Department of Electronics Engineering

(NBA ACCREDIATED)
Digital Communication Laboratory
Academic Year 2018-2019
Odd Semester

Course Code ELXL 502

Subject Professor In-charge Prof. Ulka S Padwalkar
Lab Assistant Ms. Nishigandha Kharke
Student Name
Roll Number
Class T.E - ETRX
Division
Batch
Date of Performance
Date of Submission

EXPERIMENT NO. 7

Numerical aperture of
the optical fiber
Practical Writing
Total
Performance Presentation Sign
(10 Marks)
(5 Marks) (5 Marks)

Digital Communication Lab Manual – Sem V – ETRX

2018 - 2019
 Experiment No. 7
Aim:
To Measure the Numerical aperture of the optical fiber.

Estimated time to complete this experiment: 2 hours

Objective:
To understand concept of launching the light in fiber.

Apparatus/Resources:
Hardware: Falcon Link C Trainer

Theory:

The Numerical Aperture (NA) is a measure of how much light can be collected by an optical
system such as an optical fibre or a microscope lens.

The NA is related to the acceptance angle a, which indicates the size of a cone of light that
can be accepted by the fibre.

Figure: Acceptance angle of an optical fibre

Both numerical aperture and acceptance angle are linked to the refractive index via:

NA = naSin a = (n12 – n22)1/2

Where n1 = refractive index of core

n2 = refractive index of cladding
na = refractive index of air (1.00)

The numerical aperture of the optical fiber is a parameter which defines the light gathering
ability of the optical fiber. The critical incidence angle, acceptance angle cannot be
measured inside the fiber as the fiber dimensions are very small. The numerical aperture
integrates all these parameter into single parameter.
Knowing the refractive index of the core and cladding the NA can be given as,

Digital Communication Lab Manual – Sem V – ETRX

2018 - 2019
Kit Connection Diagram:

Fiber Screen
Link C Trainer

Procedure:

1) Connect 1 KHz digital signal to analog buffer.

2) Connect buffer output to optical transmitter block.
3) Connect the fiber at the transmitter and focus the light on the screen.
4) Measure the distance between the screen and the fiber (D).
5) Measure the light spot dimension
6) Vary distance D and calculate the numerical aperture.

Digital Communication Lab Manual – Sem V – ETRX

2018 - 2019
Observations:-

Separation between Vertical Spot Horizontal Spot Average

Sr. No. fiber and screen Size Size Spot size NA
d ( cm) MR PN r
1 1

2 1.5

(Write the calculation and readings taken in the lab in this section)

Conclusion:
(Write Advantages, Disadvantages and Application of Fiber Optic Cable )

Real Life Application:

1. To test the light gathering ability of fiber in LAN application.

2. To test the light gathering ability of point to point optical link.

Post Lab Questions:

1. What is the significance of NA?

2. Compare Optical Sources - LED and LASER ?
3. Explain the block diagram of Optical Digital Communication System.

Digital Communication Lab Manual – Sem V – ETRX

2018 - 2019