OPTICAL COMMUNICATION

B.Tech 6th SEMESTER (ECE1816PE12)

MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION

Prepared By
Nabarun Chakraborty
Assistant Professor, Dept. of ETE
Barak Valley Engineering College
Karimganj, Assam
INTRODUCTION TO OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Basic Definition

 Optical Fiber Communication may be defined as the method of transmitting information

from one place to another by sending pulses of light through an Optical Fiber Cable.
Fiber Optics is a branch of optics that deals with study of propagation of light through
transparent di-electric waveguides. An optical fiber may be made up of glass or plastic
fiber that carries light along its length. The principle on which fiber optics work is called
Total Internal Reflection of Light.

Historical Approach

 Fiber optics deals with study of propagation of light through transparent dielectric
waveguides. The fiber optics are used for transmission of data from point to point
location. Fiber optic systems currently used most extensively as the transmission line
between terrestrial hardwired systems.
 The carrier frequencies used in conventional systems had the limitations in handling the
volume and rate of the data transmission. The greater the carrier frequency, larger the
available bandwidth and information carrying capacity.

First generation

The first generation of light-wave systems uses GaAs semiconductor laser and operating region
was near 0.8 μm. Other specifications of this generation are as under:

i) Bit Rate: 45 Mb/s ii) Repeater Spacing: 10 km

Second Generation

i) Bit rate: 100 Mb/s to 1.7 Gb/s ii) Repeater Spacing : 50 km

iii) Operating Wavelength: 1.3 μm iv) Semiconductor: In GaAsP

Third Generation

i) Bit rate: 10 Gb/s ii) Repeater spacing : 100 km iii) Operating wavelength : 1.55 μm

Fourth Generation

Fourth generation uses Wavelength Division Multiplexing technique.

i) Bit rate : 10 Tb/s ii) Repeater spacing : > 10,000 km

iii) Operating wavelength : 1.45 to 1.62 μm

Fifth generation

i) Bit Rate: 40 - 160 Gb/s ii) Repeater spacing: 24000 km - 35000 km iii) Operating Wavelength:
1.53 to 1.57 μm

Need of fiber optic communication

Fiber optic communication system has emerged as most important communication system.
Compared to traditional system because of following requirements:

1. In long haul transmission system there is need of low loss transmission medium

2. There is need of compact and least weight transmitters and receivers.

3. There is need of increase the span of transmission.

4. There is need of increased bit rate-distance product.

A fiber optic communication system fulfills all the requirements stated above and hence most
widely accepted.

General Block Diagram of Optical Fiber Communication System

Basic block diagram of optical fiber communication system consists of following important
blocks.

1. Transmitter

2. Information channel

3. Receiver.

Fig 1- Block Diagram of Optical Fiber Communication System

Message Origin:

Generally message origin is from a transducer that converts a non-electrical message into an
electrical signal. Common examples include microphones for converting sound waves into
currents and video (TV) cameras for converting images into current. For data transfer between
computers, the message is already in electrical form.

Modulator:

The modulator has two main functions.

1) It converts the electrical message into the proper format.

2) It impresses this signal onto the wave generated by the carrier source.

Two distinct categories of modulation are used i.e. analog modulation and digital modulation.

Carrier Source:

Carrier source generates the wave on which the information is transmitted. This wave is called
the carrier. For fiber optic system, a laser diode (LD) or a light emitting diode (LED) is used.
They can be called as optic oscillators; they provide stable, single frequency waves with
sufficient power for long distance propagation.

Channel Coupler:

 Coupler feeds the power into the information channel. For an atmospheric optic system,
the channel coupler is a lens used for collimating the light emitted by the source and
directing this light towards the receiver.
 The coupler must efficiently transfer the modulated light beam from the source to the
optic fiber. The channel coupler design is an important part of fiber system because of
possibility of high losses.

Information Channel:

 The information channel is the path between the transmitter and receiver. In fiber optic
communications, a glass or plastic fiber is the channel. Desirable characteristics of the
information channel include low attenuation and large light acceptance cone angle.
Optical amplifiers boost the power levels of weak signals. Amplifiers are needed in very
long links to provide sufficient power to the receiver. Repeaters can be used only for
digital systems. They convert weak and distorted optical signals to electrical ones and
then regenerate the original digital pulse trains for further transmission.
 Another important property of the information channel is the propagation time of the
waves travelling along it. A signal propagating along a fiber normally contains a range of
optic frequencies and divides its power along several ray paths. This results in a
distortion of the propagating signal. In a digital system, this distortion appears as a
 spreading and deforming of the pulses. The spreading is so great that adjacent pulses
begin to overlap and become unrecognizable as separate bits of information.

Optical detector:

 The information being transmitted is detector. In the fiber system the optic wave is
converted into an electric current by a photodetector. The current developed by the
detector is proportional to the power in the incident optic wave. Detector output current
contains the transmitted information. This detector output is then filtered to remove the
constant bias and then amplified.
 The important properties of photodetectors are small size, economy, long life, low power
consumption, high sensitivity to optic signals and fast response to quick variations in the
optic power.

Signal Processing:

Signal processing includes filtering, amplification. Proper filtering maximizes the ratio of signal
to unwanted power. For a digital system decision circuit is an additional block. The bit error rate
(BER) should be very small for quality communications.

Message Output:

The electrical form of the message signal emerging from the signal processor is transformed into
a sound wave or visual image. Sometimes these signals are directly usable when computers or
other machines are connected through a fiber system.

Advantages of Optical Fiber Communications

Wide bandwidth: - The light wave occupies the frequency range between 2 x 1012 Hz to 3.7 x
1012 Hz. Thus the information carrying capability of fiber optic cables is much higher.

Low losses: - Fiber optic cables offers very less signal attenuation over long distances. Typically
it is less than 1 dB/km. This enables longer distance between repeaters.

Immune to cross talk:- Fiber optic cables has very high immunity to electrical and magnetic
field. Since fiber optic cables are non-conductors of electricity hence they do not produce
magnetic field. Thus fiber optic cables are immune to cross talk between cables caused by
magnetic induction.

Interference immune:- Fiber optic cables are immune to conductive and radiation interferences
caused by electrical noise sources such as lighting, electric motors, fluorescent lights.

Light weight: -As fiber cables are made of silica glass or plastic which is much lighter than
copper or aluminum cables. Light weight fiber cables are cheaper to transport.
Small size: -The diameter of fiber is much smaller compared to other cables, therefore fiber
cable is small in size, requires less storage space.

More strength: -Fiber cables are stronger and rugged hence can support more weight.

Security: -Fiber cables are more secure than other cables. It is almost impossible to tap into a
fiber cable as they do not radiate signals. No ground loops exist between optical fibers hence
they are more secure.

Long distance transmission: -Because of less attenuation transmission at a longer distance is

possible.

Environment immune: -Fiber cables are more immune to environmental extremes. They can
operate over a large temperature variation. Also they are not affected by corrosive liquids and
gases.

Sage and easy installation: -Fiber cables are safer and easier to install and maintain. They are
non-conductors hence there is no shock hazards as no current or voltage is associated with them.
Their small size and light weight feature makes installation easier.

Less cost: -Cost of fiber optic system is less compared to any other system.

Disadvantages of Optical Fiber Communication Systems

High initial cost: -The initial cost of installation or setting up cost is very high compared to all
other system.

Maintenance and repairing cost: -The maintenance and repairing of fiber optic systems is not
only difficult but expensive also.

Jointing and test procedures: -Since optical fibers are of very small size. The fiber joining
process is very costly and requires skilled manpower.

Tensile Stress: -Optical fibers are more susceptible to buckling, bending and tensile stress than
copper cables. This leads to restricted practice to use optical fiber technology to premises and
floor backbones with a few interfaces to the copper cables.

Short Links: -Even though optical fiber cables are inexpensive, it is still not cost effective to
replace every small conventional connector (e.g. between computers and peripherals), as the
price of optoelectronic transducers are very high.

Fiber Losses: -The amount of optical fiber available to the photo-detector at the end of fiber
length depends on various fiber losses such as scattering, dispersion, attenuation and reflection.
Applications of Optical Fiber Communications
Applications of optical fiber communications include telecommunications, data communications,
video control and protection switching, sensors and power applications.

1. Telephone networks: - Optical waveguide has low attenuation, high transmission bandwidth
compared to copper lines, therefore numbers of long haul co-axial trunks ; links between
telephone exchanges are being replaced by optical fiber links.

2. Urban broadband service networks: -Optical waveguide provides much larger bandwidth
than co-axial cable, also the number of repeaters required is reduced considerably.

Modern suburban communications involves videotext, videoconferencing video

telephony, switched broadband communication network. All these can be supplied over a single
fiber optic link. Fiber optic cables is the solution to many of today’s high speed, high bandwidth
data communication problems and will continue to play a large role in future telecom and data-
com networks.
INTRODUCTION TO OPTICAL FIBER

Ray Theory Transmission

Before studying how the light actually propagates through the fiber, laws governing the nature of
light must be studied. These were called as laws of optics (Ray theory). There is conception that
light always travels at the same speed. This fact is simply not true. The speed of light depends
upon the material or medium through which it is moving. In free space light travels at its
maximum possible speed i.e. 3 x 108 m/s or 186 x 103 miles/sec. When light travels through a
material it exhibits certain behavior explained by laws of reflection, refraction.

Reflection

The law of reflection states that, when a light ray is incident upon a reflective surface at some
incident angle “φ1” from imaginary perpendicular normal, the ray will be reflected from the
surface at some angle “φ2”from normal which is equal to the angle of incidence.

Fig 2: Reflection

Refraction

Refraction occurs when light ray passes from one medium to another i.e. the light ray changes its
direction at interface. Refraction occurs whenever density of medium changes. E.g. refraction
occurs at air and water interface, the straw in a glass of water will appear as it is bent.

The refraction can also observed at air and glass interface.

 When wave passes through rarer medium to a denser medium, the wave is refracted
(bent) towards the normal. Fig. 3 shows the refraction phenomena.
 The refraction (bending) takes place because light travels at different speed in different
mediums. The speed of light in free space is higher than in water or glass.
 Fig 3: Refraction

Refractive Index (n)

The amount of refraction or bending that occurs at the interface of two materials of different
densities is usually expressed as refractive index of two materials. Refractive index is also
known as index of refraction and is denoted by “n”.

Based on material density, the refractive index is expressed as the ratio of the velocity of light in
free space to the velocity of light of the dielectric material (substance).

The refractive index for vacuum and air is 1.0 for water it is 1.3 and for glass refractive index is
1.5.

Snell‟s Law

 Snell’s law states how light ray reacts when it meets the interface of two media having
different indexes of refraction.
 Let the two medias have refractive indexes n1 and n2 where n1 >n2.
 “φ1” and “φ2” be the angles of incidence and angle of refraction respectively. Then
according to Snell’s law, a relationship exists between the refractive index of both
materials given by,

Where n1 and n2 are refractive indices of medium 1 and medium 2 respectively

 Rarer Medium with
R.I “n1”

Denser Medium
with R.I “n2”

Fig 4: Snell’s Law

 The refracted wave will be towards the normal when n1 < n2 and will away from it when
n1 > n2.

 The above equation shows that the ratio of refractive index of two mediums is inversely
proportional to the refractive and incident angles.
 Fig 5: Critical Angle

Total Internal Reflection of Light

 When the incident angle is increase beyond the critical angle, the light ray does not pass
through the interface into the other medium. This gives the effect of mirror exist at the
interface with no possibility of light escaping outside the medium.
 In this condition angle of reflection (φ2) is equal to angle of incidence (φ1). This action is
called as Total Internal Reflection (TIR) of the beam.
 It is TIR that leads to the propagation of waves within fiber-cable medium.
 TIR can be observed only in materials in which the velocity of light is less than in air.
 The two conditions necessary for TIR to occur are :

1. The refractive index of first medium must be greater than the refractive index of
second one.

2. The angle of incidence must be greater than (or equal to) the critical angle.
 Fig 6: Concept of Total Internal Reflection of Light

Acceptance Angle

Fig 7: Ray Propagation by Total Internal Reflection

Condition 1
 The index of refraction of glass fiber must be slightly greater than the index of refraction
of material surrounding the fiber (cladding).
 If refractive index of glass fiber = n1 and refractive index of cladding = n2 then n1 > n2.

Condition 2
 A light beam is focused at one end of cable. The light enters the fibers at different angles.
Fig. 7 shows the conditions exist at the launching end of optic fiber. The light source is
surrounded by air and the refractive index of air is n0 = 1.
 Let the incident ray makes an angle “φ0”with fiber axis. The ray enters into glass fiber at
point P making refracted angle “φ1” to the fiber axis, the ray is then propagated
diagonally down the core and reflect from the core wall at point Q.
 When the light ray reflects off the inner surface, the angle of incidence is equal to the
angle of reflection, which is greater than critical angle.
 In order for a ray of light to propagate down the cable, it must strike the core cladding
interface at an angle that is greater than critical angle (“φc”).
Acceptance Cone

Fig 8: Acceptance Cone of a Fiber Cable

 Rotating the acceptance angle “φ0(max)” around the fiber axis, a cone shaped pattern is
obtained; it is called as acceptance cone of the fiber input. Fig 8 shows formation of
acceptance cone of a fiber cable.
 The Cone of acceptance is the angle within which the light is accepted into the core and
is able to travel along the fiber. The launching of light wave becomes easier for large
acceptance cone.
 The angle is measured from the axis of the positive cone so the total angle of
convergence is actually twice the stated value.

Numerical Aperture (NA)

 The numerical aperture (NA) of a fiber is a figure of merit which represents its light
gathering capability.
 Larger the numerical aperture, the greater the amount of light accepted by fiber.
 The acceptance angle also determines how much light is able to be entering the fiber and
hence there is relation between the numerical aperture and the cone of acceptance.
  By the formula of NA note that the numerical aperture is effectively dependent only on
refractive indices of core and cladding material. NA is not a function of fiber dimension.
 The fractional index difference (Δ) and the numerical aperture (NA) are related to the
core and cladding indices:

Δ = n1 – n2 / n1

The relationships given in equations above for the numerical aperture are a very useful measure
of the light-collecting ability of a fiber.
Types of Rays

If the rays are launched within core of acceptance, light rays can be successfully propagated
along the fiber. But the exact path of the ray is determined by the position and angle of ray at
which it strikes the core.

There exist three different types of rays.

i) Skew rays ii) Meridional rays iii) Axial rays.

Skew Rays

The skew rays do not pass through the center, as show in Fig. 9. The skew rays reflect off from
the core cladding boundaries and again bounce around the outside of the core. It takes somewhat
similar shape of spiral of helical path.

Fig 9: View of Skew Rays

Meridional Rays

The meridional ray enters the core and passes through its axis. When the core surface is parallel,
it will always be reflected to pass through the center. The meridional ray is shown in Fig 10

Fig 10: View of Meridional Rays

Axial Rays

The axial ray travels along the axis of the fiber and stays at the axis all the time. It is shown in
Fig 11

Fig 11: View of Axial Rays

Modes of Optical Fiber

Fiber cables can also be classified as per their mode. Light rays propagate as an electromagnetic
wave along the fiber. The two components, the electric field and the magnetic field form patterns
across the fiber. These patterns are called modes of transmission. The mode of a fiber refers to
the number of paths for the light rays within the cable. According to modes optic fibers can be
classified into two types.

The Propagation of Light along a waveguide is described in terms of a set of guided

Electromagnetic Waves called “modes” or “waveguides”.

i) Single mode fiber

ii) Multimode fiber.

Multimode Fiber

 Multimode fiber was the first fiber type to be manufactured and commercialized. The
term multimode simply refers to the fact that numerous modes (light rays) are carried
simultaneously through the waveguide.
 Multimode fiber has a much larger diameter, compared to single mode fiber; this allows
large number of modes.

Single Mode Fiber

 Single mode fiber allows propagation to light ray by only one path.
 Single mode fibers are best at retaining the fidelity of each light pulse over longer
distance also they do not exhibit dispersion caused by multiple modes.
 Thus more information can be transmitted per unit of time. This gives single mode fiber
higher bandwidth compared to multimode fiber.
 Some disadvantages of single mode fiber are smaller core diameter makes coupling light
into the core more difficult. Precision required for single mode connectors and splices are
more demanding.
Difference between Single Mode Fiber & Multimode Fiber

Sl No Single Mode Fiber Multimode Fiber

1) Only a single fundamental mode More than one mode propagate in the fiber
propagates in the fiber
2) Have higher bandwidth Have limited bandwidth
3) Do not exhibit any dispersion Exhibit Modal dispersion
4) Data Transferred is Low Data Transferred is High
5) It is cheap It is costlier than Single Mode Fiber
6) Used in submarine cables Used in Telephone links
7)

8) Ray Propagation Ray Propagation

Fiber Profiles

A fiber is characterized by its profile and by its core and cladding diameters.

 One way of classifying the fiber cables is according to the index profile at fiber. The
index profile is a graphical representation of value of refractive index across the core
diameter.
 There are two basic types of index profiles.

i) Step index fiber. ii) Graded index fiber.

Fig 12: Profile of Optical Fiber

Step Index Fiber (SI)

 The step index (SI) fiber is a cylindrical waveguide core with central or inner core has a
uniform refractive index of “n1” and the core is surrounded by outer cladding with
uniform refractive index of “n2”.
 The cladding refractive index “n2” is less than the core refractive index “n1”.
 But there is an abrupt change in the refractive index at the core cladding interface.
 Refractive index profile of step indexed optical fiber is shown in Fig 13.
 The refractive index is plotted on horizontal axis and radial distance from the core is
plotted on vertical axis.

Fig 13:- Step Index Fiber

  The propagation of light wave within the core of step index fiber takes the path of
meridional ray i.e. ray follows a zig-zag path of straight line segments.
 The core typically has diameter of 50-80 μm and the cladding has a diameter of 125 μm.
 The refractive index profile is defined as –

Where, r = Radial distance from fiber axis

a = Core radius

n1 = Refractive index of core

n2 = Refractive index of cladding

Graded Index (GRIN) Fiber

 The graded index fiber has a core made from many layers of glass.
 In the graded index (GRIN) fiber the refractive index is not uniform within the core, it
is highest at the center and decreases smoothly and continuously with distance
towards the cladding.
 The refractive index profile across the core takes the parabolic nature.
 Fig.14 shows refractive index profile of graded index fiber.

Fig 14: Graded Index Fiber

 In graded index fiber the light waves are bent by refraction towards the core axis and they
follow the curved path down the fiber length.
 This results because of change in refractive index as moved away from the center of the
core.
 A graded index fiber has lower coupling efficiency and higher bandwidth than the step
index fiber. It is available in 50/125 and 62.5/125 sizes.
  The 50/125 fiber has been optimized for long haul applications and has a smaller NA and
higher bandwidth. 62.5/125 fiber is optimized for LAN applications which is costing 25%
more than the 50/125 fiber cable.
 The refractive index variation in the core is given by relationship where,

Where, r = Radial distance from fiber axis

a = Core radius

n1 = Refractive index of core

n2 = Refractive index of cladding

α = Shape of index profile.

Profile parameter “α” determines the characteristic refractive index profile of fiber core. The
range of refractive index as variation of “α” is shown in Fig.15.

Fig 15: Possible fiber optics index profiles for different values of “α”.

 When α=∞, Refractive Index Profile is of Step Index Fiber.

 When α=2, Refractive Index Profile is of Parabolic
 When α=1, Refractive Index Profile is of Traingular.
Comparison between Step Index Fiber & Graded Index Fiber

Optic Fiber Configurations

Depending on the refractive index profile of fiber and modes of fiber there exist three types of
optical fiber configurations. These optic-fiber configurations are -

i) Single mode step index fiber.

ii) Multimode step index fiber.

iii) Multimode graded index fiber.

Single Mode Step Index Fiber

 In single mode step index fiber has a central core that is sufficiently small so that there is
essentially only one path for light ray through the cable. The light ray is propagated in the
fiber through reflection. Typical core sizes are 2 to 15 μm. Single mode fiber is also
known as fundamental or monomode fiber.
 Fig 16 below shows a schematic of Single Mode Step Index Fiber

Fig 16:- Single Mode Step Index Fiber

 Single mode fiber will permit only one mode to propagate and does not suffer from mode
delay differences. These are primarily developed for the 1300 nm window but they can
be also be used effectively with time division multiplex (TDM) and wavelength
division multiplex (WDM) systems operating in 1550 nm wavelength region.
 The core fiber of a single mode fiber is very narrow compared to the wavelength of
light being used.
 Therefore, only a single path exists through the cable core through which light can
travel.
 Usually, 20 percent of the light in a single mode cable actually travels down the
cladding and the effective diameter of the cable is a blend of single mode core and
degree to which the cladding carries light.
 This is referred to as the „mode field diameter‟, which is larger than physical diameter of
the core depending on the refractive indices of the core and cladding.
 The disadvantage of this type of cable is that because of extremely small size
interconnection of cables and interfacing with source is difficult.
 Another disadvantage of single mode fibers is that as the refractive index of glass
decreases with optical wavelength, the light velocity will also be wavelength dependent.
 Thus the light from an optical transmitter will have definite spectral width.
Multimode Step Index Fiber

 Multimode step index fiber is more widely used type. It is easy to manufacture. Its core
diameter is 50 to 1000 μm i.e. large aperture and allows more light to enter the cable.
 The light rays are propagated down the core in zig-zag manner. There are many many
paths that a light ray may follow during the propagation.
 The light ray is propagated using the principle of total internal reflection (TIR). Since the
core index of refraction is higher than the cladding index of refraction, the light enters at
less than critical angle is guided along the fiber.
 Light rays passing through the fiber are continuously reflected off the glass cladding
towards the center of the core at different angles and lengths, limiting overall bandwidth.

Fig 17: Multimode Step Index Fiber

 The disadvantage of multimode step index fibers is that the different optical lengths
caused by various angles at which light is propagated relative to the core, causes the
transmission bandwidth to be fairly small.
 Because of these limitations, multimode step index fiber is typically only used in
applications requiring distances of less than 1 km.
Multimode Graded Index Fiber

 The core size of multimode graded index fiber cable is varying from 50 to 100 μm range.
 The light ray is propagated through the refraction. The light ray enters the fiber at many
different angles.
 As the light propagates across the core toward the center it is intersecting a less dense to
more dense medium. Therefore the light rays are being constantly being refracted and ray
is bending continuously. This cable is mostly used for long distance communication.

Fig 18: The Refractive Index Profile and Ray Transmission in a Multimode Graded Index Fiber

 The light rays no longer follow straight lines, they follow a serpentine path being
gradually bent back towards the center by the continuously declining refractive index.
 The modes travelling in a straight line are in a higher refractive index so they travel
slower than the serpentine modes. This reduces the arrival time disparity because all
modes arrive at about the same time.
 Fig 19 shows the light trajectory in detail.
 It is seen that light rays running close to the fiber axis with shorter path length, will have
a lower velocity because they pass through a region with a high refractive index.

Fig 19:- Light Trajectories in Graded Index Fiber

  Rays on core edges offers reduced refractive index, hence travel more faster than axial
rays and cause the light components to take same amount of time to travel the length of
fiber, thus minimizing dispersion losses.
 Each path at a different angle is termed as „transmission mode‟ and the NA of graded
index fiber is defined as the maximum value of acceptance angle at the fiber axis.
 Typical attenuation coefficients of graded index fibers at 850 nm are 2.5 to 3 dB/km,
while at 1300 nm they are 1.0 to 1.5 dB/km.
 The main advantages of graded index fiber are:
1. Reduced refractive index at the center of core.
2. Comparatively cheap to produce.

Concept of Normalized Frequency

The normalized frequency(V) may be expressed in terms of the numerical aperture NA and
the relative refractive index difference (Δ), respectively, as:

Where, the core radius “a”, the relative refractive index difference “Δ” and the operating
wavelength “λ”.

The normalized frequency is a dimensionless parameter and hence is also sometimes simply
called the V number or value of the fiber.

1. In Multimode Step Index Fiber, that the total number of guided modes or mode
volume “Ms” for a multimode step index fiber is related to the “V” value for the fiber
by the approximate expression:
Ms = V2/2
 2. In Multimode Graded Index Fiber, that the total number of guided modes or mode
volume “Mg” for a multimode graded index fiber is related to the “V” value for the
fiber by the approximate expression

Where α- Profile Parameter

Cut-Off Wavelength
It may be noted that that single-mode operation only occurs above a theoretical cutoff
wavelength “λc”
The frequency suitable for Single Mode Fiber is given by

Rearranging the equation

“Vc” is the normalized cut-off frequency and “λc” is the wavelength above which a particular
fiber becomes single mode.

Obtaining Inverse Relationship

Also we know that for a step index fiber Vc = 2.405, the cut-off wavelength is given by:
Mode Field Diameter & Spot Size

 The Mode Field Diameter (MFD) is an important parameter for characterizing single
mode properties that take into account the wavelength dependent field penetration into
fiber cladding.
 It is a function of optical source wavelength, core radius and Refractive Index Profile of
fiber.
 This is used to predict fiber properties such as splice loss, bending loss, cut-off
wavelength and waveguide dispersion.
 For Step Index and Graded Index Single Mode Fiber operating near cut-off wavelength
“λc”, the field is approximated by Gaussian distribution.

Fig 20: Field Amplitude Distortion E(r) of fundamental mode in a single mode-fiber illustrating
mode filed diameter (MFD) and spot size (ω0)
 MFD is generally taken as the distance between the opposite 1/e = 0.37 field amplitude
points and the power 1/e2 = 0.135 points in relation to the corresponding values on the
fiber axis.
 Another parameter which is directly related to the MFD of a single-mode fiber is the spot
size (or mode-field radius) ω0. Hence MFD = 2ω0, where ω0 is the nominal half width
of the input excitation.
OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION
(ET 8651 EL)
B.E 8th SEMESTER

CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION
(Numerical Problems)

Prepared By:-
Nabarun Chakraborty
Assistant Professor, Dept. of ETE
Barak Valley Engineering College
Karimganj, Assam
 ASSIGNMENT 1
(MODULE 1- Introduction)
N.B:- The marks are indicated in brackets.
Broad Answer Type Questions

1) Describe the Electromagnetic Mode Theory of Optical Fibers? (10)

2) What do you understand by Modes in Optical Fibers? Explain modes with suitable numerical
analysis along with diagrams in all types of Optical Fibers? (10)

3) What do you understand by Group Velocity & Phase Velocity in Optical Fibers? Explain with
proper mathematical analysis? (3+3=6)

4) What do you understand by Group Delay & Phase Delay in Optical Fibers? Explain with
proper mathematical analysis? (3+3=6).

Multiple Choice Questions.

1. Who proposed the idea of transmission of light via dielectric waveguide structure?

a) Christian Huygens b) Karpon and Bockham

c) Hondros and debye d) Albert Einstein

2. The light sources used in fibre optics communication are ____________

a) LED’s and Lasers b) Phototransistors

c) Xenon lights d) Incandescent

3. The ________ ray passes through the axis of the fiber core.

a) Reflected b) Refracted c) Meridional d) Skew

4. What is the numerical aperture of the fiber if the angle of acceptance is 16 degree?

a) 0.50 b) 0.36 c) 0.20 d) 0.27

5. Which equations are best suited for the study of electromagnetic wave propagation?

a) Maxwell’s equations b) Allen-Cahn equations

c) Avrami equations d) Boltzmann’s equations

6. Constructive interference occurs when total phase change after two successive reflections at
upper and lower interfaces is equal to? (Where m is integer)

a) 2Πm b) Πm c) Πm/4 d) Πm/6

7. Which is the most important velocity in the study of transmission characteristics of optical
fiber?

a) Phase velocity b) Group velocity

c) Normalized velocity d) Average velocity

8. The phenomenon which occurs when an incident wave strikes an interface at an angle greater
than the critical angle with respect to the normal to the surface is called as ____________

a) Refraction b) Partial internal reflection

c) Total internal reflection d) Limiting case of refraction

9. An optical fiber has core-index of 1.480 and a cladding index of 1.478. What should be the
core size for single mode operation at 1310nm?

a) 7.31μm b) 8.71μm c) 5.26μm d) 6.50μm

10. The difference between the modes’ refractive indices is called as ___________

a) Polarization b) Cutoff c) Fiber birefringence d) Fiber splicing