WAVE PROPAGATION IN OPTICAL

FIBERS


EC04 703: OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Nandakumar N P
MAXWELLS EQUATIONS WAVE
PROPAGATION IN FIBERS
Determined by solving wave and Maxwells
equations in cylindrical coordinates

0
1 1
2
2
2
2 2
2
= +
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
z
z z z
E q
E
r r
E
r r
E

0
1 1
2
2
2
2 2
2
= +
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
z
z z z
H q
H
r r
H
r r
H

KEY PARAMETERS
q
2
is equal to
2
-
2
= k
2

2
. It is sometimes
called u
2

is the z component of the wave propagation
constant k, which is also equal to 2/.

The
equations can be solved only for certain values
of , so only certain modes may exist. A mode
may be guided if lies between n
2
k and n
1
k

V = ka(NA) where a is the radius of the fiber
core. This normalized frequency determines
how many different guided modes a fiber can
support

SOLUTIONS TO WAVE EQUATIONS
The solutions are separable in r, , z and t. The
and z functions are exponentials of the form e
i
.
The z function oscillates in space, while the
function must have the same value at (+2) that it
does at

The r function is a combination of Bessel functions
of the first and second kinds. The separate
solutions for the core and cladding regions must
match at the boundary
RESULTING TYPES OF MODES
Either the electric field component (E) or the magnetic
field component (H) can be completely aligned in the
transverse direction: TE and TM modes

The two fields can both have components in the
transverse direction: HE and EH modes

For weakly guiding fibers (small delta), the types of
modes listed above become degenerate, and can be
combined into linearly polarized LP modes

Each mode has a subscript of two numbers, where the
first is the order of the Bessel function and the second
identifies which of the various roots meets the boundary
condition. If the first subscript is 0, the mode is
meridional. Otherwise, it is skew

MODE CHARACTERISTICS
Each mode has a specific

Propagation constant
Spatial field distribution
Polarization
e-| Mode Diagram











Straight lines of de/d| correspond to the group
velocity of the different modes
The group velocities of the guided modes all lie
between the phase velocities for plane waves in the
core or cladding c/n
1
and c/n
2

MODES IN STEP INDEX FIBERS
Different values of | corresponds to different
solutions of wave equation in circular waveguides
The solutions for | must be determined from the
boundary conditions

Inside the core the factor q
2
is given by
q
2
= u
2
= k
1
2
|
2
And outside the core
w
2
= |
2
- k
2
2


0 ) ( ) ( 2 1 = = wa CK ua AJ E Ez z u u
MODES IN STEP INDEX FIBERS CONTD
MODES IN STEP INDEX FIBERS CONTD

CROSS SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE TRANSVERSE
ELECTRIC FIELD VECTORS FOR THE FOUR
LOWEST ORDER MODES IN SI FIBER
LINEARLY POLARIZED MODES
Weakly guiding fiber approximation, index difference is
much less than 1
The EM field pattern and the propagation constants of
the mode pairs HE
v+1,m
and EH
v-1,m
are similar
Mode groupings {HE
11
}, {TE
01
, TM
01
, HE
21
}, {HE
31
,
EH
11
}, {HE
12
}, {HE
41
, EH
21
} and {TE
02
, TM
02
, HE
22
}
These modes can be designated as LP
jm
modes rather
than specifying TE, TM, HE and EH modes
Each LP
0m
mode is derived from an HE
1m
mode
Each LP
1m
mode is derived from TE
0m
, TM
0m
and HE
2m

modes
Each LP
vm
mode (v >1) is from an HE
v+1,m
and an EH
v-
1,m
modes

THE CUTOFF
For each mode, there is some value of V
below which it will not be guided because
the cladding part of the solution does not go
to zero with increasing r

Below V=2.405, only one mode (HE
11
) can
be guided; fiber is single-mode.

Based on the definition of V, the number of
modes is reduced by decreasing the core
radius and by decreasing
FORMATION OF LP MODES
NUMBER OF MODES
Step Index Fiber

At low V, M~4V
2
/
2
+2
At higher V, M~V
2
/2

Graded Index Fiber


( ) A
+
=
2
1
2
akn M
o
o