Introduction to Optical Fiber Transmission and Characteristics

Transmission Sequence Though Fiber:

Optical Fiber is new medium, in which information (voice, Data or Video) is transmitted through a glass in the form of light. Information is encoded into electrical signals.
Electrical signals are converted into light signals. Light travels down the fibre. A detector changes the light signals into electrical signals. Electrical signals are decoded into information

Advantages of Fiber Optics

Optical Fibers are non conductive (Dielectrics)

Electromagnetic Immunity Large Bandwidth

Low Loss Small, Light weight and less cost cables Available in Long lengths Security Safety

No need of additional equipment to protect against surge voltage

Applications of Fibers

Common carrier nationwide networks.

Telephone Inter-office Trunk lines. Customer premise communication networks.

Undersea cables. High EMI areas (Power lines, Railway, Roads). Factory communication. Control systems. High lightening areas. Military applications. Classified (secure) communications.

Principle of Operation
Total Internal Reflection - The Reflection that Occurs when a Light Ray Travelling in One Material Hits a Different Material and Reflects Back into the Original Material without any Loss of Light.

THEORY AND PRINCIPLE OF FIBRE OPTICS

Light travelling from one material to another changes speed, which results in light changing its direction of travel. This deflection of light is called Refraction. As the angle of incidence increases, the angle of refraction approaches 90o to the normal. The angle of incidence that yields an angle of refraction of 90o is the critical angle. If the angle of incidence increases amore than the critical angle, the light is totally reflected back into the first material so that it does not enter the second material. The angle of incidence and reflection are equal and it is called Total Internal Reflection.

Angle of incidence

1 n1 n2 2
Light is bent away from normal

1 n1 n2

1 n1 n2

Angle of reflection

2
Light does not enter second material

Snell's law
By Snell's law, n1 sin 1 = n2 sing 2
The critical angle of incidence c where
o = 90 2

c = arc sing (n2 / n1)

At angle greater than c the light is reflected, Because
reflected light means that n1 and n2 are equal, 1 and 2 are also equal.

The angle of incidence and reflection are equal. These

simple principles of refraction and reflection form the basis of light propagation through an optical fiber.

PROPAGATION OF LIGHT THROUGH FIBRE

The optical fibre has two concentric layers called the core and the cladding. The inner core is the light carrying part. The surrounding cladding provides the difference refractive index that allows total internal reflection of light through the core. The index of the cladding is less than 1%, lower than that of the core. Typical values for example are a core refractive index of 1.47 and a cladding index of 1.46

Jacket

Jacket Cladding Core

Cladding (n2) Core (n2)

Cladding Jacket Light at less than Angle of Angle of critical angle is incidence reflection absorbed in jacket Light is propagated by total internal reflection Fig. Total Internal Reflection in an optical Fibre

The specific characteristics of light propagation through a fiber depends on

The size of the fiber.

The composition of the fiber. The light injected into the fiber.

The size of the fiber

125 8

125 50

125 62.5

125 100

Core

Cladding

Typical Core and Cladding Diameters

FIBRE TYPES
The refractive Index: The relation between the indices of the core and cladding. Step Index Graded Index - The step index fiber has a core with uniform index throughout the fiber. - The profile shows a sharp step at the junction of the core and cladding. - The graded index has a non-uniform core. - The Index is highest at the center and gradually decreases until it matches with that of the cladding. - There is no sharp break in indices between the core and the cladding.

FIBRE TYPES
Three types of fibers : Single- Mode Step Index fiber (Single Mode Fiber) Multimode Step Index fiber (Step Index fiber) Multimode graded Index fiber (Graded Index fiber)

n1 n2

Single Mode Step Index

Step index Multimode Fiber

Input Pulse Output Pulse High order Mode Dispersion Refractive Index Profile

n1 n2

Multi mode Step Index Low Order Mode

xdxNA N= 0.5 x

(---------------------- )

Graded index Multimode Fiber

Dispersion n1 n2

Multi mode Graded Index

dxNA N= 0.25 x ( ---------------- )2

Optical Fiber Characteristics

OPTICAL FIBRE PARAMETERS
Wavelength Frequency Window Attenuation Dispersion Bandwidth Numerical Aperture

Optical Fiber Characteristics

WAVELENGTH It is a characteristic of light that is emitted from the light source and is measures in nanometers (nm). Red Light has longer wavelength than Blue Light, Typical wavelength for fiber use are 850nm, 1300nm and 1550nm all of which are invisible. FREQUENCY It is number of pulse per second emitted from a light source. Frequency is measured in units of hertz (Hz). In terms of optical pulse 1Hz = 1 pulse/ sec.

Optical Fiber Characteristics

WINDOW
A window is defined as the range of wavelengths at which a fiber best operates.
Window
800nm - 900nm 1250nm - 1350nm 1500nm - 1600nm

Operational Wavelength
850nm 1310nm 1550nm

Optical Fiber Characteristics

ATTENUATION Attenuation is defined as the loss of optical power over a set distance, a fiber with lower attenuation will allow more power to reach a receiver than fiber with higher attenuation.
Window Attenuation

850nm
1310nm 1550nm

2.0 to 2.5 dB/km

0.5 to 1.0 dB/km 0.2 to 0.25 dB/km

Optical Fiber Characteristics

Loss in the Fiber Optics:
Absorption loss : Natural Impurities in the glass absorb light energy.

Scattering loss : Light rays travelling in the core reflect from small imperfections into a new pathway that may be lost through the cladding. Loss due to geometric effects or bending loss

Optical Fiber Characteristics

DISPERSION Expressed in ps/km/nm
Dispersion is the spreading of light pulse as its travels down the length of an optical fiber.

Dispersion limits the bandwidth or information carrying

capacity of a fiber. Dispersion increases along with the distance. There are three main types of dispersion Modal Dispersion Material dispersion Wave guide dispersion

Optical Fiber Characteristics

MODAL DISPERSION The spreading of light is called modal dispersion. Modal dispersion occurs only in Multimode fibers Step index fibers. It occurs because rays follow different paths through the

fiber and consequently arrive at the other end of the fiber at

different times.

Optical Fiber Characteristics

MATERIAL DISPERSION It occurs due to different wavelengths travel at different

velocities through a fiber.

Refractive Index changes according to the wavelength. This velocity variation is caused by some property of material available in glass.

Optical Fiber Characteristics

WAVEGUIDE DISPERSION : It occurs because optical energy travels in both the core and cladding, which have slightly different refractive indices. The energy travels at slightly different velocities in the core and cladding because of the slightly different

refractive indices of the materials.

Optical Fiber Characteristics

BANDWIDTH
In single mode fiber dispersion is most affected by the source's spectral width. The wider the source spectral width, the greater the dispersion. Conversion of dispersion to bandwidth can be defined by the following equation. 0.187 BW = -------------------------(Disp) (SW) (L) Disp SW L = = = Dispersion at the operating wavelength in psec/ nm/ km. Spectral width of the source in nm. Fiber length in km.

Optical Fiber Characteristics

NUMBERICAL APERTURE
Numerical aperture (NA) is the "light - gathering ability" of a fiber.

Light injected into the fiber at angles greater than the

critical angle will be propagated. The material NA relates to the refractive indices of the core and cladding.

NA = n12 - n22
where n1 and n2 are refractive indices of core and cladding respectively.

Optical Fiber Characteristics

NUMBERICAL APERTURE NA is unit less dimension. It can also define as the angles at which rays will be propagated by the fiber. These angles form a cone called the acceptance cone, which gives the maximum angle of light acceptance. The acceptance cone is related to the NA = arc sin (NA) NA = sin = sin /2 where is the half angle of acceptance and is the full angle of acceptance.

Optical Fiber Characteristics

NUMBERICAL APERTURE

Types of Single mode Fibers

1. G-652 (NDSF) : Non dispersion shifted fiber Operated in 1550nm region, Currently using for SDH and DWDM systems 2. G-653 (NDSF) : Dispersion Shifted Fiber SDH systems 3 G-655 (NZDSF) : Non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber Good for both SDH and DWDM use in the 1550-nm region. Specially designed for DWDM applications to compensate the non-linearity (Four wave mixing and Polarization mode dispersion) presenting in DWDM.

MAIN TESTS ON OPTICAL FIBRE CABLES

Cable Loss.
Splice Loss. Connector Loss. Fiber Length. Continuity of Fiber. Fault Localizations/Break Fault.

INSTRUMENTS REQUIRED

Optical Power Meter.

Calibrated Light Source. Optical Attenuator. Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR).

OPTICAL ATTENUATORS

TYPES:

Fixed Attenuators. Variable Attenuators.

APPLICATIONS:

To Simulate the Regenerator Hop Loss at the FDF. To Provide Local Loop Back for Testing. To measure the Bit Error Rate by varying the Optical Signal at the Receiver Input. (RECEIVER SENSITIVITY)

OPTICAL TIME DOMAIN REFLECTOMETER (OTDR)

Used for measuring

Fiber Loss. Splice Loss. Connector Loss. Fiber Length.

Continuity of Fiber.
Fault Localization.

Thank You