating at bit rates of up to 1.7 Gb/s with repeater spacing up to 50 km.
The first transatlantic telephone cable to use optical fiber was TAT-8, based on Desurvire
optimized laser amplification technology. It went into operation in 1988.

Third-generation fiber-optic systems operated at 1.55 µm and had losses of about 0.2 dB/km.
They achieved this despite earlier difficulties with pulse-spreading at that wavelength using
conventional InGaAsP semiconductor lasers. Scientists overcame this difficulty by using
dispersion-shifted fibers designed to have minimal dispersion at 1.55 µm or by limiting the laser
spectrum to a single longitudinal mode. These developments eventually allowed third-generation
systems to operate commercially at 2.5 Gbit/s with repeater spacing in excess of 100 km.

The fourth generation of fiber-optic communication systems used optical amplification to reduce
the need for repeaters and wavelength-division multiplexing to increase data capacity. These two
improvements caused a revolution that resulted in the doubling of system capacity every 6
months starting in 1992 until a bit rate of 10 Tb/s was reached by 2001. In 2006 a bit-rate of 14
Tbit/s was reached over a single 160 km line using optical amplifiers.[3]

The focus of development for the fifth generation of fiber-optic communications is on extending
the wavelength range over which a WDM system can operate. The conventional wavelength
window, known as the C band, covers the wavelength range 1.53-1.57 µm, and dry fiber has a
low-loss window promising an extension of that range to 1.30-1.65 µm. Other developments
include the concept of "optical solitons, " pulses that preserve their shape by counteracting the
effects of dispersion with the nonlinear effects of the fiber by using pulses of a specific shape.

In the late 1990s through 2000, industry promoters, and research companies such as KMI, and
RHK predicted massive increases in demand for communications bandwidth due to increased use
of the Internet, and commercialization of various bandwidth-intensive consumer services, such
as video on demand. Internet protocol data traffic was increasing exponentially, at a faster rate
than integrated circuit complexity had increased under Moore's Law. From the bust of the dot-
com bubble through 2006, however, the main trend in the industry has been consolidation of
firms and offshoring of manufacturing to reduce costs. Companies such as Verizon and AT&T
have taken advantage of fiber-optic communications to deliver a variety of high-throughput data
and broadband services to consumers' homes.

[edit] Technology
Modern fiber-optic communication systems generally include an optical transmitter to convert an
electrical signal into an optical signal to send into the optical fiber, a cable containing bundles of
multiple optical fibers that is routed through underground conduits and buildings, multiple kinds
of amplifiers, and an optical receiver to recover the signal as an electrical signal. The information
transmitted is typically digital information generated by computers, telephone systems, and cable
television companies.

[edit] Transmitters
A GBIC module (shown here with its cover removed), is an optical and electrical transceiver.
The electrical connector is at top right, and the optical connectors are at bottom left

The most commonly-used optical transmitters are semiconductor devices such as light-emitting
diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes. The difference between LEDs and laser diodes is that LEDs
produce incoherent light, while laser diodes produce coherent light. For use in optical
communications, semiconductor optical transmitters must be designed to be compact, efficient,
and reliable, while operating in an optimal wavelength range, and directly modulated at high
frequencies.

In its simplest form, an LED is a forward-biased p-n junction, emitting light through spontaneous
emission, a phenomenon referred to as electroluminescence. The emitted light is incoherent with
a relatively wide spectral width of 30-60 nm. LED light transmission is also inefficient, with
only about 1 % of input power, or about 100 microwatts, eventually converted into launched
power which has been coupled into the optical fiber. However, due to their relatively simple
design, LEDs are very useful for low-cost applications.

Communications LEDs are most commonly made from gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) or
gallium arsenide (GaAs). Because GaAsP LEDs operate at a longer wavelength than GaAs LEDs
(1.3 micrometers vs. 0.81-0.87 micrometers), their output spectrum is wider by a factor of about
1.7. The large spectrum width of LEDs causes higher fiber dispersion, considerably limiting their
bit rate-distance product (a common measure of usefulness). LEDs are suitable primarily for
local-area-network applications with bit rates of 10-100 Mbit/s and transmission distances of a
few kilometers. LEDs have also been developed that use several quantum wells to emit light at
different wavelengths over a broad spectrum, and are currently in use for local-area WDM
networks.

Today, LEDs have been largely superseded by VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser)
devices, which offer improved speed, power and spectral properties, at a similar cost. Common
VCSEL devices couple well to multi mode fiber.

A semiconductor laser emits light through stimulated emission rather than spontaneous emission,
which results in high output power (~100 mW) as well as other benefits related to the nature of
coherent light. The output of a laser is relatively directional, allowing high coupling efficiency
(~50 %) into single-mode fiber. The narrow spectral width also allows for high bit rates since it
reduces the effect of chromatic dispersion. Furthermore, semiconductor lasers can be modulated
directly at high frequencies because of short recombination time.

Commonly used classes of semiconductor laser transmitters used in fiber optics include VCSEL
(Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser), Fabry–Pérot and DFB (Distributed Feed Back).

Laser diodes are often directly modulated, that is the light output is controlled by a current
applied directly to the device. For very high data rates or very long distance links, a laser source
may be operated continuous wave, and the light modulated by an external device such as an
electro-absorption modulator or Mach–Zehnder interferometer. External modulation increases
the achievable link distance by eliminating laser chirp, which broadens the linewidth of directly-
modulated lasers, increasing the chromatic dispersion in the fiber.

A transceiver is a device combining a transmitter and a receiver in a single housing (see picture
on right).

[edit] Receivers

The main component of an optical receiver is a photodetector, which converts light into
electricity using the photoelectric effect. The photodetector is typically a semiconductor-based
photodiode. Several types of photodiodes include p-n photodiodes, p-i-n photodiodes, and
avalanche photodiodes. Metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors are also used due to
their suitability for circuit integration in regenerators and wavelength-division multiplexers.

Optical-electrical converters are typically coupled with a transimpedance amplifier and a limiting
amplifier to produce a digital signal in the electrical domain from the incoming optical signal,
which may be attenuated and distorted while passing through the channel. Further signal
processing such as clock recovery from data (CDR) performed by a phase-locked loop may also
be applied before the data is passed on.

[edit] Fiber cable types

A cable reel trailer with conduit that can carry optical fiber.
Single-mode optical fiber in an underground service pit
Main articles: Optical fiber and Optical fiber cable

An optical fiber consists of a core, cladding, and a buffer (a protective outer coating), in which
the cladding guides the light along the core by using the method of total internal reflection. The
core and the cladding (which has a lower-refractive-index) are usually made of high-quality
silica glass, although they can both be made of plastic as well. Connecting two optical fibers is
done by fusion splicing or mechanical splicing and requires special skills and interconnection
technology due to the microscopic precision required to align the fiber cores.[4]

Two main types of optical fiber used in optic communications include multi-mode optical fibers
and single-mode optical fibers. A multi-mode optical fiber has a larger core (≥ 50 micrometers),
allowing less precise, cheaper transmitters and receivers to connect to it as well as cheaper
connectors. However, a multi-mode fiber introduces multimode distortion, which often limits the
bandwidth and length of the link. Furthermore, because of its higher dopant content, multi-mode
fibers are usually expensive and exhibit higher attenuation. The core of a single-mode fiber is
smaller (<10 micrometers) and requires more expensive components and interconnection
methods, but allows much longer, higher-performance links.

In order to package fiber into a commercially-viable product, it is typically protectively-coated

by using ultraviolet (UV), light-cured acrylate polymers, then terminated with optical fiber
connectors, and finally assembled into a cable. After that, it can be laid in the ground and then
run through the walls of a building and deployed aerially in a manner similar to copper cables.
These fibers require less maintenance than common twisted pair wires, once they are deployed.[5]

Specialized cables are used for long distance subsea data transmission, e.g. transatlantic
communications cable. New (2011–2013) cables operated by commercial enterprises (Emerald
Atlantis, Hibernia Atlantic) typically have four strands of fiber and cross the Atlantic (NYC-
London) in 60-70ms. Cost of each such cable was about $300M in 2011. source: The Chronicle
Herald.

Another common practice is to bundle many fiber optic strands within long-distance power
transmission cable. This exploits power transmission rights of way effectively, ensures a power
company can own and control the fiber required to monitor its own devices and lines, is
effectively immune to tampering, and simplifies the deployment of smart grid technology.
[edit] Amplifiers

Main article: Optical amplifier

The transmission distance of a fiber-optic communication system has traditionally been limited
by fiber attenuation and by fiber distortion. By using opto-electronic repeaters, these problems
have been eliminated. These repeaters convert the signal into an electrical signal, and then use a
transmitter to send the signal again at a higher intensity than it was before. Because of the high
complexity with modern wavelength-division multiplexed signals (including the fact that they
had to be installed about once every 20 km), the cost of these repeaters is very high.

An alternative approach is to use an optical amplifier, which amplifies the optical signal directly
without having to convert the signal into the electrical domain. It is made by doping a length of
fiber with the rare-earth mineral erbium, and pumping it with light from a laser with a shorter
wavelength than the communications signal (typically 980 nm). Amplifiers have largely replaced
repeaters in new installations.

[edit] Wavelength-division multiplexing

Main article: Wavelength-division multiplexing

Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) is the practice of multiplying the available capacity

of optical fibers through use of parallel channels, each channel on a dedicated wavelength of
light. This requires a wavelength division multiplexer in the transmitting equipment and a
demultiplexer (essentially a spectrometer) in the receiving equipment. Arrayed waveguide
gratings are commonly used for multiplexing and demultiplexing in WDM. Using WDM
technology now commercially available, the bandwidth of a fiber can be divided into as many as
160 channels[6] to support a combined bit rate in the range of terabits per second.

[edit] Bandwidth–distance product

Because the effect of dispersion increases with the length of the fiber, a fiber transmission
system is often characterized by its bandwidth–distance product, usually expressed in units of
MHz×km. This value is a product of bandwidth and distance because there is a trade off between
the bandwidth of the signal and the distance it can be carried. For example, a common multi-
mode fiber with bandwidth–distance product of 500 MHz×km could carry a 500 MHz signal for
1 km or a 1000 MHz signal for 0.5 km.

Engineers are always looking at current limitations in order to improve fiber-optic

communication, and several of these restrictions are currently being researched. Each fiber can
carry many independent channels, each using a different wavelength of light (wavelength-
division multiplexing (WDM)). The net data rate (data rate without overhead bytes) per fiber is
the per-channel data rate reduced by the FEC overhead, multiplied by the number of channels
(usually up to eighty in commercial dense WDM systems as of 2008). For instance, NTT was
able to achieve 69.1 Tbit/s transmission by applying wavelength division multiplex (WDM) of
432 wavelengths with a capacity of 171 Gbit/s over a single 240 km-long optical fiber on March
25, 2010. This was the highest optical transmission speed recorded at that time.[7]

In intensive development NEC scientists have managed to reach speed of 101 Tbit/s by
multiplexing 370 channels over single fiber, while similar Japanese effort reached 109 terabits
per second, but through a difficult production of cable with seven fibers.[8] But this is barely
matching the 50%-per-year exponentially increasing backbone traffic.

[edit] Dispersion

For modern glass optical fiber, the maximum transmission distance is limited not by direct
material absorption but by several types of dispersion, or spreading of optical pulses as they
travel along the fiber. Dispersion in optical fibers is caused by a variety of factors. Intermodal
dispersion, caused by the different axial speeds of different transverse modes, limits the
performance of multi-mode fiber. Because single-mode fiber supports only one transverse mode,
intermodal dispersion is eliminated.

In single-mode fiber performance is primarily limited by chromatic dispersion (also called group
velocity dispersion), which occurs because the index of the glass varies slightly depending on the
wavelength of the light, and light from real optical transmitters necessarily has nonzero spectral
width (due to modulation). Polarization mode dispersion, another source of limitation, occurs
because although the single-mode fiber can sustain only one transverse mode, it can carry this
mode with two different polarizations, and slight imperfections or distortions in a fiber can alter
the propagation velocities for the two polarizations. This phenomenon is called fiber
birefringence and can be counteracted by polarization-maintaining optical fiber. Dispersion
limits the bandwidth of the fiber because the spreading optical pulse limits the rate that pulses
can follow one another on the fiber and still be distinguishable at the receiver.

Some dispersion, notably chromatic dispersion, can be removed by a 'dispersion compensator'.

This works by using a specially prepared length of fiber that has the opposite dispersion to that
induced by the transmission fiber, and this sharpens the pulse so that it can be correctly decoded
by the electronics.

[edit] Attenuation

Fiber attenuation, which necessitates the use of amplification systems, is caused by a

combination of material absorption, Rayleigh scattering, Mie scattering, and connection losses.
Although material absorption for pure silica is only around 0.03 dB/km (modern fiber has
attenuation around 0.3 dB/km), impurities in the original optical fibers caused attenuation of
about 1000 dB/km. Other forms of attenuation are caused by physical stresses to the fiber,
microscopic fluctuations in density, and imperfect splicing techniques.

[edit] Transmission windows

Each effect that contributes to attenuation and dispersion depends on the optical wavelength. The
wavelength bands (or windows) that exist where these effects are weakest are the most favorable
for transmission. These windows have been standardized, and the currently defined bands are the
following:[9]

Band Description Wavelength Range

O band original 1260 to 1360 nm
E band extended 1360 to 1460 nm
S band short wavelengths 1460 to 1530 nm
C band conventional ("erbium window") 1530 to 1565 nm
L band long wavelengths 1565 to 1625 nm
U band ultralong wavelengths 1625 to 1675 nm

Note that this table shows that current technology has managed to bridge the second and third
windows that were originally disjoint.

Historically, there was a window used below the O band, called the first window, at 800-900 nm;
however, losses are high in this region so this window is used primarily for short-distance
communications. The current lower windows (O and E) around 1300 nm have much lower
losses. This region has zero dispersion. The middle windows (S and C) around 1500 nm are the
most widely used. This region has the lowest attenuation losses and achieves the longest range. It
does have some dispersion, so dispersion compensator devices are used to remove this.

[edit] Regeneration

When a communications link must span a larger distance than existing fiber-optic technology is
capable of, the signal must be regenerated at intermediate points in the link by repeaters.
Repeaters add substantial cost to a communication system, and so system designers attempt to
minimize their use.

Recent advances in fiber and optical communications technology have reduced signal
degradation so far that regeneration of the optical signal is only needed over distances of
hundreds of kilometers. This has greatly reduced the cost of optical networking, particularly over
undersea spans where the cost and reliability of repeaters is one of the key factors determining
the performance of the whole cable system. The main advances contributing to these
performance improvements are dispersion management, which seeks to balance the effects of
dispersion against non-linearity; and solitons, which use nonlinear effects in the fiber to enable
dispersion-free propagation over long distances.

[edit] Last mile

Main article: Last mile

See also: National Broadband Network

Although fiber-optic systems excel in high-bandwidth applications, optical fiber has been slow to
achieve its goal of fiber to the premises or to solve the last mile problem. However, as bandwidth
demand increases, more and more progress towards this goal can be observed. In Japan, for
instance EPON has largely replaced DSL as a broadband Internet source. South Korea’s KT also
provides a service called FTTH (Fiber To The Home), which provides fiber-optic connections to
the subscriber’s home. The largest FTTH deployments are in Japan, South Korea, and China.
Singapore started implementation of their all-fiber Next Generation Nationwide Broadband
Network (Next Gen NBN), which is slated for completion in 2012 and is being installed by
OpenNet. Since they began rolling out services in September 2010, Network coverage in
Singapore has reached 60% nationwide.

In the US, Verizon Communications provides a FTTH service called FiOS to select high-ARPU
(Average Revenue Per User) markets within its existing territory. The other major surviving
ILEC (or Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier), AT&T, uses a FTTN (Fiber To The Node) service
called U-verse with twisted-pair to the home. Their MSO competitors employ FTTN with coax
using HFC. All of the major access networks use fiber for the bulk of the distance from the
service provider's network to the customer.

The globally dominant access network technology is EPON (Ethernet Passive Optical Network).
In Europe, and among telcos in the United States, BPON (ATM-based Broadband PON) and
GPON (Gigabit PON) had roots in the FSAN (Full Service Access Network) and ITU-T
standards organizations under their control.

[edit] Comparison with electrical transmission

A mobile fiber optic splice lab used to access and splice underground cables.

An underground fiber optic splice enclosure opened up.

The choice between optical fiber and electrical (or copper) transmission for a particular system is
made based on a number of trade-offs. Optical fiber is generally chosen for systems requiring
higher bandwidth or spanning longer distances than electrical cabling can accommodate.

The main benefits of fiber are its exceptionally low loss (allowing long distances between
amplifiers/repeaters), its absence of ground currents and other parasite signal and power issues
common to long parallel electric conductor runs (due to its reliance on light rather than
electricity for transmission, and the dielectric nature of fiber optic), and its inherently high data-
carrying capacity. Thousands of electrical links would be required to replace a single high
bandwidth fiber cable. Another benefit of fibers is that even when run alongside each other for
long distances, fiber cables experience effectively no crosstalk, in contrast to some types of
electrical transmission lines. Fiber can be installed in areas with high electromagnetic
interference (EMI), such as alongside utility lines, power lines, and railroad tracks. Nonmetallic
all-dielectric cables are also ideal for areas of high lightning-strike incidence.

For comparison, while single-line, voice-grade copper systems longer than a couple of
kilometers require in-line signal repeaters for satisfactory performance; it is not unusual for
optical systems to go over 100 kilometers (62 mi), with no active or passive processing. Single-
mode fiber cables are commonly available in 12 km lengths, minimizing the number of splices
required over a long cable run. Multi-mode fiber is available in lengths up to 4 km, although
industrial standards only mandate 2 km unbroken runs.

In short distance and relatively low bandwidth applications, electrical transmission is often
preferred because of its

 Lower material cost, where large quantities are not required

 Lower cost of transmitters and receivers
 Capability to carry electrical power as well as signals (in specially-designed cables)
 Ease of operating transducers in linear mode.

Optical fibers are more difficult and expensive to splice than electrical conductors. And at higher
powers, optical fibers are susceptible to fiber fuse, resulting in catastrophic destruction of the
fiber core and damage to transmission components.[10]

Because of these benefits of electrical transmission, optical communication is not common in

short box-to-box, backplane, or chip-to-chip applications; however, optical systems on those
scales have been demonstrated in the laboratory.

In certain situations fiber may be used even for short distance or low bandwidth applications, due
to other important features:

 Immunity to electromagnetic interference, including nuclear electromagnetic pulses

(although fiber can be damaged by alpha and beta radiation).
 High electrical resistance, making it safe to use near high-voltage equipment or between
areas with different earth potentials.
 Lighter weight—important, for example, in aircraft.
  No sparks—important in flammable or explosive gas environments.
 Not electromagnetically radiating, and difficult to tap without disrupting the signal—
important in high-security environments.
 Much smaller cable size—important where pathway is limited, such as networking an
existing building, where smaller channels can be drilled and space can be saved in
existing cable ducts and trays.

Optical fiber cables can be installed in buildings with the same equipment that is used to install
copper and coaxial cables, with some modifications due to the small size and limited pull tension
and bend radius of optical cables. Optical cables can typically be installed in duct systems in
spans of 6000 meters or more depending on the duct's condition, layout of the duct system, and
installation technique. Longer cables can be coiled at an intermediate point and pulled farther
into the duct system as necessary.

[edit] Governing standards

In order for various manufacturers to be able to develop components that function compatibly in
fiber optic communication systems, a number of standards have been developed. The
International Telecommunications Union publishes several standards related to the
characteristics and performance of fibers themselves, including

 ITU-T G.651, "Characteristics of a 50/125 µm multimode graded index optical fibre

cable"
 ITU-T G.652, "Characteristics of a single-mode optical fibre cable"

Other standards specify performance criteria for fiber, transmitters, and receivers to be used
together in conforming systems. Some of these standards are:

 100 Gigabit Ethernet

 10 Gigabit Ethernet
 Fibre Channel
 Gigabit Ethernet
 HIPPI
 Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
 Synchronous Optical Networking
 Optical Transport Network (OTN)

TOSLINK is the most common format for digital audio cable using plastic optical fiber to
connect digital sources to digital receivers.

[edit] See also

 Dark fibre
 Fiber to the x
 Free-space optical communication
  Information theory
 National Secuity Defence Memorandum 338 (NSDM) September 1,1976
 Passive optical network

[edit] References
 Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology
 Fiber-Optic Technologies by Vivek Alwayn
 Agrawal, Govind P. (2002). Fiber-optic communication systems. New York: John Wiley
& Sons. ISBN 0-471-21571-6.

[edit] Notes
1. ^ Mary Kay Carson (2007). Alexander Graham Bell: Giving Voice To The World.
Sterling Biographies. New York: Sterling Publishing. pp. 76–78. ISBN 978-1-4027-
3230-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=a46ivzJ1yboC.
2. ^ Alexander Graham Bell (October 1880). "On the Production and Reproduction of
Sound by Light". American Journal of Science, Third Series XX (118): 305–324. also
published as "Selenium and the Photophone" in Nature, September 1880.
3. ^ "14 Tbit/s over a single optical fiber: successful demonstration of world's largest
capacity". News release (NTT). September 29, 2006.
http://www.ntt.co.jp/news/news06e/0609/060929a.html. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
4. ^ An optical fiber will break if it is bent too sharply. Alwayn, Vivek (2004-04-23).
"Splicing". Fiber-Optic Technologies. Cisco Systems.
http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=170740&seqNum=9&rl=1. Retrieved
2006-12-31.
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ Infinera Introduces New Line System Infinera Corp press release, Retrieved 2009-08-
26
7. ^ "World Record 69-Terabit Capacity for Optical Transmission over a Single Optical
Fiber" (Press release). NTT. 2010-03-25.
http://www.ntt.co.jp/news2010/1003e/100325a.html. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
8. ^ "Ultrafast fibre optics set new speed record" (Press release). NTT. 2011-04-29.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028095.500-ultrafast-fibre-optics-set-new-
speed-record.html. Retrieved 2012-02-26.
9. ^ Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology
10. ^ Lee, M. M.; J. M. Roth, T. G. Ulmer, and C. V. Cryan (2006). "The Fiber Fuse
Phenomenon in Polarization-Maintaining Fibers at 1.55 μm" (PDF). Conference on
Lasers and Electro-Optics/Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference and
Photonic Applications Systems Technologies. paper JWB66 (Optical Society of
America). http://www.toddulmer.com/work/lee_ulmerCLEO2006.pdf. Retrieved March
14, 2010

[edit] External links

  How Fiber-optics work (Howstuffworks.com)
 The Laser and Fiber-optic Revolution
 Fiber Optics, from Hyperphysics at Georgia State University
 "Understanding Optical Communications" An IBM redbook
 FTTx Primer July 2008

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
Graded-index fiber
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Multi-mode optical fiber.
(Discuss) Proposed since May 2012.

In fiber optics, a graded-index or gradient-index fiber is an optical fiber whose core has a
refractive index that decreases with increasing radial distance from the fiber axis (the imaginary
central axis running down the length of the fiber).

Because parts of the core closer to the fiber axis have a higher refractive index than the parts near
the cladding, light rays follow sinusoidal paths down the fiber. The advantage of the graded-
index fiber compared to multimode step-index fiber is the considerable decrease in modal
dispersion.

The most common refractive index profile for a graded-index fiber is very nearly parabolic. The
parabolic profile results in continual refocusing of the rays in the core, and minimizes modal
dispersion.

This type of fiber is normalized by the International Telecommunications Union ITU-T at

recommendation G.651.1.[1]

Pulse dispersion in a graded index optical fiber is given by

where

is the difference in refractive indices of core and cladding,

is the refractive index of the cladding,

is the length of the fiber taken for observing the pulse dispersion,

is the speed of light, and

is the constant of graded index profile.

[edit] See also

 Step-index profile
 Power-law index profile
  Gradient index optics
 Multi-mode optical fiber
 Single-mode optical fiber

[edit] References
1. ^ Characteristics of a 50/125 µm multimode graded index optical fibre cable for the
optical access network, http://www.itu.int/itu-t/recommendations/rec.aspx?id=9181

  This article incorporates public domain material from the General Services

Administration document "Federal Standard 1037C" (in support of MIL-STD-188).

This optics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Step-index profile
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For an optical fiber, a step-index profile is a refractive index profile characterized by a uniform
refractive index within the core and a sharp decrease in refractive index at the core-cladding
interface so that the cladding is of a lower refractive index. The step-index profile corresponds to
a power-law index profile with the profile parameter approaching infinity. The step-index profile
is used in most single-mode fibers and some multimode fibers.

A step-index fiber is characterized by the core and cladding refractive indices n1 and n2 and the
core and cladding radii a and b. Examples of standard core and cladding diameters 2a/2b are
8/125, 50/125, 62.5/125, 85/125, or 100/140 (units of µm). The fractional refractive-index

change . The value of n1 is typically between 1.44 and 1.46, and is

typically between 0.001 and 0.02.

Step-index optical fiber is generally made by doping high-purity fused silica glass (SiO2) with
different concentrations of materials like titanium, germanium, or boron.

Pulse dispersion in a step index optical fiber is given by

where

is the difference in refractive indices of core and cladding.

is the refractive index of core

is the length of the optical fiber under observation

[edit] See also

 Graded-index fiber
 Critical Angle
 Numerical aperture

[edit] References
  This article incorporates public domain material from the General Services
Administration document "Federal Standard 1037C" (in support of MIL-STD-188).

This optics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Step-
index_profile&oldid=405061555"
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Categories:

 Fiber optics
 Optics stubs

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 Articles needing cleanup from November 2010

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 Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from November 2010
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 This page was last modified on 30 December 2010 at 21:35.

 Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;
additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit
organization.
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