Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Sardar Patel Institute of Technology

Bhavan’s Campus, Munshi Nagar, Andheri (West), Mumbai – 400058

(Autonomous College Affiliated to University of Mumbai)
Ayush Sharma OFC Lab
2019120057
Experiment 5
UID:2019120057
Aim: To Investigate the Bending losses in multi-mode optical Fiber.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will be able to plot the graph of bending losses with respect to that bending radius.
• Students will be able to analyze the graph and understand the impact of bending on the loss
of signal in fiber.
• Students will be able to evaluate the critical radius of curvature of the fiber.

Procedure: http://ofcvlab.vesit.ves.ac.in/4/procedure.html

Theory:

Optical fibers suffer radiation losses at bends or curves on their paths.

There are two types of bends in optical fibers:

a) Macroscopic bending loss (having a larger radius than that of the fiber diameter)
b) Microscopic bending loss (random microscopic bends of the fiber axis)

Macroscopic bending loss:

This is due to the energy in the evanescent field at the bend exceeding the velocity of light in the
cladding and hence the guidance mechanism is inhibited, which causes light energy to be radiated
from the fiber. An illustration of this situation is shown in Figure.

The part of the mode which is on the outside of the bend is required to travel faster than that on the
inside so that a wave front perpendicular to the direction of propagation is maintained. Hence, part
of the mode in the cladding needs to travel faster than the velocity of light in that medium. As this is
not possible, the energy associated with this part of the mode is lost through radiation.

The loss can generally be represented by a radiation attenuation coefficient which has the form

𝛼𝑟 = 𝑐1𝑒𝑥𝑝(−𝑐2𝑅)

12-03-2022
 Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Sardar Patel Institute of Technology
Bhavan’s Campus, Munshi Nagar, Andheri (West), Mumbai – 400058
(Autonomous College Affiliated to University of Mumbai)
Ayush Sharma OFC Lab
2019120057
where 𝑅 is the radius of curvature of the fiber bend and 𝑐1, 𝑐2 are constants which are independent
of 𝑅. Furthermore, large bending losses tend to occur in multimode fibers at a critical radius of
curvature 𝑅𝐶 which may be estimated from
3П12𝜆
𝑅𝐶 ≅ 3
4𝜋(П2−П2)2
1 2

It may be observed from the expression given in above Eq. that potential macro bending losses may
be reduced by:

a) designing fibers with large relative refractive index differences;

b) operating at the shortest wavelength possible

As the radius of curvature decreases, the loss increases exponentially until at a certain critical radius
of curvature loss becomes observable. If the bend radius is made a bit smaller once this threshold
point has been reached, the losses suddenly become extremely large.

Micro bending Loss:

Another form of radiation loss in optical waveguide results from mode coupling caused by random
micro bends of the optical fiber. Micro bends are repetitive small-scale fluctuations in the radius of
curvature of the fiber axis. They are caused either by non-uniformities in the manufacturing of the
fiber or by non-uniform lateral pressures created during the cabling of the fiber. An increase in
attenuation results from micro bending because the fiber curvature causes repetitive coupling of
energy between the guided modes and the leaky or non-guided modes in the fiber.

Micro bending losses can be minimized by placing a compressible jacket over the fiber. When external
forces are applied to this configuration, the jacket will be deformed but the fiber will tend to stay
relatively straight.

12-03-2022
 Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Sardar Patel Institute of Technology
Bhavan’s Campus, Munshi Nagar, Andheri (West), Mumbai – 400058
(Autonomous College Affiliated to University of Mumbai)
Ayush Sharma OFC Lab
2019120057
Observation table and Graph:

Part A - Bending Radius v/s Bending Losses

12-03-2022
 Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Sardar Patel Institute of Technology
Bhavan’s Campus, Munshi Nagar, Andheri (West), Mumbai – 400058
(Autonomous College Affiliated to University of Mumbai)
Ayush Sharma OFC Lab
2019120057
Part B - No of turns v/s Bending Losses

Conclusion:
• In Part A, where we find the relationship between Bending Radius and Bending Losses, we
see that as the bending radius is increased the bending losses decreases. This indicates that
bending radiusis inversely proportional to bending losses.
• In Part B, where we find the relationship between number of Turns and Bending Losses, we
see that as the number of Turns is increased the bending losses increases. This indicates that
number of Turns is directly proportional to bending losses.

References:

• http://ofcvlab.vesit.ves.ac.in/4/aim.html

12-03-2022