Optics and Optical Communication

Chapter I

1. Introduction to Optics and Optical Communications

A communication system transmits information from one place to another, whether
separated by a few kilo-meters or by transoceanic distances. The development of
worldwide telephone networks during the twentieth century led to many advances in the
design of electrical communication systems beginning from Telegraph towards Light
wave system. Figure 1.1 shows how the BL product has increased through technological
advances during the last century and a half. (BL is a commonly used figure of merit for
communication systems stands for the bit rate–distance product, where B is the bit rate
and L is the repeater spacing).

Figure 1.1: Increase in bit rate–distance product BL during the period 1850–2000.

Information is often carried by an electromagnetic carrier wave whose frequency can vary
from a few megahertz to several hundred terahertz. Optical communication systems use
high carrier frequencies (~100 THz) in the visible or near-infrared region of the
electromagnetic spectrum. They are sometimes called lightwave systems to distinguish
them from microwave systems, whose carrier frequency is typically smaller by five
orders of magnitude (~1GHz). Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting
information from one place to another by sending light through an optical fiber.

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

Figure 1.2: Electromagnetic Spectrum

The need for high bandwidth to satisfy the growing need for long distance communication all
over the word, Optical fiber communication system gets more emphasis and dominating the
others.
Some of the advantage and disadvantages of optical communication system are:
Advantages
 Much Higher Bandwidth (Gbps): Thousands of channels can be multiplexed together
over one strand of fiber
 Immunity to Noise: Immune to electromagnetic interference (EMI).
 Safety: Doesn’t transmit electrical signals, making it safe in environments like a gas
pipeline.
 High Security: Impossible to “tap into.”
 Less Loss: Repeaters can be spaced 75 miles apart (fibers can be made to have only
0.2 dB/km of attenuation).
 Reliability: More resilient than copper in extreme environmental conditions.

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 Optics and Optical Communication
 Size: Lighter and more compact than copper.
 Flexibility: Unlike impure, brittle glass, fiber is physically very flexible.
Disadvantages
 The cost of interfacing equipment necessary to convert electrical signals to optical
signals. (optical transmitters, receivers)
 Splicing fiber optic cable is also more difficult.
 Expensive over short distance.
 Requires highly skilled installers.
 adding additional nodes is difficult
Figure 1.3 shows a block diagram of an optical communication system. It consists of a
transmitter, a communication channel, and a receiver, the three elements common to all
communication systems. Optical communication systems can be classified into two broad
categories: guided and unguided.

Figure 1.3: Block diagram of an optical communication system

Guided lightwave systems are systems in which the optical beam emitted by the transmitter
remains spatially confined. This is realized in practice by using optical fibers. Since all
guided optical communication systems currently use optical fibers, the commonly used term
for them is fiber-optic communication systems.
Unguided optical communication systems are systems in which the optical beam emitted by
the transmitter spreads in space, similar to the spreading of microwaves. However, unguided
optical systems are less suitable for broadcasting applications than microwave systems
because optical beams spread mainly in the forward direction (as a result of their short
wavelength). Their use generally requires accurate pointing between the transmitter and the
receiver.
Evolution of Lightwave Systems
The research phase of fiber-optic communication systems started around 1975. The enormous
progress realized over the 25-year period extending from 1975 to 2000 can be grouped into
several distinct generations. Figure 1.4 shows the increase in the BL product over this time
period as quantified through various laboratory experiments. The straight line corresponds to
a doubling of the BL product every year.
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 Optics and Optical Communication
The first generation of lightwave systems operated near 0.8 μm and used GaAs
semiconductor lasers. They operated at a bit rate of 45 Mb/s and allowed repeater spacing of
up to 10 km. It operates at the wavelength region near 1.3 μm, where fiber loss is below 1
dB/km. Furthermore, optical fibers exhibit minimum dispersion in this wavelength region.

The second-generation lightwave systems operate at bit rates of up to 1.7 Gb/s with a
repeater spacing of about 50 km. The repeater spacing of the second-generation lightwave
systems was limited by the fiber losses at the operating wavelength of 1.3 μm (typically 0.5
dB/km).

Third-generation lightwave systems operating at 2.5 Gb/s with repeaters separation from 60-
70km became available commercially in 1990. It operates at 1.55 μm and was considerably
delayed by large fiber dispersion near 1.55 μm. The best performance is achieved using
dispersion-shifted fibers in combination with lasers oscillating in a single longitudinal mode.
Such systems are capable of operating at a bit rate of up to 10 Gb/s.

The fourth generation of lightwave systems makes use of optical amplification for increasing
the repeater spacing and of wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) for increasing the bit
rate. The WDM technique led to lightwave systems operating at a bit rate of 10 Tb/s. In most
WDM systems, fiber losses are compensated periodically using erbium-doped fiber
amplifiers spaced 60–80 km apart.
The fifth generation of fiber-optic communication systems is concerned with extending the
wavelength range over which a WDM system can operate simultaneously. The conventional
wavelength window, known as the C band, covers the wavelength range 1.53–1.57μm.

Figure 1.4: several generations of lightwave systems.

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