HETT401: Golden Scroll v1.

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”A Firefighter’s Care Package”

April/May 2023

Test 1 (yepaLms)[150 marks]

Q 1. The optical fiber system shown in Fig 1 has a core refractive index n1 and a cladding of
refractive index n2 such that n1 > n2 .

Figure 1: Optical Fiber System.

Given that n = 1, n1 = 1.46 and n2 = 1.45 in the diagram of the optical fiber above,
calculate:
(a) the critical angle θc at the core-cladding interface. [3]
(b) the numerical aperture N.A. of the optical fiber. [3]
(c) the angle of acceptance αmax of the optical fiber system. [4]
Q 2. Calculate the numerical aperture and acceptance angle for a fibre cable of which ncore [10]
= 1.5 and nc1adding = 1.48. The launching takes place from air.
Q 3. Calculate the numerical aperture, acceptance angle and critical angle of a fiber having [10]
core refractive index 1.50 and cladding refractive index 1.45.
Q 4. A multimode step index fiber has a relative refractive index of 1% and a core refractive [10]
index of 1.5. The number of modes propagating at a wavelength of 1.3 µm is 1100.
Estimate the diameter of the fiber core.

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Q 5. Calculate the number of modes of an optical fibre having diameter of 50 µm, n1 = 1.48, [10]
n2 = 1.46 and λ = 0.82 µm.

Q 6. A step index multimode fiber with a numerical aperture of a 0.20 supports approximately
1000 modes at an 850 nm wavelength.
(a) What is the diameter of its core? [4]
(b) How many modes does the fiber support at 1320 nm? [3]
(c) How many modes does the fiber support at 1550 nm? [3]

Q 7. A fibre has normalized frequency V = 26.6 and the operating wavelength is 1300nm. If [10]
the radius of the fibre core is 25 µm. Compute the numerical aperture.

Q 8. A multimode step index fiber with a core diameter of 80 µm and a relative index of 1.5% [10]
is operating at a wavelength of 0.85 µm. If the core refractive index is 1 .48, calculate
the normalized frequency of the fibre and the total modes in the fiber. Also compute
the power in the cladding if the total input power is 500 mW.

Q 9. For a 30 km long fibre attenuation 0.8 dB/km at 1300 nm. If a 200 µW power is launched [10]
into the fibre, find the output power.

Q 10. Design an optical fiber link for transmitting 15 Mb/sec of data for a distance of 4 km [10]
with BER of 10−9 .

Q 11. A continuous 12 km long optical fibre link has a loss of 1.5 dB/km.
(a) What is the minimum optical power level that must be launched into the fibre to [5]
maintain as optical power level of 0.3 µW at the receiving end?
(b) What is the required input power if the fiber has a loss of 2.5 dB/km? [5]

Q 12. A transmitter has an output power of 0.1 mW. It is used with a fiber having NA = 0.25, [10]
attenuation of 6 dB/km and length 0.5 km. The link contains two connectors of 2 dB
average loss. The receiver has a minimum acceptable power (sensitivity) of- 35 dBm.
The designer has allowed a 4 dB margin. Calculate the link power budget.

Q 13. In a fiber link the laser diode output power is 5 dBm, source-fiber coupling loss = 3 dB,
connector loss of 2 dB and has 50 splices of 0.1 dB loss. Fiber attenuation loss for 100
km is 25 dB, compute the loss margin for:
(a) APD receiver with sensitivity -40 dBm [5]
(b) Hybrid PINFET high impedance receiver with sensitivity -32 dBm. [5]

Q 14. When mean optical power launched into an 8 km length of fiber is 12 µW, the mean
optical power at the fiber output is 3 µW. Determine:
(a) Overall signal attenuation in dB. [5]
(b) The overall signal attenuation for a 10 km optical link using the same fiber with [5]
splices at 1 km intervals, each giving an attenuation of 1 dB.

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Assignment 1 [100 marks]

Q 15. (a) With the aid of a well labelled diagram, describe the principle used in the working [5]
of fibre as light guides.
(b) Calculate the numerical aperture, acceptance angle and critical angle of a fibre [5]
having core refractive index 1.50 and cladding refractive index 1.45.
(c) A step index multimode fibre with a numerical aperture of a 0.20 supports approx-
imately 1000 modes at an 850 nm wavelength.
i. What is the diameter of its core?
ii. How many modes does the fibre support at 1320 nm?
iii. How many modes does the fibre support at 1550 nm? [10]
Q 16. (a) With the aid of a neat sketch, provide a detailed description of the operating [5]
principle of a light emitting diode (LED).
(b) When an LED has 2 V applied to its terminals, it draws 100 mA and produce 2 mW [4]
of optical power. Determine the conversion efficiency of the LED from electrical to
optical power.
(c) What is a laser diode? Give any two advantages and disadvantages of laser diodes [6]
compared to LEDs.
(d) Explain in detail the working of:
i. a PIN photodiode. [5]
ii. an avalanche photodiode (APD). [5]
Q 17. (a) i. Distinguish between splices and connectors. [2]
ii. Describe the three methods of fibre splicing. [9]
iii. State any two requirements of splices. [2]
(b) What are the three windows of optical communications? State why these windows [4]
are used.
(c) Optical power launched into fiber at transmitter end is 150 µW. The power at the [6]
end of 10 km length of the link working in first windows is –38.2 dBm. Another
system of same length working in second window is 47.5 µW. Same length system
working in third window has 50% launched power. Calculate fibre attenuation for
each case and mention wavelength of operation.
Q 18. (a) With aid of a block diagram, describe the operation of an optical fibre communi- [10]
cation system.
(b) An optical fibre system is to operate at 622 Mbps over a distance of 71 km without [6]
repeaters. A fibre with a worst case loss of 0.25 dB/km is available. The average
distance between splices is approximately 1km. There are 2 connectors and the
worst case loss per connector is 0.4 dB. The power margin is set to be at least 5 dB.
The receiver sensitivity is -28 dBm and the transmitter output is 1 dBm. Determine
the maximum allowable attenuation per fusion splice.

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(c) An optical power of 150 µW is launched in an optical fibre. The optical fibre has an [6]
attenuation of 0.52 dB/km. The minimum optical power, which can be detected by
an optical detector on the receiver side, is -45 dBm. No optical amplifiers are used
to amplify and reshape the signal. Every 10 km an optical fibre joint (optical fibre
interconnect) is required with an attenuation of 1.5 dB. Determine the maximum
possible length of the optical fibre.

Q 19. With the aid of a sketch, describe the operation of a point-to-point Dense Wavelength [10]
Division Multiplex (DWDM) communication system.

July 2021 Exam[100 marks]

Q 20. (a) The optical fiber system shown in Fig 1 has a core refractive index n1 and a cladding
of refractive index n2 such that n1 > n2 .

Figure 2: Optical Fiber System.

Given that n = 1, n1 = 1.46 and n2 = 1.45 in the diagram of the optical fiber above,
calculate:
i. the critical angle θc at the core-cladding interface. [3]
ii. the numerical aperture N.A. of the optical fiber. [3]
iii. the angle of acceptance αmax of the optical fiber system. [4]
(b) Draw the refractive index profile of a graded index fibre and show with the aid of [5]
a neat diagram transmission of light through this fibre
(c) Explain how graded index fibre has much higher transmission bit rates than multi- [5]
mode step index fibre

Q 21. (a) Provide a detailed description of the operating principle of a light emitting diode [6]
(LED)
(b) Explain stimulated emission in a lasing media. Simply assume that the lasing media [4]
has only 2 energy levels. Try to be as precise as possible with your explanation.

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(c) In practice, lasing media typically exhibit 4 energy. Explain why four level systems [4]
are used.
(d) Expalin the working of a PIN photodiode in detail. [6]

Q 22. (a) State three advantages of optical fibre communication over radio wave communi- [3]
cation.
(b) Draw the block diagram of an optical fibre communication system and explain the [8]
function of each element in detail.
(c) Explain the underlying physics principle of chromatic dispersion. [4]
(d) Expalin the scattering mechanisms in single mode and multi-mode fibres. Why are [5]
only single mode fibres used for high-speed optical communication systems?

Q 23. (a) Sketch a point-to-point Dense Wavelength Division Multiplex (DWDM) communi- [5]
cation system and indicate all important components.
(b) A DWDM optical fibre communication system operating at 1.55 µm should be [10]
designed. The power launched into the fibre is 0.2 mW and the optical fibre has an
attenuation of 0.4 dB/km. The attenuation caused by splices is 0.2 dB/km. Ten
equally-spaced optical amplifiers with gain of 12 dB will be installed to amplify the
signals. On the recreiver side, a minimum signal-to-noise ratio of 15 dB is required.
The optical detector on the receiver side has a noise level (dark current), which
corresponds to 10 pA. The spectral sensitivity of the optical detector is 0.5 A/W.
Determine the maximum distance between the transmitter and the receiver.
(c) What types of edge emitting laser diodes are used for long distance Dense Wave- [5]
length Division Multiplex (DWDM) communication system? Explain why these
diodes are used.

Q 24. (a) An optical fibre system is to operate at 622 Mbps over a distance of 71 km without [8]
repeaters. A fibre with a worst case loss of 0.25 dB/km is available. The average
distance between splices is approximately 1km. There are 2 connectors and the
worst case loss per connector is 0.4 dB. The power margin is set to be at least 5 dB.
The receiver sensitivity is -28 dBm and the transmitter output is 1 dBm. Determine
the maximum allowable attenuation per fusion splice.
(b) What are the important mechanisms that are responsible for scattering losses in [4]
optical fibre?
(c) An optical power of 150 µW is launched in an optical fibre. The optical fibre has an [8]
attenuation of 0.52 dB/km. The minimum optical power, which can be detected by
an optical detector on the receiver side, is -45 dBm. No optical amplifiers are used
to amplify and reshape the signal. Every 10 km an optical fibre joint (optical fibre
interconnect) is required with an attenuation of 1.5 dB. Determine the maximum
possible length of the optical fibre.

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Extra Questions That Might Come in Handy

Q 25. An engineer has the following components available: [6]
(a) GaAlAs laser diode, operating at 850 nm, fiber coupled power 0 dBm
(b) Ten sections of cable each of which is 500 m long, has 4 dB/km attenuation, has
connectors at both ends
(c) 2 dB/connector connector loss
(d) A PIN photodiode receiver, -45 dBm sensitivity
(e) An avalanche photodiode receiver, -56 dBm sensitivity
The engineer wishes to construct a 5-km link operating at 20 Mb/s. Which receiver
should be used if a 6-dB operating margin is required?

Q 26. A 90-Mb/s NRZ data transmission system that sends two DS3 channels uses a GaAlAs
laser diode with 1 nm spectral width. The rise time of the laser transmitter is 2 ns. The
transmission distance is 7 km over a graded index fiber that has 800 MHz-km bandwidth
distance product.
(a) If the receiver bandwidth is 90 MHz and q = 0.7, what is the system rise time? [5]
Does this meet the required bit rate being less than 70% of a pulse width?
(b) If there is no mode mixing (q = 1) , what is the system rise time? [5]