DEPARTMENT OF

ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

21EC72
VII SEMESTER
MODULE 1 NOTES
Prepared by,
Mrs. MEGHANA M N
Assistant Professor
Dept. of ECE
MIT Thandavapura

A Unit of Maharaja Education Trust®

MAHARAJA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

THANDAVAPURA

NH 766, Nanjangud Taluk, Mysuru- 571 302

(An ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 21001:2018 Certified Institution)
(Affiliated to VTU, Belagavi and approved by AICTE, New Delhi)
 DEPARTMENT OF
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

MODULE 1 CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1- OPTICAL FIBER STRUCTURES

 Optical Fiber Modes and Configurations
 Mode theory for circular waveguides
 Single mode fibers
 Fiber materials

CHAPTER 2 - ATTENUATION AND DISPERSION

 Attenuation
 Absorption
 Scattering Losses
 Bending loss
Signal Dispersion: Modal delay
 Group delay
 Material dispersion
[Text1 : 3.1, 3.2, 2.3[2.3.1 to 2.3.4], 2.4[2.4.1, 2.4.2],2.5, 2.7].

Text Book 1: Gerd Keiser, Optical Fiber Communication, 5th Edition, McGraw Hill Education (India)
Private Limited, 2016. ISBN:1-25-900687-5.
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

MODULE 1
CHAPTER 1 – OPTICAL FIBER STRUCTURES

1. OPTICAL FIBER MODES AND CONFIGURATIONS

 Optical fiber:An optical Fiber is a thin, flexible, transparent Fiber that acts as a waveguide, or "light
pipe", to transmit light between the two ends of the Fiber.
 Optical fibers advantages: transmission over longer distances, higher bandwidths (data rates), less
loss, immune to electromagnetic interference.

1.1 FIBER STRUCTURE

 An optical fiber is a dielectric waveguide capable of conveying electromagnetic waves at optical
frequencies. This fiber waveguide is normally cylindrical in form.
 The electromagnetic energy is in the form of the light and propagates along the axis of the fiber.
 Figure 1 shows the schematic of a silica fiber structure, which consist of 3 major parts:
1. Core
2. Cladding
3. Buffer jacket

Figure 1: schematic of a silica fiber structure

CORE

 The most widely accepted Single solid cylinder structure of radius “a” and the refractive index of core
be “n1”. This cylinder is known as “Core”.
 Core material can be made up of SiO2 (Pure Silica Glass) or plastic.
 In Glass-core fiber information loss is lesser and in plastic-core fiber information loss is higher.
1
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

CLADDING

 The core is surrounded b y a solid cylinder structure of a Refraction index of cladding be “n2” called
“cladding”.
 Refraction index of Cladding “n2” is always smaller than core refractive index “n1”. i.e n2<n1 or n1 >
n2.
 Cladding is mainly used:
 To avoid scattering loss
 Adds mechanical strength to the fiber
 Protects the core from absorbing surface contaminants
 Cladding material can be made up of Glass or plastic.
BUFFER COATING

 Most of the fibers are surrounded with an Elastic, plastic material called buffer coating.
 This material adds additional strength to the fiber and increases flexibility.

1.2. FIBER MODES / FIBER TYPES

 Mode is the one which describes the nature of propagation of electromagnetic waves in a waveguide,
here mode means path.
 Variations in the material composition of the core or Based on the number of modes that propagates
through the optical fiber give rise to 2 commonly used fiber types:
1. Single-mode fiber
 Single-mode step-index fiber
2. Multimode fiber
 Multimode step-index fiber
 Multimode graded-index fiber
 A single-mode fiber has a small core diameter and can only transmit one type of light mode at a time.
 A multimode fiber has a larger core diameter and can transmit multiple types of light modes at the
same time.
 In the case of step-index fiber, the refractive index of the core and cladding is fixed or constant.
 In the case of Graded index fiber, the refractive index of the core may vary from the center of the fiber.
 Both step-index fiber and Graded index fiber can be further divided into:single-mode step-index fiber,
multimode step-index fiber and multimode graded-index fiber.
2
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

Figure 2: Comparison of single-mode, multimode step-index and graded- index optical fiber

 In Single mode step index fiber the core diameter ranges from 8 to 12 µm. the core size is sufficiently
small so that there is only one path for light ray through the cable. The light ray is propagated using the
principle of reflection.
 In Multimode step index fiber the core diameter ranges 50 to 200 µm. Itis more widely used type, it
has larger diameter which allows more light to enter into the cable. There are many paths of light. The
light rays are propagated down the core in zig-zag manner. The light ray is propagated using the
principle of total internal reflection (TIR).
 In Multimode graded index fiber the core diameter ranges from 50 to 100 µm. The light ray enters
the fiber at many different angles. The light rays no longer follow straight lines; they follow a winding
path being gradually bending continuously. This cable is mostly used for long distance
communication. The light ray is propagated using the principle of refraction.
 ADVANTAGES OF MULTIMODE FIBER (MMF) OVER SINGLE MODE FIBER (SMF)
1. Larger core radius makes easy to launch optical power into the fiber.
2. Facilitates easy connection of similar fiber.
3. Light can be launched into MMF using a LED source. (SMF uses Laser diode)
4. Less expensive due to use of LED.
5. Require less complexity circuit.
6. Has longer lifetime.
 DISADVANTAGES OF MULTIMODE FIBER (MMF)
3

1. It suffers Intermodal dispersion: light rays propagate through different paths, hence their reaching time at
Page

the destination is different. This effect is known as Intermodal dispersion or modal delay.

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

1.3 RAYS AND MODES

 For theoretically studying the propagation characteristics of light in an optical fiber there are 2
methods:
1. Equation method
2. Geometrical optics or Ray-tracing approach

1. EQUATION METHOD
 The electromagnetic light field that is guided along an optical fiber can be represented by a
superposition of bound or trapped modes.
 For monochromatic light fields of radian frequency, a mode travelling in the positive direction has a
time and z dependence given by

𝑒 𝑗(𝜔𝑡−𝛽𝑧)
ω - Radian frequency
z - Mode travelling in a positive direction
β - z component of the wave propagation constant k = 2π/λ

2. GEOMETRICAL OPTICS OR RAY-TRACING APPROACH

 Used when the Ratio of the fiber radius to the wavelength is large - This condition is known as small-
wavelength limit.
 Ray approach is strictly valid only in the zero-wavelength limit, it is still relatively accurate and
extremely valuable for nonzero wavelength when guided modes are large – when multimode fibers are
used.
 Advantages of Ray approach
 Compared to the exact electromagnetic wave analysis, it gives a more direct physical interpretation
of the light propagation characteristics in an optical fiber.
 Ray congruence
 When two line segments are congruent, the measurement of length is the same for both lines.
 Lines have no definite beginning or end, and rays have a set beginning but no definite end, so they
cannot be congruent.

1.4 STEP-INDEX FIBER STRUCTURE

 In practical step-index fibers the core of radius “a” has a refractive index “n1” which is equal to 1.48.
 This is surrounded by a cladding of slightly lower index “n2” where n2 = n1 (1 - ∆)
4
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

 The parameter ∆ is called the core-cladding index difference or index difference. (∆ = 0.01)
 Typically values of n2 ranges are: Multimode fiber –1 to 3 % and For Single mode fiber – 0.2 to 1.0 %

1.5 RAY OPTICS REPRESENTATION

 The 2 types of rays that can propagate in a fiber are:
1. Skew ray
2. Meridional ray
1. SKEW RAY
 Skew rays travels through optical fiber without passing through the axis. They are not confined to
single plane.
 These rays are more difficult to track as they travel along the fiber because they do not lie in a single
plane.
 Here the Power loss is more, hence they are also called as leaky rays.
 These leaky rays are partially confined to the core of optical fiber and attenuate as the light travels
along circular waveguide.
 The ray optics representation of a skew ray is as shown in the figure:

2. MERIDIONAL RAYS
 Meridional Ray’s travels through optical fiber with passing through the axis.they are confined to the
axis of fiber.
 Easy to track
 These rays are easy to track as they travel along the fiber because and confined to the axis.
 If it strikes the core-cladding interface the Total Internal Reflection (TIR) occurs.
 Here the Power loss is less.
5

 Meridional rays can be divided into 2 general classes:

Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

1. Bound ray that are trapped in core and propagates along the fiber axis and
2. Unbound rays that are refracted out of the fiber core.
 The ray optics representation of a Meridional Rays is as shown in the figure:

 From Snell’s law, the minimum or critical angle ∅𝑐 that supports Total Internal Reflection (TIR) for the
meridional ray is given by
𝑛2
𝑆𝑖𝑛∅𝑐 =
𝑛1
 Ray striking core-cladding interface at angles less than ∅c will refract out of core and lost in the
cladding as shown in the dotted line.
 The Snell’s law can be related to the maximum entrance angle θ0,max which is the acceptance angle θA
through the relation:
𝑛 sin 𝜃0,𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑛 sin 𝜃𝑐 = 𝑛1 sin 𝜃𝑐 = (𝑛12 − 𝑛22 )1/2
𝜋
Where 𝜃𝑐 = 2 − ∅𝑐

 Thus the entrance angle θ0 is less than θA then TIR occurs at the core-cladding interface.
 The numerical aperture (NA) of a step-index fiber for meridional rays is given by:
𝑁𝐴 = 𝑛 sin 𝜃𝐴 = (𝑛12 − 𝑛22 )1/2 = 𝑛1 √2∆
Where the value of n = 1 for the acceptance angle in air and the value of ∆< 1.

3 PROBLEMS (Refer class notes)

2. MODE THEORY FOR CIRCULAR WAVEGUIDES

 The Maxwell’s equation for circular waveguide can have 2 modes:
1. TE mode - Transverse Electric Mode – Wave propagation is perpendicular
2. TM mode – Transverse Magnetic Mode - Wave propagation is Parallel
 The TE and TM mode give rise to Hybrid mode designated as HE or EH modes.
6
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

 Hybrid mode is obtained due to coupling of core and cladding of the fiber. Coupling is obtained during
core and cladding interfacing.
 If 𝑇𝐸 > 𝑇𝑀 that give rise to HE mode and if 𝑇𝑀 > 𝑇𝐸 it give rise to EH mode.
 The 2 lowest order modes are designated by HE11 and TE01, the subscript 11 and 01 refers to modes of
propagation.
 Assume the condition𝑛1 − 𝑛2 ≪ 1, with this assumption only 4 field components are needed to be
considered. The filed components are called Linearly Polarized (LP) mode and are labeled as LPjm
where j and m are integer designated mode solutions.
 Lowest order LP modes are: LP0m derived from HE1m mode and LP1m derived from TE0m, TM0m and
HE0m mode.
 KEY MODAL CONCEPTS
 Figure shows the field pattern for lower order TE modes:

 Order of mode is equal to the number of filed zeros across the guide or it is also related to the angel
that the ray congruence corresponding to the mode plane.
 Higher the steeper angle results are higher number of modes.
 There are 3 types of modes: Radiation mode, Cutoff mode and leaky mode.
 Radiation mode –guided mode in fiber that are not trapped in the core and guided by the fiber.
 Cutoff mode – guided mode in fiber occurs when β satisfies the condition: 𝑛2 𝑘 < 𝛽 < 𝑛1 𝑘. When
𝛽 = 𝑛2 𝑘 the mode is no longer properly guided and is called cutoff mode.
 Leaky mode - guided mode in fiber that can travel for several distances and lose power through
7

leakage.
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

2.1 CUTOFF WAVELENGTH AND V NUMBER

 The important parameter connected with cutoff condition is V number defined by:
2𝜋𝑎 2 1/2 2𝜋𝑎 2𝜋𝑎
𝑉= (𝑛1 − 𝑛22 ) = 𝑁𝐴 = 𝑛 √2Δ
𝜆 𝜆 𝜆 1
Where V = V number or normalized, a = core radius, n1 and n2 are refractive index of core and
cladding, 𝜆 = Wavelength, NA = Numerical aperture and Δ= Core cladding index difference.
 V number is a dimensionless number which determines how many modes that fiber can support.
 The wavelength at which all higher order modes are cutoff when 𝑉 ≤ 2.405, is called as cut-off
wavelength (𝜆𝑐 ).
 V number can also be used to express the number of modes (M) in the multimode step index fiber
when V is large. The calculate number of modes M is give by:
1 2𝜋𝑎 2 2 1/2 𝑉2
𝑀= ( ) (𝑛1 − 𝑛22 ) =
2 𝜆 2
 For larger values of V the fraction of average optical power residing in cladding can be estimated by:
𝑃𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 4
=
𝑃 3√𝑀
5 PROBLEMS (Refer class notes)

3. SINGLE-MODE FIBERS (SMF)

 In multimode fiber intermodal dispersion effect limits the speed at which information can be
transmitted over a fiber. This effect can be avoided by single-mode fiber.

3.1 CONSTRUCTION OF SINGLE MODE FIBER

 Single-mode fiber is constructed based on 2 criteria:
1. Dimension of the core diameter (2a) be a few wavelength (Usually 8-12).
2. Having small index differences (∆) between the core and cladding.
 The core-cladding index difference varies between 0.2 to 1.0%.
 V (V number) is slightly less than 2.4.
2 PROBLEMS (Refer class notes)

3.2 MODE-FIELD DIAMETER (MFD)

 In single-mode fibers the geometrical distribution of light in the propagation mode is needed when
predicating the performance characteristics of a fiber – Mode-Filed Diameter (MFD)
 MFD determines – Mode field distribution, optical source wavelength, core radius, refractive index.
8
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

 MFD determines fiber properties like – splice loss, bending loss, cut-off wavelength, waveguide
dispersion.
 Figure below shows this effect for Ex. V=2 only, only 75% of optical power is confined to
core.I.e..The % increase for larger values of V and less for smaller values of V.

Figure: Distribution of light in SMF. A Gaussian distribution for MFD is 1/𝑒 2 width of the optical power
 A standard technique to find the MFD is to measure the far-field intensity distributionE 2 (r) and then
calculate the MFD using the Petermann II Equation is given by:

 Where the parameter 𝑤0 = Spot size or mode field radius and 𝐸 2 (𝑟)=far-field intensity distribution at
radius r.

Where 𝐸0 = far-field at zero radius

 An approximation to the relative spot size 𝑤0 ⁄𝑎 which for step-index fibers is accurate to better than
1% in the range 1.2<V<2.4 are given by:

Where 𝑤0 ⁄𝑎 is relative spot size

 For V=2.405 for single mode fiber, produces w0 ⁄a=1.1005. As V decreases from 2.4, the spot size
increase. The spot size thus becomes larger than the core radius a. as a result V becomes smaller the
optical beam become less tightly bound to the core and makes optical power loss from the cladding.
9

2 PROBLEMS (Refer class notes)

Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

3.3 PROPAGATION MODES IN SINGLE-MODE FIBERS

 In a Single-mode fiber there are 2 independent, degenerated propagation modes:
1. Horizontal mode - polarization in the x-direction
2. Vertical mode -polarization in the y-direction

1 PROBLEM (Refer class notes)

4. FIBER MATERIALS
 In selecting materials for optical fibers, the 3 requirements must be satisfied:
1. Long, thin, flexible fibers from the materials.
2. Material must be transparent.
3. Slightly different RIs for core and cladding must be available.
 The material that satisfies these requirements is: Glasses or plastics.
 The 3 basic fiber materials are:
1. Glass fibers
2. Active glass fibers
10

3. Plastic optical fibers

Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

1. GLASS FIBERS
 Glass fiber are made up of mixing metal oxides, sulfides or selenides.
 When the glass is heated upto the room temperature, glass remains hard solidupto several hundred
degree. As temperature increases further, at very high temperature glass begins to soften which is
called as Melting temperature of the glass.
 Commonly used oxide glass is Silica(SiO2) which has RI (Refractive Index) ranging from 1.458 at
850nm to 1.44 at 1550nm.
 To produce similar material with slight different RI by using fluorine or various oxides (referred as
dopants) such as B2O3, GeO2 or P2O5are added to silica.
 Adding GeO2 or P2O5 increases the RI and adding silica with fluorine or B2O3 decreases the RI.
 For RI (Cladding) < RI (core) fibers compositions which can be used are:
1. GeO2 - SiO2 Core; SiO2 - cladding
2. P2O5 - SiO2 Core; SiO2 – cladding
3. SiO2 – Core; B2O3 - SiO2 Cladding
4. GeO2 - B2O3 - SiO2 Core; B2O3 - SiO2 Cladding

2. ACTIVE GLASS FIBER

 Active glass fibres are made up of incorporating rare-earth into a normally passive glass results in new
optical and magnetic properties.
 New properties perform amplification, attenuation, and phase retardation on the light passing through
it.
 Doping (Adding impurities) can be done for Silica, Tellurite, and halide glasses.
11

 2 common Doping materials for fiber laser Erbium and Neodymium.

Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

 The concentration of the rare-earth elements are low to avoid clustering effects.

3. PLASTIC OPTICAL FIBERS

 Aim of POF (Plastic Optical Fiber) To provide High speed service directly to customer premises.
 Developers created a high-bandwidth graded-index polymer (plastic) POF.
 Core of the fiber is usually made up of :Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA POF) or perfluorinated
polymer (PF POF).
 Plastic optical fiber has greater signal attenuation compared to glass fiber, they are Tough and
durable.
 1mm diameter graded-index POF is sufficient to replace the conventional fiber cable routes.
 Coupling between different fibers can be performed by using optical connectors:
1. Core diameter compatible with core size plastic fibers can be connected.
2. Similar size plastic and glass fiber can be connected.
 The POF is inexpensive.

*****

12
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

MODULE 1
CHAPTER 2 – ATTENUATION AND DISPERSION

1. ATTENUATION
 Attenuation is the reduction in the strength of a signal as it passes through the fiber.
 The basic attenuation mechanisms in a fiber are absorption, scattering, and bending loss / radiative
losses of the optical energy.
 Absorption – Related to fiber material
 Scattering –Related to fiber material and with structural imperfections.
 Bending loss / radiative effects - fiber geometry

1.1 ATTENUATION UNITS

 As the light propagates through the fiber, its power “P” decreases exponentially with the distance “z”.
 If P(0) is the optical power of the fiber at origin where z = 0, then the power at the distance “z” is
given as:
𝑃(𝑧) = 𝑃(0)𝑒 −𝛼𝑃 .𝑧
Where α = Fiber loss or fiber attenuation coefficient given in units of km-1 which is given as:
1 P(0)
αP = ln [ ]
z P(z)
Where P(0) = P(in) and P(z) = P(out) an
 Commonly α is expressed in units of decibels per kilometer (dB/km) where α is given as:

3 PROBLEMS (Refer class notes)

1.2 ABSORPTION
 Absorption is caused by three different mechanisms:
1. Absorption by atomic defects in the glass composition.
2. Extrinsic absorption by impurity atoms in the glass material.
13

3. Intrinsic absorption by the basic constituent atoms of the fiber material

Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

1. ATOMIC DEFECTS
 Atomic defects are imperfections in the atomic structure of the fiber material.
 Examples of these defects include missing molecules, or oxygen defects in the glass structure.
 Usually, absorption losses arising from these defects are negligible compared with intrinsic absorption
effects.
 However, they can be significant if the fiber is exposed to ionizing radiation, as might occur in a
nuclear reactor environment,Radiation damages the materials by changing its internal structure.
 The dose of a material is used to measure radiation absorbed in silicon which is expressed in the units
of rad(Si) Radiation unit 1 rad(Si)=0.01J/kg.
 Higher the radiation level, larger the attenuation as shown in figure (a) and attenuation will relax with
time as shown in figure (b).

2. EXTRINSIC ABSORPTION
 Absorption factor in silica fibers is the presence of minute quantities of impurities in the fiber material.
 These impurities include OH- (water) ions that are dissolved in the glass and transition metal ions such
as iron, copper, chromium, and vanadium.
 Transition metal impurity levels were around 1 part per million (ppm) in glass fibers
 Impurity absorption losses occur either because of electron transitions within these ions or because of
charge transitions between ions.
14
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

Table: Example of absorption loss in silica glass at different wavelength

 The peaks and valleys in the attenuation curves resulted in the designation of the various transmission
windows shown in figure

Figure: Transition windows for optical fiber attenuation as a function of wavelength

 Absorption by water molecules causes the attenuation peak around 1400nm for standard fiber. The
dashed curve is the attenuation for low-water-peak fiber.
15
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

3. INTRINSIC ABSORPTION
 Intrinsic absorption is associated with the basic fiber material (e.g., pure SiO2)
 Intrinsic absorption is defined as the absorption that occurs when the material is in a perfect state with
no density variations or impurities.
 Intrinsic absorption results from electronic absorption bands in the ultra - violet region and from
atomic vibration bands in the near-infrared region as shown in the figure.


Ultraviolet and infrared absorption loss is represented by the unit dB/km at any wavelength interms of
µm can be expressed as:

2 PROBLEMS (take λ value without µm)

16
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

1.3 SCATTERING
 Scattering losses in glass arise from microscopic variations in the material density, from compositional
fluctuations, and from structural in homogeneities or defects occurring during fiber manufacture.
 Glass is composed of a randomly connected network of molecules - molecular density is either higher
or lower than the average density in the glass.
 In addition, since glass is made up of several oxides, such as SiO 2, GeO2, and P2O5, compositional
fluctuations can occur.
 These two effects give rise to refractive-index variations that occur within the glass over distances.
These index variations cause a Rayleigh-type scattering of the light.
 The expressions for scattering-induced attenuation are fairly complex owing to the random molecular
nature and the various oxide constituents of glass.

 Where n = Refractive index, KB = Boltzmann’s constant = 1.38054*10-23J/K, Tf = Temperature,

p = photo elastic coefficient, λ = Wavelength, βT = Isothermal compressibility.

1 PROBLEM (REFER CLASS NOTES)

1.4 BENDING LOSS

 Radiative losses / bending loss occur whenever an optical fiber undergoes a bend of finite radius of
curvature.
 Fibers can be subject to two types of curvatures:
1. Macroscopic bends - having radii that are large compared with the fiber diameter.
2. Microscopic bends - deviations along the fiber axis.

1. MACRO BENDING LOSS

 Large curvature radiation losses known as macro bending losses.
 For slight bends the loss is extremely small and unobservable. If Radius of curvature decreases, the
17

loss increases exponentially.

Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

 Figure shows the mode filed in curved optical fiber. At certain critical distance xc from the center of
the fiber, the filed tail would have to move faster than the speed of light to keep up with the core field.
This is not a possible condition hence optical energy radiates away.

 The amount of optical radiation from the bent fiber depends on filed strength x c and the radius of
curvature R.
 Thus the total Effective number of modes (Meff) is fiber by:

∝
Where 𝑀∞ = ∝+2 (𝑛1 𝑘𝑎)2 ∆

Where α = Graded-index profile or index profile, Δ = Index difference, R = Radius of curvature,

n2 = Refractive index of cladding, k = 2π/λ = wave propagation constant and a= core radius.

2. MICRO BENDING LOSS

 Micro bends are repetitive small-scale fluctuations in the radius of curvature of the fiber axis
 They are caused due to non uniformities in the manufacturing of the fiber.
 The latter effect is often referred to as cabling or packaging losses.
 An increase in attenuation results from micro bending because the fiber curvature causes repetitive
coupling of energy between guided modes and the non-guided modes in the fiber.
18
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

Figure: Small scale fluctuations in the radius of curvature of the fiber axis lead to micro bending loss

2. SIGNAL DISPERSION IN FIBER

 Optical signal weakens from attenuation mechanisms and broadens due to dispersion effects as it
travels along a fiber, this causes pulses to Overlap.
 After a certain amount of overlap occurs, the receiver can no longer distinguish the individual adjacent
pulses and error arises when interpreting the received signal.

Figure: Broadening and attenuation of 2 adjacent pulses as they travel along a fiber

 THERE ARE 3 TYPES OF SIGNAL DISPERSION

1. Intermodal delay / Modal delay / intermodal dispersion:
19

 Appears only in multimode fibers which causes pulses to widen.

Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

 Modal delay is a result of each mode having a different value of the group velocity at a single
frequency.
2. Intramodal dispersion / Chromatic dispersion:
 Appears only in single-mode fibers which causes pulses to widen.
 The phenomenon also is known as group velocity dispersion, since the dispersion is a result of
the group velocity being a function of the wavelength
 The two main causes of intramodal dispersion are as follows:
i. Material dispersion - It arises due to variations of the refractive index of the core
material. Material dispersion is also referred as chromatic dispersion. This refractive index
property causes a wavelength dependence of the group velocity of a given mode; that is,
pulse spreading occurs even when different wavelengths follow the same path.
ii. Waveguide dispersion – causes pulse spreading because only part of the optical power
propagation along a fiber is confined to the core. Within a single propagating mode, the
cross-sectional distribution of light in the optical fiber varies for different wavelengths.
Shorter wavelengths are more completely confined to the fiber core, whereas a larger
portion of the optical power at longer wavelengths propagates in the cladding as shown in
the figure.

3. Polarization-mode Dispersion:
 Fiber has 2 polarization states, each mode will travel at a slightly different velocity.
 The resulting difference in propagation times between the two orthogonal polarization modes
will cause pulse spreading.

2.1 MODAL DELAY

 Intermodal delay / Modal delay / intermodal dispersion appears only in multimode fibers which causes
20

pulses to widen.
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

 Modal delay is a result of each mode having a different value of the group velocity at a single
frequency.
 Steeper the angle of propagation of the ray congruence, higher the mode number which slower the
group velocity.
 The variation in group velocity results is group delay spread which result in intermodal dispersion.
 The maximum pulse boarding factor (ΔT) arises from modal delay is the difference between the travel
time Tmax of the longest ray convergence path and the travel time T min of the shortest ray convergence
path. Pulse broadening is obtained from tracing ray for the fiber of length L is given by:
𝑛1 𝐿 𝐿𝑛12
∆𝑇 = 𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝑇𝑚𝑖𝑛 =( ( − 𝐿)) =
𝐶 sin 𝜑𝑐 𝐶𝑛2
𝐿𝑛1 ∆
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 ∆=
𝐶
Where Δ = Index difference, sin φc = n2 / n1, C = speed of light = 3x108 m/s, and n1 , n2 are the
refractive index of core and cladding.
 The fiber capacity is specified in terms of the bit rate-distance product (BL) and given by:
𝑛2 𝐶
𝐵𝐿 <
𝑛12 ∆

 The Root Mean Square (RMS) value of the time delay is used for determining total modal delay in
multimode fiber, then the RMS impulse response (σs) is given by:
𝐿𝑛1 ∆ 𝐿(𝑁𝐴)2
𝜎𝑠 = =
2√3𝐶 4√3𝑛1 𝐶
Where L = Length of the fiber, NA = Numerical aperture

1 PROBLEM (Refer class notes)

2.2 GROUP DELAY

 As the signal propagates along the fiber, each frequency component can be assumed to travel
independently and to undergo a time delay or group delay per unit length τg /L in the direction of the
propagation given by:
21
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

Where L = distance travelled by the pulse, β = propagation constant along the fiber axis, k=2Π/λ, and
the group velocity Vg is given by:

 If the spectral width of the optical source is not too wide, the delay difference per unit wavelength
along the propagation path is approximately d τg /dλ.
 For spectral components that are δλ apart and which lie δλ/2 above and below a central wavelength λ0,
the total delay difference δτ over a distance L is

 In terms of the angular frequency ω, this is written as

 The factor β2 = d2β/dω2 is the GVD (Group Velocity Dispersion) parameter, which determines how
much a light pulse broadens as it travels along an optical fiber.
 If the spectral width δλ of an optical source is characterized by its rms value σλ then the pulse
spreading can be approximated by the rms pulse width,

 The factor D designated as the dispersion. It defines the pulse spread as a function of wave length and
is measure din picoseconds per kilometer per nanometer.

2.3 MATERIAL DISPERSION

 Material dispersion occurs because the index of refraction varies as a function of the optical
wavelength.
 Since the group velocity Vg of a mode is a function of the index of refraction, the various spectral
22

components of a given mode will travel at different speeds, depending on the wavelength.
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura
 21EC72 OPTICAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

 Material dispersion is, therefore, an intramodal dispersion effect and is of particular importance for
single-mode wave guides and for LED systems.
 To calculate material-induced dispersion, we consider a plane wave propagating in an infinitely
extended dielectric medium that has a refractive index n(λ) equal to that of the fiber core. The
propagation constant β is thus given as
2𝜋𝑛(𝜆)
𝛽=
𝜆
 Substituting this expression for β with k=2Π/λ yields the group delay τmat resulting from material
dispersion.

 The pulse spread σmat for a source of spectral width σλ is found by differentiating this group delay
with respect to wavelength and multiplying by σλ to yield

where Dmat(λ) is the material dispersion.

*****

23
Page

Compiled by: Mrs. Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE, MIT Thandavapura