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Fibre materials
Fibre materials
The material used for fabricating optical fibres must
satisfy a number of requirements in which some are
listed below
1. Light propagating in a fibre requires small canges in
refractive indices of that core and cladding.hence two
materials that are transparent in the operating
wavelength renge is required
2. The dielectric material used shoukd have a very low
attenuation of 4db/km particularly operating
wavelength.
Types of fibre materials
Glass fibres
Halide glass fibres
Active Glass fibres
Chalgenide Glass fibres
Plastic optical fibres
 Optical Fiber Losses
 Types of Attenuation

Absorption Loss:
 Caused by the fiber itself or by impurities in the fiber, such as

water and metals.

Scattering Loss:
 Intrinsic loss mechanism caused by the interaction of photons
with the glass itself.

Bending loss:
 Loss induced by physical stress on the fiber.
 Optical Fiber Losses
Material Absorption Losses
 Material absorption is caused by absorption of photons within the fiber.
 – When a material is illuminated, photons can make the valence electrons
of an atom transition to higher energy levels
 – Photon is destroyed, and the radiant energy is transformed into electric
potential energy. This energy can then
 • Be re-emitted (scattering)
 • Frees the electron (photoelectric effects) (not in fibers)
 • Dissipated to the rest of the material (transformed into heat)
 In an optical fiber Material Absorption is the optical power that is effectively
converted to heat dissipation within the fiber.
 • Two types of absorption exist:
 – Intrinsic Absorption, caused by interaction with one or more of the
components of the glass.
 – Extrinsic Absorption, caused by impurities within the glass.
 Optical Fiber Losses
Material Absorption Losses
 Intrinsic Absorption is caused by basic fiber material properties. If an

optical fiber is absolutely pure, with no imperfections or impurities, ten all

absorption will be intrinsic. Intrinsic absorption in the ultraviolet region is
caused by electronic absorption bands. Intrinsic Absorption occurs when a
light particle (photon) interacts with an electron and excites it to a higher
energy level.
 Extrinsic Absorption is caused by impurities caused by impurities
introduced into the fiber material. The metal impurities such as iron, nickel
and chromium are introduced into the fiber during fabrication. Extrinsic
Absorption is caused by the electronic transition of these metal ions from
one energy level to another energy level.
 Optical Fiber Losses
Fiber Bend Losses
Bending loss is classified according to the bend radius of curvature :

1. Microbend Loss 2. Macrobend Loss

 Microbend Loss are caused by small discontinuities or imperfections in the
fiber. Uneven coating applications and improper cabling procedure increases
micro bend loss. External forces are also a source of micro bends.
 Optical Fiber Losses
Fiber Bend Losses
Bending loss is classified according to the bend radius of curvature :

1. Microbend Loss 2. Macrobend Loss

 Macrobend Losses are observed when a fiber bend’s radius of curvature is
large compared to the fiber diameter. These bends are a great source of loss
when the radius of curvature is less than several centimeters.
 Optical Fiber Losses
Linear Scattering Losses
 Light scattering is a form of scattering in which light in the form of propagating energy is
scattered.
 Light scattering can be thought of as the deflection of a ray from a straight path, for example
by irregularities in the propagation medium, particles, or in the interface between two
media.
 Deviations from the law of reflection due to irregularities on a surface are also usually
considered to be a form of scattering.
 When these irregularities are considered to be random and dense enough that their
individual effects average out, this kind of scattered reflection is commonly referred to as
diffuse reflection.
Linear Scattering may be of two types
 Rayleigh Scattering

 Mie Scattering
 Rayleigh Scattering
The scattering losses are caused by the interaction of light with density fluctuations within
a fiber.
Density changes are produced when optical fibers are manufactured.
During manufacturing, regions of higher and lower molecular density areas, relative to the
average density of the fiber, are created.
Light travelling through the fiber interacts with the density areas then partially scattered in
all directions.
In commercial Fibers operating 700nm and 1600nm wavelength, the main source of loss is
called Rayleigh Scattering (named after the British physicist Lord Rayleigh).
Rayleigh Scattering is the main loss mechanism between the ultraviolet and infrared
regions.
Rayleigh scattering occurs when the size of density fluctuations (Fiber defect) is less
than one-tenth of the operating wavelength of light.
As the wavelength increases, the loss caused by Rayleigh Scattering decreases.
 Mie Scattering
 If the size of the defect is greater than one-tenth of the wavelength of light, the scattering
mechanism is called Mie Scattering (named after Gustav Mie).
 It is caused by these large defects in the fiber core, scatters light out of the fiber core.
 However, in commercial fibers, the defects of Mie Scattering are insignificant.
 Optical fibers are manufactured with less defects.
 Linear scattering may also occur at inhomogeneties and they are comparable in size to
the guided wavelength. This type of scattering is because of fiber imperfections such as:
 Irregularities in the core-cladding interface.
 Core-cladding refractive index differences along the fiber.
 Diameter fluctuation.
 Stains and bubbles.
 Scattering intensity can be very large if the scattering inhomogeneties size is greater
than one-tenth of the operating wavelength of the light. Such inhomogeneties creates
scattering in forward direction and is known as Mie Scattering.
 Optical Fiber Losses
Nonlinear Optical Effects
 Optical waveguides do not always behave as linear channels where optical output power is

equal to optical input power.

 Several nonlinear effects occurs which causes scattering.

 Nonlinear Scattering is the transfer of optical power from one mode to be transferred

in either the forward or backward direction or other modes at different frequency.

 The types of nonlinearities are:

1. Stimulated Raman Scattering

2. Stimulated Brillouin Scattering

3. Self Phase Modulation

4. Cross Phase Modulation

5. Four Wave Mixing

 Stimulated Raman Scattering
 In Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) a high frequency optical photon is generated.
 The Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) process is initiated by noise, thermally induced
fluctuations in the optical fields and active vibrational modes.
 An incident pump field (ωP) interacts with the vibrational fluctuations, losing a photon
which is down shifted in frequency by the vibrational frequency () to produce a Stokes
wave (ωS,) and also an optical phonon (quantum of vibrational energy ).
 The pump decays with propagation distance and both the phonon population and Stokes
wave grow together.
 If the generation rate of Stokes light exceeds the loss, stimulated emission occurs and the
Stokes beam grows exponentially. Threshold Power PR is given by:
 Stimulated Brillouin Scattering
 In Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) a high frequency acoustic phonon is generated.
 The Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) is the modulation of light through thermal
molecular vibrations within the fiber.
 The scattered light appears as upper and lower sidebands which are separated from the
incident light by the modulation frequency.
 Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) is significant above a threshold power density.
Threshold power PB is given by:
 Where;
 d = Fiber core diameter
 l = Operating wavelength
 adB = Fiber Attenuation
 v = Source Bandwidth
 Dispersion Effect in Optical Fiber
 In communication, dispersion is used to describe any process by which any
electromagnetic signal propagating in a physical medium is degraded because the
various wave characteristics (i.e., frequencies) of the signal have different
propagation velocities within the physical medium.
 The dispersion cause that optical pulses to broaden as they travel along a fiber, the
overlap between neighboring pulses, creating errors in the receiver output,
resulting in the limitation of information-carrying capacity of a fiber.
 Dispersion and Bit Rate

 The higher dispersion the longer the bit interval which

must be used
 A longer the bit interval means fewer bits can be
transmitted per unit of time
 A longer bit interval means a lower bit rate
 Types of Dispersion
 Intermodal dispersion: Different modes propagate at different group
velocities.
 Intramodal or Chromatic Dispersion

 Material dispersion: The index of refraction of the medium

changes with wavelength.
 Waveguide dispersion: The index change across waveguide means
that different wavelengths have different delays.
 Polarization mode dispersion: If waveguide is birefringent.
Birefringent is a optical property of a material having a refractive index
that depends on the polarization and propagation direction of light.
 Dispersion Effect in Optical Fiber
Intermodal Dispersion
 In a multimode fiber different modes travel at different velocities.
 If a pulse is constituted from different modes then intermodal dispersion
occurs.
 Modal dispersion is greatest in multimode step index fibers.
 The more modes the greater the modal dispersion.
 Typical bandwidth of a step index fiber may be as low as 10 MHz over 1
km.
 Dispersion Effect in Optical Fiber
Intramodal or Chromatic Dispersion

 Intramodal or Chromatic dispersion (CD) is caused by the fact that single mode glass fibers

transmit light of different wavelengths at different speeds.  The ratio of the speed of light in a medium

to the speed in a vacuum defines the index of refraction or refractive index of the material.
Material Dispersion
 This is due to intrinsic properties of the material, glass.

 Glass is a dispersive medium. We can recall from our high school physics that glass has different

refractive index for different colors.

 Different colors (wavelengths) have different velocity in glass.

 A type of dispersion that occurs in optical fiber due to the interaction of various wavelengths with the

physical matter in the crystalline structure of the glass.

 The refractive index of the glass varies according to the wavelength of the optical signal.

 Material dispersion is the phenomena whereby materials cause a “bundle” of light to spread out as it

propagates.
 Dispersion Effect in Optical Fiber
Intramodal or Chromatic Dispersion
 Waveguide Dispersion
 This is due dispersive nature of the bound medium. In a bound medium like the

optical fiber, the velocity is a function of frequency.

 Waveguide dispersion is chromatic dispersion which arises from waveguide

effects: the dispersive phase shifts for a wave in a waveguide differ from those
which the wave would experience in a homogeneous medium. Waveguide
dispersion is important in waveguides with small effective mode areas. But for
fibers with large mode areas, waveguide dispersion is normally negligible, and
material dispersion is dominant.
 Dispersion Effect in Optical Fiber
Polarization mode dispersion:
 The polarization mode dispersion is due unequal velocities of two
orthogonal states of polarization.
 The PMD puts the ultimate restriction on the data rate on the long haul
single mode optical fiber.
 The pulse slowly broadens due to the statistical fluctuation of the velocities
of the two orthogonal polarizations.
 Optical Fiber Losses
Attenuation in Optical Fibers
 Attenuation limits the optical power which can reach the receiver, limiting the operating
span of a system.
 Once the power of an optical pulse is reduced to a point where the receiver is unable to
detect the pulse, an error occurs.
 Attenuation is mainly a result of:

 Light Absorption

 Scattering of light

 Bending losses

 Attenuation is defined as the ratio of optical input power ( Pi) to the optical output
power (Po).
 The following equation defines signal attenuation as a unit of length :
Attenuation