Department of Electronics and Telecommunication

Broadband Communication Systems

Experiment no.1 Signature: Submitted by

Name: Snehal Vitthal Kale

Roll No: 4827 Div: C

Batch: C2

Date of Performance: 09/02/2022

Date of submission: 09/02/2022

Aim: To measure the Numerical Aperture of given optical fiber

Apparatus & their specifications:

1. Source used: LED (wavelength 650nm)

2. Fiber: Plastic core with 1000 µm diameter multimode step index fiber ( and
)
1)Virtual Lab Link:https ://vlab.amrita.edu/?sub=1&brch=189&sim=343&cnt=4
2)Virtual Labs (iitb.ac.in)
Theory: Optical fibers are fine transparent glass or plastic fibers which can propagate light. It consists of
a core that is surrounded by a cladding which is normally made of silica glass or plastic. The core
transmits an optical signal while the cladding guides the light within the core. Since light is guided
through the fiber it is sometimes called an optical waveguide. The basic construction of an optic fiber is
shown in figure (1). Propagation of light takes place through multiple internal reflections. Total internal
reflection occurs only when the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle.

Figure 1: The basic construction of an optic fiber

Consider an optical fiber having a core of refractive index n1 and cladding of refractive index n2
 Figure 2

The light gets refracted at an angle θ and fall on the core-cladding interface at
an angle where, ---------------------- (1)
By Snell’s law at the point of entrance of light in to the optical fiber we get,
-------------------- (2)

Where n0 is the refractive index of the medium outside the fiber. For air n0 =1.

When light travels from core to cladding it moves from denser to rarer medium and so it may be totally
reflected back to the core medium if θ' exceeds the critical angle θ'c. The critical angle is that angle of
incidence in denser medium (n1) for which angle of refraction becomes 90°. Using Snell’s laws at core
cladding interface,

Or --------------------- (3)

Therefore, for light to be propagated within the core of optical fiber as a guided wave, the angle of
incidence at the core-cladding interface should be greater than θ'c. As i increases, θ increases and so θ'
decreases. Therefore, there is a maximum value of angle of incidence beyond which, it does not
propagate rather it is refracted into cladding medium ( Figure: 2(b)). This maximum value of i say i m is
called maximum angle of acceptance and n0 sin im is termed as the numerical aperture (NA).

……From equation (2)

2
The significance of NA is that light entering in the cone of semi vertical angle i m only propagates through
the fibre. The higher the value of im or NA more is the light collected for propagation in the fibre.
Numerical aperture is thus considered as a light gathering capacity of an optical fiber.Numerical
Aperture is defined as the Sine of half of the angle of fiber’s light acceptance cone. i.e. NA= Sin θ awhere
θa, is called acceptance cone angle.Let the spot size of the beam at a distance d (distance between the
fiber end and detector) as the radius of the spot(r).

------------------------ (4)

Procedure:

Figure 3: Numerical Aperture Measurement setup

1. Insert one end of fiber into the LED (Wavelength 650nm) cap.
2. Insert the other end of the fiber into the NA measurement unit. Hold the white sheet facing to the fiber
such that its cut face is perpendicular to the axis of fiber.
3. Keep a distance of about 10mm between the white sheet and tip of the fiber. 4.
Observe the illuminated circular patch of light on white sheet.
5. Measure the distance d(In the observation table we referred the distance d as Height). 6.
Measure the vertical diameter BC and horizontal diameter D as indicated in Figure1. 7.
Calculate the radius of the spot by using formula
Radius r = (BC+DE)/4
8. Calculate the numerical aperture of the optic fiber using the equation (4). 9.
Calculate the acceptance angle

Observations:

3
Sr. Height(d) Horizontal Vertical Radius(r) Numeric Acceptan
No. diameter(DE) diameter(BC) al ce
Apertur Angle(θ)
e
 1 4mm 4.444mm - 2.222mm 0.485 29 degrees

2 3mm 3.332mm -- 1.666mm 0.485 2 9degrees

3 6mm 6.666mm - 3.33mm 0.485 29 degrees

4 9mm 9.998mm - 4.999mm 0.485 29 degrees

5 10mm 11.11mm - 5.555mm 0.485 29 degrees

Calculations

Distance between the fiber and the detector, d = 4mm

Radius of the spot, r =2.222mm

Numerical Aperture of the optic fiber, = 0.485

Acceptance angle, = 29 degrees

Average Numerical Aperture ( ) =0.485

=
Average Acceptance angle θavg =29 degrees

Normalized cut off frequency (V number )

=2343.92

4
where
No. of modes =2744644.272

5
6
 7

Calculations:
 8

Conclusion:
In this experiment we performed numerical aperture in which we used glass fiber cable. As we

increase distance between emitter and output screen, diameter of the spot also increases. We

have observed that they are directly proportional.