Optical Fiber

Communication

ECLB 322
Course Name : Optical Fiber Communication
Course Code : ECLB 322
Number of Credit :4
Course Instructor : Dr. W Vandana Devi

25-Sep-23 2

Text Book:
John. M. Senior, Optical Fiber Communication: Principles and Practice, Prentice Hall of India

Reference Book:

• Gerd Keiser, Optical Fiber Communications, McGraw Hill, 3rd edition.

• Fiber Optic Communication Systems: G.P. Agarwal, Johannian and Sons.

Motivation
• Concerned with the combined use of
electronics and light

• Various light sourcing and sensing devices

• Different applications in safety and security,

life sciences, defense etc.
The General System

Fig. a) General Communication System (b) The Optical Fiber Communication

System.
Optical Fiber Communication

Fig. A digital optical fiber link using a semiconductor laser source and an avalanche
photodiode (APD) detector.

• The input digital signal from the information source is encoded for optical transmission
• The laser drive circuit modulates the intensity of the semiconductor laser.
• A digital optical signal is launched into the optical fiber cable.
• The avalanche photodiode (APD) detector is followed by a front-end amplifier and equalizer or
filter to provide gain as well as linear signal processing and noise bandwidth reduction.
• Finally, the signal obtained is decoded to give the original digital information.
Advantages of Optical Fiber
Communication
Optical Sources
• An active component of optical fiber communication.

• Its fundamental function is to convert electrical energy in the form

of current into optical energy (light).

• Three main types of optical light sources are:

 wideband ‘continuous spectra’ sources (incandescent lamps)

 monochromatic incoherent sources (light-emitting diodes, LEDs);
 monochromatic coherent sources (lasers).
Absorption and Emission of Light
Absorption and Emission of Light
Energy State Diagram
• Electrons can excite into the
higher energy state E2
through a phenomenon called
absorption.

• Atom in the higher energy

state E2 can make a transition
to the lower energy state E1
providing the emission of a
photon of energy (E2 - E1).

• Interaction of photon with the

atom in the upper energy
state, can create a second
photon through stimulated
emission
Absorption and Emission of Light
The Einstein relations
The population of the two energy levels of such a system is described by Boltzmann
statistics which give:

The ratio of the stimulated emission rate to the spontaneous emission rate is given
by
Absorption and Emission of Light

The ratio of the stimulated emission rate to the spontaneous emission rate is given
by
 Population Inversion

Figure: Populations in a two energy-levels system:

(a) Boltzmann distribution for a system in thermal equilibrium
(b) a non-equilibrium distribution showing population
inversion.
Optical feedback and laser oscillation

• LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiations

Figure: The basic laser structure incorporating plane mirrors

• Light Amplification in the laser occurs when a photon collides with an atom in the
excited energy state causing stimulated emission of another photon.
• Continuation of these process creates avalanche multiplication.
• Laser action is achieved by placing two mirrors at either side of the amplifying medium.
• Reflection at the mirror results in positive feedback oscillation.
• The structure is referred to the Fabry Perot Resonator.
 Optical feedback and laser oscillation

• LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiations

Fig: The relative amplification in the laser amplifying

medium showing the broadened laser transition line
or gain curve.
Threshold condition for laser oscillation
Optical emission from semiconductors

• p-n junction
A perfect semiconductor crystal containing no impurities or lattice defects is said
to be intrinsic. Fermi-Dirac Distribution:

Figure: Energy band diagrams: (a) n-type

Figure:(a) The energy band structure of an semiconductor; (b) p-type semiconductor)
intrinsic semiconductor at a temperature
above absolute zero (b) The Fermi–Dirac
probability distribution corresponding to (a)
Optical emission from semiconductors

• p-n junction
• The p–n junction diode is form by joining p-type and n-type semiconductor materials.

Figure:(a) The impurities and charge carriers at a p–n junction. (b) The energy band
diagram corresponding to (a)
Optical emission from semiconductors

• p-n junction
• The p–n junction with forward bias giving spontaneous emission of photons

• The minority carriers are effectively injected across the junction by the application of the
external voltage and form a current flow through the device.
• This situation in suitable semiconductor materials allows carrier recombination with the
emission of light.
Optical emission from semiconductors

• Spontaneous emission
• The increased concentration of minority carriers in the opposite type region in
the forward-biased p–n diode leads to the recombination of carriers across the
bandgap.

• The energy released by this electron–hole recombination is approximately

equal to the bandgap energy Eg.
• Excess carrier population is therefore decreased by recombination which may
be radiative or nonradiative.

Fig: An illustration of carrier recombination giving spontaneous emission of light in a p–n junction diode
Optical emission from semiconductors

• Spontaneous emission
• In non-radiative recombination the energy released is dissipated in the form of
lattice vibrations and thus heat. However, in band-to-band radiative
recombination the energy is released with the creation of a photon.

Fig. Energy–momentum diagrams showing the types of transition: (a) direct bandgap semiconductor;
(b) indirect bandgap semiconductor
Optical emission from semiconductors
Optical emission from semiconductors

• Stimulated emission and lasing

Figure: The filled electron states for an intrinsic direct bandgap semiconductor at absolute zero (a) in
equilibrium (b) with high carrier injection

• Condition for stimulated emission

→
Lasing
Optical emission from semiconductors

The threshold current density for stimulated emission Jth is related to the
threshold gain coefficient gth for the laser cavity through:

where the gain factor ß is a constant appropriate to specific devices.

Heterojunctions

• p-n junction fabricated from a single-crystal semiconductor material is known

as homojunction.

• The interface created by joining two single-crystal semiconductors with

different bandgap energies is known as heterojunction.

• Devices which are fabricated with heterojunctions are said to have

heterostructure.

• This structure is utilize to improve the radiative properties of a junction diode.

• The use of Double Heterojunction (DH) is can further reduced the threshold
currents necessary for lasing.
Heterojunctions

Fig. The double-heterojunction injection laser: (a) the layer structure, shown with an applied
forward bias; (b) energy band diagram indicating a p–p heterojunction on the left and a p–n
heterojunction on the right; (c) the corresponding refractive index diagram and electric field
distribution
Heterojunctions

• When a voltage corresponds to the bandgap energy of the active layer is

applied, a large number of electrons (or holes) are injected into the active layer
and laser oscillation commences.

• These carriers are confined to the active layer by the energy barriers provided
by the heterojunctions which are placed within the diffusion length of the
injected carrier.

• A refractive index step at the heterojunctions provides radiation containment to

the active layer.

• The active layer forms the center of a dielectric waveguide which strongly
confines the electroluminescence within this region.

• Careful fabrication of the heterojunctions is also important in order to reduce

defects at the interfaces such as misfit dislocations or inclusions which cause
nonradiative recombination and thus reduce the internal quantum efficiency.
 Optical emission from semiconductors

• Efficiency of laser
• Efficiency is the differential external quantum efficiency ηD which is the ratio
of the increase in photon output rate for a given increase in the number of
injected electrons.

• If Pe is the optical power emitted from the device, I is the current, e is the
charge on an electron and hf is the photon energy, then:

Ith is the threshold current.

The external power efficiency of the device (or device efficiency) ηep in converting
electrical input to optical output is given by:
 Optical emission from semiconductors

• Efficiency of laser

• Types of laser
 Gain-guided lasers
 Index Guided Laser
 Quantum-well lasers
Gain-Guided Laser

• The constriction of the current flow to the stripe is realized in the structure either
by implanting the regions outside the stripe with protons or by oxide or p–n
junction isolation.
• Fig. shows an active region of gallium arsenide bounded on both sides by
aluminum gallium arsenide regions.
• The current is confined by etching a narrow stripe in a silicon dioxide film.
Index Guided Laser

• The active region waveguide thickness is varied by growing it over a channel or ridge in
the substrate.

• A ridge is produced above the active region and the surrounding areas are etched close to
it (i.e. within 0.2 to 0.3 μm).

• Insulating coatings on these surrounding areas confine the current flow through the ridge
and active stripe guiding it within the active layer, and thus forming a waveguide.

• Hence, the ridge not only provides the location for the weak index guiding but also acts as
the narrow current confining strip.
Quantum well laser

• DH lasers fabricated with very thin active layer thicknesses of around 10 nm instead of the
typical range for conventional DH structures of 0.1 to 0.3 μm.

• The carrier motion normal to the active layer in these devices is restricted, resulting in a
quantization of the kinetic energy into discrete energy levels for the carriers moving in that
direction.

• This effect is similar to the well-known quantum mechanical problem of a one-dimensional

potential well and therefore these devices are known as quantum well lasers.
Frequency Chirping

• The d.c. modulation of a single longitudinal mode semiconductor laser can

cause a dynamic shift of the peak wavelength emitted from the device.

• This phenomenon, which results in dynamic linewidth broadening under the

direct modulation of the injection current, is referred to as frequency chirping.

• It arises from gain-induced variations in the laser refractive index due to the
strong coupling between the free carrier density and the index of refraction
which is present in any semiconductor structure.
 LED: Light Emitting Diode

• Spontaneous emission of radiation from a forward-biased p–n

junction → electroluminescence.
• Electrons in conduction band recombine with holes in the
valence band to emit a photon → generates light.

Carrier recombination giving spontaneous emission of light

LED structures

Double-heterojunction LED
Photodetectors

• Converts the optical signal into electrical signal.

Requirements
• High Sensitivity
• Fast Response
• Very low Noise
• low operating voltage
• Low power consumption
• Low Cost etc,…

Figure: Operation of the p–n photodiode

• reverse-biased p–n junction
• carriers drift in the depletion region
Photodetectors

• The electric field developed across the p–n junction sweeps mobile carriers (holes and
electrons) to their respective majority sides (p- and n-type material).
• The field accelerates minority carriers from both sides to the opposite side of the junction,
forming the reverse leakage current of the diode.

• A photon incident in or near the

depletion region of this device which
has an energy hf ≥ Eg will excite an
electron from the valence band into
the conduction band.

• This process leaves an empty hole in

the valence band and is known as the
photogeneration of an electron–hole
(carrier) pair.
Photodetectors

Quantum Efficiency:

Responsivity:

IP q
  [A/W]
P0 h
Photodetectors
Photodetectors

Types of Photodiode

• The p–n photodiode → a reverse-biased p–n diode.

• The p–i–n photodiode → i region is included to create a wider depletion region.
• Avalanche Photodetectors → p-i-n diode with relatively high reverse bias causing
avalanche breakdown.
• Phototransistor → n–p–n bipolar transistor with base unconnected → base–
collector junction (photosensitive) act as a light gathering element.
p-i-n Photodiode

• n-type material is doped so lightly that it can be considered intrinsic, and to make
a low resistance contact a highly doped n-type (n+ ) layer is added.

• This creates a p–i–n (or PIN) structure.

• A wider depletion region is obtained with this arrangement.

Speed of response and traveling-wave photodiodes

Three main factors limit the speed of response of a photodiode

1. Drift time of carriers through the depletion region

2. Diffusion time of carriers generated outside the depletion region

3. Time constant incurred by the capacitance of the photodiode with its load
p-i-n Photodiode
Noise
Avalanche Photodiodes

• It has extremely high electric field region.

• This high-field region in the depletion region makes holes and electrons acquire
sufficient energy to excite new electron–hole pairs

• This process is known as impact ionization and is the phenomenon that

leads to avalanche breakdown in ordinary reverse-biased diodes.
Fibre Optics

Ray Theory
• Total internal reflection
A ray of light travels more slowly in an optically dense medium
than in one that is less dense, and the refractive index gives a
measure of this effect.

Figure: Light rays incident on a high to low refractive index interface

(glass–air): (a) refraction; (b) the limiting case of refraction showing the
critical ray at an angle φc; (c) total internal reflection where φ > φc
Fibre Optics

Acceptance Angle

Figure: The acceptance angle θa when launching light into an optical fibre
Fibre Optics

Numerical Aperture
A relationship between the acceptance angle and the
refractive indices of the three media involved, namely
the core, cladding and air.

Figure: The ray path for a meridional ray launched into an

optical fibre at an input angle less than the acceptance angle
for the fibre.
Skew Rays

• Another category of ray exists which is transmitted without passing through the fiber axis.
This rays follow a helical path through the fiber.

• The helical path traced through the fiber

gives a change in direction of 2γ at each
reflection.

• The point of emergence of skew rays

from the fiber in air will depend upon the
number of reflections they undergo rather
than the input conditions to the fiber.

Fig. The helical path taken by a skew ray in an optical fiber:

(a) skew ray path down the fiber; (b) cross-sectional view of
the fiber
 Considering Acceptance Angle for Skew Rays
• In order to calculate the acceptance angle for a skew ray it is necessary to define the direction of the ray in
two perpendicular planes.
• If the two perpendicular planes through which the ray path AB traverses are considered, then
γ = angle between the core radius and the projection of the ray onto a plane BRS normal to
the core axis,
θ = angle between the ray and a line AT drawn parallel to the core axis

Fig. The ray path within the fiber core for a skew ray incident at an angle θs to the
normal at the air–core interface
Fiber Types

• The propagation of light along a waveguide can be described in terms of a set of

guided electromagnetic waves called the modes of the waveguide.

• Each guided mode is a pattern of electric and magnetic field distributions that is
repeated along the fiber at equal intervals.

Advantages of cladding:
• The cladding reduces scattering loss that results from dielectric discontinuities at
the core surface,
• It adds mechanical strength to the fiber
• It protects the core from absorbing surface contaminants with which it could come
in contact.

Fig. Schematic of a conventional silica fiber structure.

Fiber Types

Variation in the material composition of the core give rise to two common types:
1. Step Index Fiber: The refractive index of the core is uniform throughout and undergoes an abrupt
change or step at the cladding boundary.

2. Graded-Index Fiber: The core refractive index is made to vary as a function of the radial distance from
the center of the fiber.

Both the step- and the graded-index fibers can be further divided into single-mode and multimode classes.

Fig. Comparison of
conventional single-mode and
multimode step-index and
graded index optical fiber.
Fiber Types

• The larger core radii of multimode fibers make it easier to launch optical power
into the fiber and facilitate the connecting together of similar fibers.

• A disadvantage of multimode fibers is that they suffer from intermodal dispersion.

• Each of the modes that can propagate in a multimode fiber travels at a slightly
different velocity.

• This means that the modes in a given optical pulse arrive at the fiber end at
slightly different times, thus causing the pulse to spread out in time as it travels
along the fiber. This effect, which is known as intermodal dispersion or intermodal
distortion.

• can be reduced by using a graded-index profile in a fiber core.

Mode Theory of Circular Waveguides

• To attain a more detailed understanding of the optical power propagation

mechanism in a fiber, it is necessary to solve Maxwell’s equations subject to the
cylindrical boundary conditions at the interface between the core and the cladding
of the fiber.

• Solutions of Maxwell’s equations for hollow metallic waveguides gives only

transverse electric (TE) modes and transverse magnetic (TM) modes.

• But, in optical fibers the core-cladding boundary conditions lead to a coupling

between the electric and magnetic field components giving hybrid modes.

• The hybrid modes are designated as HE or EH modes, depending on whether

the transverse electric field (the E field) or the transverse magnetic field (the H
field) is larger for that mode.
Mode Theory of Circular Waveguides

• Figure shows the field patterns of several of the lower-order transverse electric (TE) modes.
• .The plots show that the electric fi elds of the guided modes are not completely confined to
the central dielectric slab.
• They do not go to zero at the guide-cladding interface, instead, they extend partially into the
cladding.
• The fields vary harmonically in the guiding region of refractive index n1 and decay
exponentially outside of this region.

For low-order modes the fields are

tightly concentrated near the center,
with little penetration into the cladding
region.

For higher-order modes the fields are

distributed more toward the edges of
the guide and penetrate farther into
the cladding region.

Fig. Electric field distributions for several of the lower-

order guided modes in a symmetrical-slab waveguide
V Number

The V number also can be used to express the number of modes M in a multimode
step-index fiber. For this case, an estimate of the total number of modes supported in
such a fiber is
V Number

Q1. A step-index fiber has a normalized frequency V = 26.6 at a 1300-nm wavelength.

If the core radius is 25 mm, what is the numerical aperture?

Q2. Consider a multimode step-index fiber with a 62.5-mm core diameter and a core-
cladding index difference of 1.5 percent. If the core refractive index is 1.480, estimate
the normalized frequency of the fiber and the total number of modes supported in the
fiber at a wavelength of 850 nm.

Q3. Suppose we have a multimode step index optical fiber that has a core radius of 25
mm, a core index of 1.48, and an index difference D = 0.01. What are the number of
modes in the fiber at wavelengths 860, 1310, and 1550 nm?
V Number

• As the V number approaches cutoff for any particular mode, more of the power of
that mode is in the cladding.
• Far from cutoff—that is, for large values of V—the fraction of the average optical
power residing in the cladding can be estimated by

• where P is the total optical power in the fiber.

• M is proportional to V2 , the power flow in the cladding decreases as V increases.

Q4. Suppose we have three multimode step-index optical fibers each of which has a
core index of 1.48 and an index difference D = 0.01. Assume the three fibers have
core diameters of 50, 62.5, and 100 mm. What are the number of modes in these
fibers at a wavelength of 1550 nm?
Consider a multimode step-index optical fiber that has a core radius of 25 mm, a core
index of 1.48, and an index difference D = 0.01. Find the percentage of optical power
that propagates in the cladding at 840 nm.
V Number

Q6. Consider a multimode step-index optical fiber that has a core radius of 25 µm, a
core index of 1.48, and an index difference D = 0.01. Find the percentage of optical
power that propagates in the cladding at 840 nm.
Transmission Characteristics of Optical Fibers

• The transmission characteristics: attenuation (or loss) and bandwidth.

• Attenuation is due to absorption in the glass, caused by impurities such as iron,

copper, manganese etc.

• Bandwidth is limited by the signal dispersion within the fiber, which determines
the number of bits of information transmitted in a given time period.

• These mechanisms are influenced by the material composition, the preparation

and purification technique, and the waveguide structure
Attenuation
Attenuation

Q. When the mean optical power launched into an 8 km length of fiber is 120 μW,
the mean optical power at the fiber output is 3 μW. Determine:
(a) the overall signal attenuation or loss in decibels through the fiber assuming
there are no connectors or splices; (b) the signal attenuation per kilometer for the
fiber. (c) the overall signal attenuation for a 10 km optical link using the same fiber
with splices at 1 km intervals, each giving an attenuation of 1 dB; (d) the numerical
input/output power ratio in (c).
Material Absorption Losses in silica glass fibre

• Material absorption is a loss mechanism related to the material composition

and the fabrication process for the fiber,
• It results in the dissipation of some of the transmitted optical power as heat in
the waveguide.

Absorption of the light may be:

 Intrinsic: caused by the interaction with one or more of the major components
of the glass
 Extrinsic: caused by impurities within the glass.
Intrinsic Absorption

• An absolutely pure silicate glass has little intrinsic absorption.

Two major intrinsic absorption:
 ultraviolet wavelength region: This is due to the stimulation of electron transitions
within the glass by higher energy excitations.
 infrared and far infrared (normally at wavelengths above 7 μm): the interaction of
photons with molecular vibrations within the glass occur.
Extrinsic Absorption

• Optical fibers prepared by conventional melting techniques, a major source of

signal attenuation is extrinsic absorption from transition metal element impurities.

• Transition element contamination may be reduced to acceptable levels by glass

refining techniques such as vapor-phase oxidation, which largely eliminates the
effects of these metallic impurities.

• Another major extrinsic loss mechanism is caused by absorption due to water (as
the hydroxyl or OH ion) dissolved in the glass.

• These hydroxyl groups are bonded into the glass structure and have fundamental
stretching vibrations.

• This gives rise to overtones appearing almost harmonically at 1.38, 0.95 and 0.72
μm.
Extrinsic Absorption

The effects of both these processes may be minimized by suitable choice of both
core and cladding compositions.

Nonoxide glasses such as fluorides and chlorides, the infrared absorption peaks
occur at much longer wavelengths which are well into the far infrared (up to 50
μm), giving less attenuation to longer wavelength transmission compared with
oxide glasses
Linear Scattering Losses

• Transfer of some or all of the optical power contained within one propagating
mode to be transferred linearly into a different mode.
• This process tends to result in attenuation of the transmitted light

• Rayleigh scattering is the dominant intrinsic loss mechanism:

where γR is the Rayleigh scattering coefficient, λ is the optical wavelength, n is

the refractive index of the medium, p is the average photoelastic coefficient, βc is
the isothermal compressibility at a fictive temperature TF, and K is Boltzmann’s
constant.

The Rayleigh scattering coefficient is related to the transmission loss factor

(transmissivity) of the fiber following the relation
Linear Scattering Losses

• Mie scattering: This result from the nonperfect cylindrical structure of the
waveguide and may be caused by fiber imperfections.

The inhomogeneities may be reduced by:

(a) removing imperfections due to the glass manufacturing process;
(b) carefully controlled extrusion and coating of the fiber;
(c) increasing the fiber guidance by increasing the relative refractive index
difference.
Linear Scattering Losses
Fiber Band Loss

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

• Guidance mechanism is inhibited due to the high evanescent field at the bend.
This causes light energy to be radiated from the fiber.

Fig. An illustration of the radiation loss at a fiber bend.

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

has the form:

where R is the radius of curvature of the fiber bend and c1, c2 are constants which
are independent of R.
Fiber Band Loss

• Large bending losses tend to occur in multimode fibers at a critical radius of

curvature Rc which may be estimated from

• This can be reduced by:

(a) designing fibers with large relative refractive index differences
(b) operating at the shortest wavelength possible.

Q. Two step index fibers exhibit the following parameters: (a) a multimode fiber with a core
refractive index of 1.500, a relative refractive index difference of 3% and an operating
wavelength of 0.82 μm; (b) an 8 μm core diameter single-mode fiber with a core refractive
index the same as (a), a relative refractive index difference of 0.3% and an operating
wavelength of 1.55 μm.
Dispersion

Dispersion mechanisms within the fiber cause broadening of the transmitted light
pulses as they travel along the channel.

(a) fiber input

(b) fiber output at a distance L1;

(c) fiber output at a distance L2 > L1

Fig. An illustration using the digital bit pattern 1011 of the broadening of light pulses as they are
transmitted along a fiber.
Dispersion

• Each pulse broadens and overlaps with its neighbors, eventually becoming
indistinguishable at the receiver input => intersymbol interference (ISI).
• Increases the number of errors on the digital optical channel.
• Limits the maximum possible bandwidth attainable.
• To avoid this, the digital bit rate BT must be less than the reciprocal of the
broadened (through dispersion) pulse duration (2ζ).

Another more accurate estimate of the maximum bit rate:

 considering the light pulses at the output to have a Gaussian shape with an
rms width of σ.
 Dispersion

• The conversion of bit rate to bandwidth in hertz depends on the digital coding
format used.

Nonreturn-to-zero code:
• the binary 1 level is held for the whole bit period (ζ) .
• two bit periods in one wavelength
• maximum bandwidth B is one-half the maximum data rate.

Return-to-zero code:
• one bit periods in one wavelength
Dispersion
Dispersion
Material Dispersion

Phase and group velocity

where ω is the angular frequency of the wave.

• in practice, light energy is not perfectly monochromatic.

• composed of a sum of plane wave components of different frequencies.
• creates a group of waves with closely similar frequencies => a packet of waves.
Material Dispersion

Phase and group velocity

If propagation in an infinite medium of refractive index n1 is considered, then the

propagation constant may be written as

The phase velocity:

Similarly,

The parameter Ng is known as the

group index of the guide.
Material Dispersion
Waveguide Dispersion
Intermodal Dispersion

• Pulse broadening due to intermodal dispersion (sometimes referred to simply as

modal or mode dispersion) results from the propagation delay differences
between modes within a multimode fiber.

• Multimode step index fibers exhibit a large amount of intermodal dispersion which
gives the greatest pulse broadening.

• May be reduced by adoption of an optimum refractive index profile which is

provided by the near-parabolic profile of most graded index fibers.

• The overall pulse broadening in multimode graded index fibers is far less than
that obtained in multimode step index fibers.

• Under purely single-mode operation there is no intermodal dispersion. But in

general are only usefully operated with single-mode sources.
Intermodal Dispersion: Multimode Step Index Fiber

• The fastest and slowest modes propagating in the step index fiber may be
represented by the axial ray and the extreme meridional ray.

• The delay difference between these two rays when traveling in the fiber core
allows estimation of the pulse broadening resulting from intermodal dispersion
within the fiber

Fig. The paths taken by the axial and an extreme meridional ray in a perfect multimode step
index fiber.
Intermodal Dispersion: Multimode Step Index Fiber

• Considering the two rays are traveling at the same velocity within the constant
refractive index fiber core.
• Delay difference is directly related to their respective path lengths within the fiber.
Intermodal Dispersion: Multimode Graded Index Fiber

• Intermodal dispersion in multimode fibers is minimized with the use of graded

index fibers.
• The fiber shown has a parabolic index profile with a maximum at the core axis.
• Analytically, the index profile is:

The meridional rays follow

sinusoidal trajectories of
different path lengths
which result from the index
grading.

Fig. A multimode graded index fiber: (a) parabolic refractive index

profile; (b) meridional ray paths within the fiber core
Intermodal Dispersion: Multimode Graded Index Fiber

• Group velocity is inversely proportional to the refractive index.

• The longer sinusoidal paths are compensated for by higher speeds in the
lower index medium away from the axis.
• The reduced delay difference between the fastest and slowest modes for
this graded index fiber δTg.

A more rigorous analysis using electromagnetic mode theory gives:

which corresponds to an increase in

transmission time for the slowest mode of
Δ2 /8 over the fastest mode.
Fig. A multimode graded index fiber: (a) parabolic refractive index
profile; (b) meridional ray paths within the fiber core
Intermodal Dispersion: Multimode Graded Index Fiber

• RMS pulse broadening of a near-parabolic index profile graded index fiber σg

is reduced compared with similar broadening for the corresponding step index
fiber σs.

where D is a constant between 4 and 10 depending on the precise evaluation and

the exact optimum profile chosen.
• The best minimum theoretical intermodal rms pulse broadening for a graded index
fiber.

Fig. A multimode graded index fiber: (a) parabolic refractive index

profile; (b) meridional ray paths within the fiber core
Exercise
Intermodal Dispersion: Multimode Graded Index Fiber
UNIT I:
Optical Sources: absorption and emission of radiation, the Einstein relations, population
inversion, optical feedback and laser oscillation, threshold condition for laser oscillation.
Optical emission from semiconductors, The semiconductor injection laser, LED power and
efficiency, LED structures, LED, Modulation and problems. Optical Detectors: Device
types, optical detection principles, Absorption, III-V alloys, Quantum efficiency,
Responsivity, Long wavelength cut-off, Semiconductor photodiodes without internal gain:
p-n photodiode, p-i-n photodiode speed of response and travelling wave photodiode,
Noise: Thermal noise, dark current noise, quantum noise, Receiver noise: p-n and p-i-n
photodiode receiver, APD, Gain bandwidth product

UNIT II:
Optical Communication: Brief introduction to opto-electronics and optical communication,
advantages of optical communication. Principle of Light propagation through a fiber:
Ray theory transmission, Electromagnetic mode theory for optical propagation, Cylindrical
fiber, Single Mode fibers. Transmission characteristics of optical fibers: Attenuation,
Material absorption losses in silica glass fiber, linear scattering losses, Rayleigh scattering,
fiber band loss, Dispersion: Material dispersion, waveguide dispersion, Intermodal
dispersion: multiumode step index and graded index fiber, overall fiber dispersion