Fiber optics

Introduction:
Fiber optics deals with the light propagation through thin glass fibers. Fiber optics plays an important role in the field of communication to transmit voice, television and digital data signals from one place to another. The transmission of light along the thin cylindrical glass fiber by total internal reflection was first demonstrated by John Tyndall in 1870 and the application of this phenomenon in the field of communication is tried only from 1 !7. Today the applications of fiber optics are also e"tended to medical field in the form of endoscopes and to instrumentation engineering in the form of optical sensors. BASIC PRINCIPLE OF OPTICLE FIBERS or PRINCIPLE OF TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION: #rinciple$ %The basic principle of opticle fiber is Total internal reflection& Total internal reflection: & 'hen the light ray travels from denser medium to rarer medium the refracted ray bends away from the normal. 'hen the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, the refracted ray again reflects into the same medium. This phenomenon is called Total internal reflection.&

Figure(1

Figure(!

Figure()

*et, a light ray traveling from denser medium +of refractive inde" n1, to rarer medium +of refractive inde" n!, with an angle of incidence i , then the angle of refraction r can be obtained by -nell.s law. This is shown in fig(1. Therefore n1Sin i = n2Sin r 'hen the angle of incidence is increased angle of refraction also increases and for a particular angle of incidence +i /0C, the refracted ray travels along the interface of two mediums. This angle of incidence is 1nown as critical angle (0C). This is shown in fig(!. From the snell.s law

2f i3 0C , the ray reflects towards the same media. This is called total internal reflection. This is shown in fig().
When When When

+i 4 0 , , then the ray refracts into the secondary medium +i /0 ,, then the ray travels along the interface +i 30 ,, then the ray totally reflects back into the same medium
C C C

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STRUCTURE OF AN OPTICAL FIBER: Core: : typical glass fiber consists of a central core material. >enerally core diameter is ?0 @m. The core is surrounded by cladding. The core medium refractive is always greater than the cladding refractive inde". Claddin : : medium surrendered by core is called cladding. =ladding refractive inde" is lesser than the core refractive inde". The overall diameter of cladding is 1!? @m to !00 @m Silicon Coatin : -ilicon coating is provided between buffer 7ac1et and cladding. 2t improves the 8uality of transmission of light. Buffer !ac"et: -ilicon coating is surrounded by buffer 7ac1et. 9uffer 7ac1et is made of plastic and protects the fiber cable from moisture. Stren t# $e%&er: 9uffer 7ac1et is surrounded by strength member. 2t provides strength to the fiber cable. Outer !ac"et: Finally the fiber cable is covered by polyurethane outer 7ac1et. 9ecause of this arrangement fiber cable will not be damaged during pulling, bending, stretching and rolling, even through the fiber cable is made up of glasses. ACCEPTANCE AN'LE: (efinition: :cceptance angle is defined as the ma"imum angle of incidence at the interface of air medium and core medium for which the light ray enters into the core and travels along the interface of core and cladding by ma1ing total internal reflections. *et n0, n1 and n! be the refractive indices of air, core and cladding media. *et a light ray ;: is incident on the interface of air medium and core medium with an angle of incidence 0 0 then the light ray refracts into the core medium with an angle of refraction 0 1, and the refracted ray :9 is again incident on the interface of core and cladding with an angle of incidence + 00<01,. 2f + 00<01, is e8ual to the critical angle of core and cladding media then the ray travels along the interface of core and cladding along the path 9=. 2f the angle of incident at the interface of air and core 0 14 00, then + 00<01, will be greater than the critical angle. Therefore, the total internal reflection ta1es place.

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NU$ERICAL APERTURE:

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Cla))ification of O*ticle fi&er): 9ased on the refractive inde" of core medium, optical fibers are classified into two categories. i. -tep inde" fiber ii. >raded inde" fiber 9ased on the number of modes of transmission, optical fibers are classified into two categories i. -ingle mode fiber ii. Aulti mode fiber 9ased on the material used, optical fibers are may broadly classified into four categories i. :ll glass fibers. ii. :ll plastic fibers. iii. >lass core with plastic cladding fibers. iv. #olymer clad silica fibers. STEP IN(E+ FIBER:

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ATTENUATION OF OPTICAL FIBER OR LOSSES IN OPTICAL FIBER: :ttenuation is the loss of optical power as light travels in the fiber. %The signal power output from the optical fiber decreases e"ponentially with respect to length of the fiber. This is called signal attenuation. This can be e"press as follows.

'here D is :ttenuation coefficient

The signal loss in the fibers depends upon different aspects, those are shown as follows. i, A&)or*tion Lo)) -, (i)*er)ion Lo)) i, A&)or*tion Lo)): There are three different mechanisms contribute to absorption losses in glass fibers. They are i, B6 :bsorption loss U. A&)or*tion lo)): 2n fused silica fibers the B6 :bsorption is due to ioniEation of valance electrons into conduction band. Thus there is loss light due to absorption. The B6 :bsorption cause due to the fabrication of fibers by adding some doping elements. The B6 absorption pea1 occurs at 0.1F@m. IR A&)or*tion: >lass is a good infra(red absorber. The atoms in the glass fiber absorb the 2C Cadiation which causes the Aechanical vibrations. These mechanical vibrations cause the heat in the glass fibers. This heat leads to loss of signal in the glass fibers. Ion Re)onance A&)or*tion: This is caused by ;G( ions in the fiber material. The source of ;G( ions is water molecules that have been trapped in the glass during the manufacturing process. 2on absorption is also caused by 2ron, =opper and =hromium molecules. PEC #.6.6.-atyanarayana 5ame of the Faculty$ ii, 2C :bsorption iii, 2on Cesonance :bsorption ii, Scatterin Lo))e) iii, Bendin Lo))e) i-, Cou*lin Lo)) and

Ra/lei # )catterin 0Linear Scatterin , lo)): Cayleigh scattering is caused by small(scale +compared with the wavelength of the light wave, inhomogenities that are produced in the fiber fabrication process. H"amples of inhomogenities are glass composition fluctuations +which results in minute refractive inde" change, and density fluctuations. Cayleigh scattering accounts for about IJ of attenuation in optical fiber. This is shown in the figure. Bendin Lo)): There are two types of signal losses in bending of fibers. i.e., i, Aacro 9ending *oss ii, Aacro 9ending *oss $acro Bendin Lo)): Aacro bending happens when the fiber is bent into a large radius of curvature relative to the fiber diameter. These bends become a great source of power loss when the radius of curvature is less than several centimeters.

$icro Bendin Lo)): Aicro 9ending are the small(scale bends in the core(cladding interface. These are localiEed bends can develop during deployment of the fiber, or can be due to local mechanical stresses placed on the fiber. Aicro bending can happen in the fiber manufacturing process also. Cou*lin Lo)): >enerally the optical fibers are of one 1ilometer in length. For a long distance communication, the number of optical fibers are coupled together. Then the loss could occur due to mechanical misplacement. Those losses are called =oupling losses. There are few types of mismatches given below. i.e., 1, =ore diameter Aismatch !, core and cladding mismatch ), =ladding diameter mismatch F, 5: Aismatch ?, Cefractive inde" profile mismatch. These are shown in figure. Si nal di)tortion and di)*er)ion Lo))e): Kistortion in optical fiber means change of signals from one form to another form. This distortion caused by various factors. That is 2ntermodal dispersion or chromatic dispersion and Aaterial dispersion and. Inter%odal di)*er)ion: This type of dispersion is caused when light travels in different angles in the fiber posses different velocities. This results broadening of the transmitted pulse. This is shown in the figure.

-ignal Kistortion

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OPTICAL FIBER CO$$UNICATION S1STE$:2 :n optical fiber communication system mainly consists of the fol owing parts as shown in figure. 1. Encoder !. Tran)%itter ). 3a-e uide. F. Recei-er4 ?. (ecoder4

Repeaters

Bloc" (ia ra% of O*tical Fi&er Co%%unication S/)te%

14 Encoder: Hncoder is an electronic system that converts the analog information li1e voice, figures, ob7ects etc., into binary data. 24 Tran)%itter: 2t contain two parts, they are drive circuit and light source. Krive circuit supplies the electric signals to the light source from the encoder in the re8uired form. The light source converts the electrical signals into optical form. 'ith the help of specially made connector optical signals will be in7ected into wave guide from the transmitter. 54 3a-e uide$ 2t is an optical fiber which carriers. information in the form of optical signals over distances with the help of repeaters. 'ith the help of specially made connector optical signals will be received by the receiver from the wave guide. 64 Recei-er: 2t consists of three partsL they are photo detector, amplifier and signal restorer. The photo detector converts the optical signal into the e8uivalent electric signals and supplies them to amplifier. The amplifier amplifies the electric signals as they become wea1 during the long 7ourney through the wave guide over longer distance. The signal restorer 1eeps the electric signals in a se8uential form and supplies to the decoder in the suitable way. 74 (ecoder: 2t converts electric signals into the analog information.

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(IFFERENCE BET3EEN STEP IN(E+ FIBER AN( 'RA(E( IN(E+ FIBER:

(IFFERENCE BET3EEN SIN'LE $O(E AN( $ULTI $O(E FIBERS:

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APPLICATIONS OF OPTICAL FIBERS:

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A(.ANTA'ES OF OPTICAL FIBERS:

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