Introduction to Fiber Optics

What are optical fibers

Thin strands of pure glass

Carry data over long distances
At very high speeds
Fiber can be bent or twisted
History of Fiber optics
 During 1930, other ideas were developed with this fiber optic such as
transmitting images through a fiber.
 During the 1960s, Lasers were introduced as efficient light sources
 In 1970s All glass fibers experienced excessive optical loss, the loss of the light
signal as it traveled the fiber limiting transmission distance.

 This motivated the scientists to develop glass fibers that include a separating
glass coating. The innermost region was used to transmit the light, while the
glass coating prevented the light from leaking out of the core by reflecting the
light within the boundaries of the core.

 Today, you can find fiber optics used in variety of applications such as medical
environment to the broadcasting industry. It is used to transmit voice,
television, images and data signals through small flexible threads of glass or
plastic.
Several applications of fiber optic

Configuration of a Fiber Optic Sensor Sys

Fiber optic technology
Sources
Transmission medium
Detectors

Fig: The fiber optic communication system

 Fiber media
Optical fibers are the actual media that guides the light

There are three types of fiber optic cable commonly used

Step-index Multimode fiber

Single Mode

Plastic optic fiber

Optical fiber transmits light. But, what prevents the light from escaping from the fiber?
Sources of light
Light emitting diodes
Lasers
Sources
Modulate electrical signals into optical signals
Mostly modulate at 850nm, 1300nm and 1550 nm
Lasers give high intensity, high frequency light
LEDs are economical
Transmission medium
Optical fiber is replacing copper
Light is used as the carrier of information
Much higher data rate

The optical fiber

Physics of optical fibers
Index of refraction of material : ratio of speed of light in
vacuum to speed of light in medium
bending of light as it
Refraction of light :

travels from one media to another

Refraction of light
Speed of light changes
as it across the
boundary of two media
Angles w.r.t normal
Refraction Indices
 Vacuum…….1.00000 (exactly)
 Air ……1.00029
 Alcohol ......1.329
 Diamond ...... 2.417
 Glass ........ 1.5
 Ice ....... 1.309
 Sodium Chloride (Salt) .... 1.544
 Sugar Solution (80%) ........ 1.49
 Water (20 C) ................ 1.333
 Snell’s Law

Critical angle: Angle of incidence at which angle of refraction = 90 0

Total internal reflection
Trapping light in the fiber
Contents
Reflection and refraction (revision)
Critical angle
Total internal reflection
Fish eye view
 Reflection and refraction
Mirror reflects light

mirror
Transparent medium refracts light

glass
Critical angle (1)
For glass-air interface, the angle of refraction in air >
incident angle

normal Partial
reflection
Incident
glass angle
AIR
Angle of
refraction
Which angle is larger?
A light ray is emerging from glass to air. Which angle
is larger, in glass or in the air ?

normal

Or
glass this?
AIR
This?
 Total internal reflection
When the light ray (from water) is emerging at the critical
angle, the refracted ray will be along the interface. along
along

AIR

water
Total internal reflection (2)
When the incident angle is larger than the critical
angle, total internal reflection will occur (at the
interface).

AIR

water

Next
 Total internal reflection (3)
View under water!!

AIR

water
Total internal reflection (4)
Fish-eye view

sky Yousee see

You
You see the sky here
waves
water
total waves
internal
through refraction
here
reflection here
waves
total internal
reflection here
total internal
reflection here
 Can you explain the ... Yes
fish-eye view by drawing light rays?

water
 Fibers can be bent!!

                                   

                    
Fig: Illustration of total internal reflection
Types of optical fibers
Single mode
only one signal can be transmitted
use of single frequency

Multi mode
Several signals can be transmitted
Several frequencies used to modulate the signal
Losses in optical fibers
Attenuation loss
Dispersion loss
Waveguide loss
Splices and Connectors
To connect to fibers mechanically or by fusion
Lot of signal loss possible
Very accurate alignment necessary
Most important cost factor
Now being replaced by optical amplifiers
Optical Receivers
Must be very sensitive
Capable of picking up and amplifying signals of
nanowatts
Photodiodes and phototransistors
These devices get ‘turned ON’ by light
Produce photocurrent
Advantages of optical fibers
Can carry much more information
Much higher data rates
Much longer distances than co-axial cables
Immune to electromagnetic noise
Light in weight
Unaffected by atmospheric agents
 Introduction
 An optical fiber is essentially a waveguide for light
 It consists of a core and cladding that surrounds the core
 The index of refraction of the cladding is less than that of the core,
causing rays of light leaving the core to be refracted back into the core
 A light-emitting diode (LED) or laser diode (LD) can be used for the
source
 Advantages of optical fiber include:
 Greater bandwidth than copper
 Lower loss
 Immunity to crosstalk
 No electrical hazard
Optical Fiber & Communications System
Optical Fiber
Optical fiber is made from thin strands of either
glass or plastic
It has little mechanical strength, so it must be
enclosed in a protective jacket
Often, two or more fibers are enclosed in the same
cable for increased bandwidth and redundancy in
case one of the fibers breaks
It is also easier to build a full-duplex system using
two fibers, one for transmission in each direction
Total Internal Reflection
Optical fibers work on the principle of total
internal reflection
With light, the refractive index is listed
The angle of refraction at the interface between
two media is governed by Snell’s law:

n1 sin1  n2 sin 2
Refraction & Total Internal Reflection
 Numerical Aperture
 The numerical aperture of the
fiber is closely related to the critical
angle and is often used in the
specification for optical fiber and
the components that work with it
 The numerical aperture is given by
the formula:

N . A.  n  n 2
1
2
2

 The angle of acceptance is twice

that given by the numerical aperture
 Modes and Materials
 Since optical fiber is a waveguide, light can propagate in a number
of modes
 If a fiber is of large diameter, light entering at different angles will
excite different modes while narrow fiber may only excite one mode
 Multimode propagation will cause dispersion, which results in the
spreading of pulses and limits the usable bandwidth
 Single-mode fiber has much less dispersion but is more expensive
to produce. Its small size, together with the fact that its numerical
aperture is smaller than that of multimode fiber, makes it more
difficult to couple to light sources
 Types of Fiber
 Both types of fiber described earlier are known as step-index fibers because
the index of refraction changes radically between the core and the cladding
 Graded-index fiber is a compromise multimode fiber, but the index of
refraction gradually decreases away from the center of the core
 Graded-index fiber has less dispersion than a multimode step-index fiber
 Dispersion
 Dispersion in fiber optics results from the fact that in multimode
propagation, the signal travels faster in some modes than it would in others
 Single-mode fibers are relatively free from dispersion except for
intramodal dispersion
 Graded-index fibers reduce dispersion by taking advantage of higher-order
modes
 One form of intramodal dispersion is called material dispersion because it
depends upon the material of the core
 Another form of dispersion is called waveguide dispersion
 Dispersion increases with the bandwidth of the light source
Examples of Dispersion
 Losses
 Losses in optical fiber result from attenuation in the material
itself and from scattering, which causes some light to strike the
cladding at less than the critical angle
 Bending the optical fiber too sharply can also cause losses by
causing some of the light to meet the cladding at less than the
critical angle
 Losses vary greatly depending upon the type of fiber
 Plastic fiber may have losses of several hundred dB per kilometer
 Graded-index multimode glass fiber has a loss of about 2–4 dB
per kilometer
 Single-mode fiber has a loss of 0.4 dB/km or less
Types of Losses
Fiber-Optic Cables
 There are two basic types of fiber-optic cable
 The difference is whether the fiber is free to move inside a tube with
a diameter much larger than the fiber or is inside a relatively tight-
fitting jacket
 They are referred to as loose-tube and tight-buffer cables
 Both methods of construction have advantages
 Loose-tube cables—all the stress of cable pulling is taken up by the
cable’s strength members and the fiber is free to expand and contract
with temperature
 Tight-buffer cables are cheaper and generally easier to use
Fiber-Optic Cable Construction
 Splices and Connectors
 In fiber-optic systems, the losses from splices and connections can be more than in
the cable itself
 Losses result from:
 Axial or angular misalignment
 Air gaps between the fibers
 Rough surfaces at the ends of the fibers
 Fiber-Optic Connectors
 Coupling the fiber to sources and
detectors creates losses as well,
especially when it involves
mismatches in numerical aperture or
in the size of optical fibers
 Good connections are more critical
with single-mode fiber, due to its
smaller diameter and numerical
aperture
 A splice is a permanent connection
and a connector is removable
 Optical Couplers and Switches
 As with coaxial cable and
microwave waveguides, it is
possible to build power splitters
and directional couplers for fiber-
optic systems
 It is more complex and expensive
to do this with fiber than with
copper wire
 Optical couplers are categorized as
either star couples with multiple
inputs and outputs or as tees, which
have one input and two outputs
 Coupler Construction

Optical couplers can be made in many different ways:

A number of fibers can be fused together to make a
transmissive coupler
A reflective coupler allows a signal entering on any fiber to
exit on all other fibers, so the coupler is bidirectional
 Optical Switches and Relays
 Occasionally, it is necessary to switch
optical signals from one fiber to another
 The simplest type of optical switch moves
fibers so that an input fiber can be
positioned next to the appropriate output
fiber
 Another approach is direct the incoming
light into a prism, which reflects it into the
outgoing fiber. By moving the prism, the
light can be switched between different
output fibers
 Lenses are necessary with this approach to
avoid excessive loss of light
Optical Emitters
 Optical emitters operate on the idea that electromagnetic
energy can only appear in a discrete amount known as a
quantum. These quanta are called photons when the
energy is radiated
 Energy in one photon varies directly with the frequency
 Typical optical emitters include:
 Light-Emitting Diodes
 Laser Diodes
 Light-Emitting Diodes

 An LED is form of junction diode that is operated with forward bias

 Instead of generating heat at the PN junction, light is generated and
passes through an opening or lens
 LEDs can be visible spectrum or infrared
Laser Diodes
Laser diodes generate coherent, intense light of a
very narrow bandwidth
A laser diode has an emission linewidth of about 2
nm, compared to 50 nm for a common LED
Laser diodes are constructed much like LEDs but
operate at higher current levels
Laser Diode Construction
Optical Detectors
 The most common optical detector used with fiber-optic systems is
the PIN diode
 The PIN diode is operated in the reverse-bias mode
 As a photodetector, the PIN diode takes advantage of its wide depletion
region, in which electrons can create electron-hole pairs
 The low junction capacitance of the PIN diode allows for very fast switching
Avalanche Photodiode
 The avalanche photodiode (APD) is also operated in the reverse-
bias mode
 The creation of electron-hole pairs due to the absorption of a photon
of incoming light may set off avalanche breakdown, creating up to
100 more pairs
 This multiplying effect gives an APD very high sensitivity
 BASIC MODEL :
The bandwidth of the fiber optic communication
system, which determines the maximum data rate,
depends on the major components of the system.

Fig. shows the block diagram of fiber optic

communication system.

The information signal to be transmitted may be voice,

video or computer data.

59 UNIT III LECTURE 8

 Countd.
The first step is to convert the information into a form
compatible with the communications medium.

This is usually done by converting continuous

analog signals such as voice and video (TV) signals into a
series of digital pulses.

An Analog – to – Digital (A/D) converter is used for this

purpose. Computer data is already in the digital form.

60 UNIT III LECTURE 8

 Countd.
These digital pulses are then used to flash a powerful
light source (i.e.) off and on very rapidly.
 In a simple low – cost system that transmits over
short distances, the light source is usually a light
emitting diode (LED).
This is a semiconductor device that puts out a low –
intensity red light beam. Other colours are also used.

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Infrared beams like those used in TV remote controls
are also used in transmission.

Another commonly used light source is the solid state

laser.

This is also a semiconductor device that generates an

extremely intense single frequency light beam.

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FIBER OPTIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
UNIT III LECTURE 8 63
 The light beam pulses are then fed into a fiber – optic
cable where they are transmitted over long distances.
At the receiving end, a light sensitive device known as
a photocell or light detector is used to detect the light
pulses.
This photocell or photo detector converts the light
pulses into an electrical signal.
The electrical pulses are amplified and reshaped back
into digital form.

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 Both the light sources at the sending end and the light detectors
on the receiving end must be capable of operating at the same
data rate.
 The circuitry that drives the light source and the circuitry that
amplifies and processes the detected light must both have
suitable high-frequency response.
 The fiber itself must not distort the high-speed light pulses
used in the data transmission.
 They are fed to a decoder, such as a Digital – to – Analog
converter (D/A), where the original voice or video is
recovered.

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Countd.
 In very long transmission systems, repeater units must be used
along the way.
 Since the light is greatly attenuated when it travels over long
distances, at some point it may be too weak to be received reliably.
 To overcome this problem, special relay stations are used to pick
up light beam, convert it back into electrical pulses that are
amplified and then retransmit the pulses on another beam.
 Several stages of repeaters may be needed over very long
distances.
 But despite the attenuation problem, the loss is less than the loss
that occurs with the electric cables.

66 UNIT III LECTURE 8

 APPLICATIONS OF FIBERS IN TELECOMMUNICATION

The various applications of fiber optics in the

telecommunication area in voice telephones, video
phones, telegraph services, message services and data
networks all transmitted over common carrier links.

The conventional problems of wire systems like those

of ringing, cross talk, electromagnetic interference
and induced errors, etc., are completely avoided with
the use of optical fiber communication methods.

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 Coaxial undersea cable systems have been used as one of the
major transmission systems in international telecommunication
networks over the past 25 years.

 Its channel capacity has rapidly increased about ten times per
decade with the growth in overseas traffic.

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 SPACE APPLICATIONS OF OPTICAL FIBERS

Optical fibers offers the following significant

advantages for space environment, namely high
bandwidth, noise immunity, inherent radiation
hardness, reduced weight, low bit error rate, size,
weight and volume reduction.

69 UNIT III LECTURE 8

 Broad-band applications of optical fibers :

Optical fibers offer many new opportunities to system

planners interested in broadband video and other
services.
In the private customer application, a coalescence of
the existing community antenna television system
(CATV) and telecommunications services seems
likely, with the development of wide band switched
integrated networks.

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Primarily providing educational and entertainment TV, but
with a capability to provide many other services also.

In the business area, highly versatile systems designed to

carry combinations of video wide band data and audio of
varying qualities and with a sufficient range capability to span
much of a city from a central switching point seem likely to
encourage the use of teleconferencing and related services.

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 Applications in information technology :

A modern large computer system is composed of a

large number of interconnections ranging in length
over 16 orders of magnitude from the micrometer
dimensions of the on chip very large scale integration
(VLSI) connections to thousands of kilometer for
terrestrial links in computer networks.

The transmission line features of fiber optics are

potentially attractive for many of these computer
connections.

72 UNIT III LECTURE 8

 Important advantages of fiber optic communication :

Transmission loss is low.

Fiber is lighter and less bulky than equivalent copper cable.
More information can be carried by each fiber than by equivalent
copper cables.
There is complete electrical isolation between the sender and the
receiver.

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There is no interference in the transmission of light
from electrical disturbances or electrical noise.

The fiber itself can withstand environmental

conditions such as salt, pollution and radiation with no
resulting corrosion and minimal nuclear radiation
effects, so it is more reliable.

The transmission is more secure and private

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Other Applications of optical fibers :
Optical fibers can be used as sensors for the
measurement mechanical force, pressure, electric field,
electric current, magnetic field, temperature, nuclear
radiations, density etc.

In computers, fibers are used to exchange the information

between different terminals in a network.

The optical fibers are used in industrial automation,

security alarm system and process control.

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The fiber optic cables are widely used in electronic fields
to produce required delay.

It is possible to study interior of the lungs and other parts

of the body that can not be viewed directly (endoscopy).

The fiber optical system widely used in defence services

because high privacy is maintained.

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 PHOTOELASTICITY :
Photoelasticity is the change in optical properties of a
transparent material when it is subject to mechanical
stress.
An example of such properties is birefringence.
The mechanical birefringence of certain materials enables
the determination of stress and strains from the
interference fringe patterns they produce.

77 UNIT III LECTURE 8