Lecture 14

• Optical Sources
• LED
• Radiation pattern in LED (SLED, ELED)
• Power Coupling
• Modulation of LED

Fiber Optic Communications Technology by D. K. Mynbaev &

Lowell L. Scheiner - Pearson Education.

Optical Fiber Communications by Gerd Keiser – Tata McGraw Hill

Radiation pattern:
• According to the radiation pattern the LEDs are classified as:
– Surface emitting LED (SLED)
– Edge emitting LED (ELED)
• SLED radiates light as Lambertian source. Its power distribution is described by the formula:
P=P0cosθ; where θ is the angle between the direction of observation and line orthogonal to
the radiating surface.
• ELED radiates as a Lambertian source in the plane parallel to the edge and produces a much
narrower beam in the plane perpendicular to the edge, as shown in the Fig.
• SLED is more suitable to use with a multimode fiber (850 and 1300nm), while ELED can be
with a single mode fiber (1300 and 1550nm).

Fig. LED radiation pattern: SLRD, ELED ad Heterostructure

Fiber Optic Communications Technology by D. K. Mynbaev & Lowell L. Scheiner -Pearson Education.
 Coupling of light into the Fiber
• The distance a signal travels is not just the power radiated by the source, but the
power coupled into an optical fiber because this is the real input signal being
transmitted. With inefficient coupling, we may lose most of the light power
radiated by LED.

• IF the radiation pattern of a SLED is approximated by a Lambertian model, then the

light power (Pin) coupled into a step-index fiber with numerical aperture (NA) can
be calculated by the following formula: Pin=P0(NA)2

Fig. Coupling light from LED to an optical fiber using micro lens

Fiber Optic Communications Technology by D. K. Mynbaev & Lowell L. Scheiner –Pearson Education.
 Wavelength and Spectral width
• Radiated wavelength, often referred to as a peak wavelength λp, is determined by the energy
gap Eg. Manufacturers usually specify minimum and maximum values of λp. Because λp shifts
to the longer wavelength with increasing current and temperature but stays within a
specified range.
• A spectral width Δλ, is measured as full width at half maximum (FWHM), as shown in fig.
SLED (AMPs): Δλ ~ 170nm, ELED: Δλ ~ 65nm. Spectral width depends on temperature. For
SLED the spectral width increases from 155nm to 180nm with a temperature variation from
250Cto 900C.
Energy of photon Ep (=hf=hc/λ)=> Eg  λi<=hc/Eg
Where h=6.626e-34 J.S (Plank’s constant), c= 3e8 m/s,
1ev=1.602e-19 J.

Fig. Light radiation in energy band and the spectral width of the
radiated power.
Electrical Characteristics of LED
• The electrical characteristics of LED are:
– Forward voltage (forward voltage of LED never exceeds 2v, corresponds to forward
current 50 to 150ma)
– Capacitance (diffusion capacitance and drift capacitance; limits the modulation ability
and restrict the bandwidth)
– Leakage current (caused by the flow of minority carriers)
• Lifetime, rise/fall time, Bandwidth:
– Lifetime (τ): of the charge carriers is the time between the moment they are excited
(injected into a depletion region) and the moment they are recombined. It is also called
as recombination lifetime (ranges from ns-ms). Hence, the total carrier lifetime (τ) is
expressed in terms of radiative (τr) and nonradiative (τnr) recombination lifetime.
– Rise/fall time: depends on the charging and discharging of p-n junction capacitance.

1 1 1


r

 nr R  Rr  Rnr
 Ideal pulse
• Rise/fall time is determined by the
Led’s capacitance (C), and input step
current with amplitude Ip.

When Ip is large, then tr=2.2τ

Fig. Rise time and fall time
Modulation bandwidth is the range of
modulating frequency within which the
detected electrical power declines at – 3
dB. The general relation between rise
time and BW is: BW= 0.35/tr (derive
from the response of an RC circuit to a
pulse). For LED the tr ~ 2.5ns, hence
according to the formula the BW must
be 140MHz but in specification sheet it
is mentioned 115Mhz.

Fig. modulation of an LED

 Modulation Bandwidth
• The modulation bandwidth in optical communications may be defined in
either electrical or optical terms.
– Electrical BW : where the electrical signal power has dropped to half its constant value
due to the modulated portion of the optical signal. This corresponds to the electrical 3 dB
point or the frequency at which the output electric power is reduced by 3 dB with respect
to the input electric power.
– Optical BW : if the 3 dB bandwidth of the modulated optical carrier (optical bandwidth) is
considered, we obtain an increased value for the modulation bandwidth.
– it may be noted that the optical bandwidth is significantly greater than the electrical
bandwidth.
• The modulation bandwidth of LEDs is generally determined by three mechanisms.
(a) the doping level in the active layer;
(b) the reduction in radiative lifetime due to the injected carriers;
(c) the parasitic capacitance of the device.

Assuming negligible parasitic capacitance, the speed at which an LED can be directly
current modulated is fundamentally limited by the recombination lifetime of the
carriers, where the optical output power Pe(ω) of the device (with constant peak
current) and angular modulation frequency ω is given by
Advantages and Drawbacks of LED

• Advantages:

• Drawbacks:
This example
illustrates the
reduction in the LED
optical output power
as the device is
driven at higher
modulating
frequencies. It is
therefore apparent
that there is a
somewhat limited
bandwidth over
which the device may
be usefully utilized.