UNIT 1

4.OPTICAL FIBER MODES AND CONFIGURATIONS

FIBER TYPES

1. A typical bare fiber consists of a core, a cladding and a polymerjacket (buffer coating).
2. The polymer coating is the first line of mechanical protection.
3. The coating also reduces the internal reflection at the cladding, so light is only guided by the core.
4. Both the core and the cladding are made from a type of glass known as silica (SiO2) which is
almost transparent in the visible and near-IR.

5. In the case that the refractive index changes in a “step” between the core and the cladding. This
fiber structure is known as step-index fiber.
6. The higher core refractive index (~ 0.3% higher) is typically obtained by doping the silica core
with germanium dioxide (GeO2).
Variation in the material composition of the core give rise to the two commonly used fiber as shown in the
below diagram
1. STEP INDEX FIBER-in this type fiber refractive index of the core is uniform throughout and
undergoes abrupt change at the cladding boundary.
2. GRADED INDEX FIBER-in this type the core refractive index is made to vary as a function of the
radial distance from the center of the fiber.
Both step index and graded index can be further divided in to SINGLE MODE and MULTIMODE .

5.COMPARISON OF SINGLE MODE and MULTIMODE

1. The main difference between multi-mode and single-mode optical fiber is that the former has
much larger core diameter, typically 50–100 micrometers; much larger than the wavelength of the
light carried in it. Because of the large core and also the possibility of large numerical aperture,
multi-mode fiber has higher "light-gathering" capacity than single-mode fiber.
2.Compared to single-mode fibers, the multi-mode fiber bandwidth–distance product limit is lower.
3.Because multi-mode fiber has a larger core-size than single-mode fiber, it supports more than one
propagation mode; hence it is limited by modal dispersion, while single mode is not.
4.Due to the modal dispersion, multi-mode fiber has higher pulse spreading rates than single mode fiber,
limiting multi-mode fiber’s information transmission capacity.
5.Single-mode fibers are most often used in high-precision scientific research because the allowance of
only one propagation mode of the light makes the light easier to focus properly.
6.RAYOPTICS PRESENTATION

Meridionaland skew rays-

1. A meridional ray is one that has no  component –it passes through the z axis, and is thus in
direct analogy to a slab guide ray.
2. Ray propagation in a fiber is complicated by the possibility of a path component in the  direction,
from which arises a skew ray.
3. Such a ray exhibits a spiral-like path down the core, never crossing the z axis
7.FIBER MATERIAL
In selecting fiber material,a number of requirements must be satisfied.for example

1. It must be possible to make long ,thin,flexible fibers from the material

2. The material must be transparent at a particular optical wavelength in order for the fiber to guide
light efficiently.
3. Physically compatible materials thet have slightly different refractive indices for the core and
cladding must be available.
Material that satisfied are glass and plastics.

TYPES OF FIBER

1. GLASS FIBER:-Glass fiber (also spelledglass fibre) is a material consisting of numerous

extremely fine fibers of glass. Glass fiber is formed when thin strands of silica-based or other
formulation glass are extruded into many fibers with small diameters suitable for textile
processing.The types of glass fiber most commonly used are mainly E-glass (alumino-borosilicate
glass with less than 1% w/w alkali oxides, mainly used for glass-reinforced plastics), but also A-
glass (alkali-lime glass with little or no boron oxide), E-CR-glass (alumino-lime silicate with less
than 1% w/w alkali oxides, has high acid resistance), C-glass (alkali-lime glass with high boron
oxide content, used for example for glass staple fibers), D-glass (borosilicate glass with low
dielectric constant), R-glass (alumino silicate glass without MgO and CaO with high mechanical
requirements), and S-glass (alumino silicate glass without CaO but with high MgO content with
high tensile strength).

2. HALLIDE GLASS FIBER:-In 1975 at the University of Rennes discovered flouride glasses.the
typical fluoride glass has a glass transition temperature, Tg, four times less than silica, is
considerably less stable, and has practical failure strains of only a few percent compared to
silica's greater than 5%. While an enormous number of multicomponent fluoride glass
compositions have been fabricated, comparably few have been drawn into fiber. This is because
the temperature range for fiber drawing is normally too small in most HMFGs to permit fiberization
of the glass. The most popular HMFGs for fabrication into fibers are the fluorozirconate and
fluoroaluminate glasses, of which the most common are ZBLAN (ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF) and
AlF3-ZrF4-BaF2-CaF2-YF3, respectively. The key physical properties that contrast these two
glasses are summarized in Table 4.1. An important feature of the fluoroaluminate glass is its
higher Tg, which largely accounts for the higher laser damage threshold for the fluoroaluminate
glasses compared to ZBLAN at the Er:YAG laser wavelength of 2.94 μm.

3. ACTIVE GLASS FIBER

4. CHALGENODE GLASS FIBER

5. PLASTIC OPTICAL FIBER

8.FIBER FABRICATION:-Many fiber preforms are fabricated with a process called modified
chemical vapor deposition (MCVD or just CVD). This method was developed for silica telecom fibers in
the 1970s, with pioneering contributions from the University of Southampton (UK), Bell Telephone
Laboratories (Bell Labs), and Corning. Here, a mixture of oxygen, silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) and possibly
other substances (e.g. germanium tetrachloride (GeCl4) and rare earth dopants → fiber core) is passed
through a rotating silica glass tube, which is heated from outside to ≈ 1600 °C with a flame. Chemical
reactions in the gas form a fine soot of silica (and possibly other substances) which coats the inner
surface of the glass tube near the burner and is sintered into a clear glass layer. The burner is
continuously moved back and forth along the tube. Towards the end of the process, the gas mixture is
modified to form a layer with higher refractive index, the precursor of the fiber core. Finally, the tube is
collapsed by heating it to ≈ 2000 °C.

1.OUTSIDE VAPOUR PHASE DEPOSITION2.FIBER DRAWING APPARATUS

Various alternative vapor deposition methods have been developed:

1. Outside vapor deposition (OVD) is a process where the silica soot is deposited on the surface
of some target rod (e.g. a glass mandrel), rather than inside a tube as with MCVD. Together with
the material precursors such as SiCl4, a fuel gas such as hydrogen or methane is supplied to a
burner which is again moved along the rotating rod. After the deposition, the target rod is
removed, and the preform is consolidated in a furnace, where it is also purged with a drying gas
for lowering the hydroxyl content.
2. Vapor phase axial deposition (VAD or AVD) is similar to OVD, but uses a modified geometry,
where the deposition occurs at the end of the target rod. The rod is continuously pulled away
from the burner, and very long preforms can be made. Consolidation of the material can be done
in a separate zone melting process. An important difference to OVD and MCVD is that the
doping profile is determined only by the burner geometry, rather than by a variation of the gas
mixture over time.
3. Plasma chemical vapor deposition (PCVD) uses deposition inside a tube, similar to MCVD.
However, microwaves instead of a burner are used for heating the deposition region. The
deposition is slow, but very precise. A modified method with particularly high precision is plasma
impulse chemical vapor deposition (PICVD), where short microwave pulses are used. There is
 also plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), operating at atmospheric pressure
with fairly high deposition rate.

The preforms for multimode fibers, particularly for large core fibers, are often fabricated using plasma
outside deposition (POD), where an outer fluorine-doped layer with depressed refractive index, later
forming the fiber cladding, is made with a plasma torch. The core can then be made of pure silica, without
any dopant.
 UNIT 2
OPTICAL SOURCE
1.CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD OPTICAL SOURCE
1. Be compatible in size to low-loss optical fibers by having a small light-emitting
area capable of launching light into fiber
2. Launch sufficient optical power into the optical fiber to overcome fiber attenuation
and connection losses allowing for signal detection at the receiver
3. Emit light at wavelengths that minimize optical fiber loss and dispersion.
4. Optical sources should have a narrow spectral width to minimize dispersion
5. Allow for direct modulation of optical output power
6. Maintain stable operation in changing environmental conditions (such as
temperature).
7. Cost less and be more reliable than electrical devices.
8. Permitting fiber optic communication systems to compete with conventional
systems

2.OPTICAL FIBER SOURCES

Semiconductor optical sources suitable for fiber optic systems range from inexpensive
light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to more expensive semiconductor LASERS. Semiconductor
LEDs and laser diodes (LDs) are the principal light sources used in fiber optics.

The major difference between LED and LASER diodes is that

the optical output from an LED is incoherent whereas that from a LASER is cohehent

DIRECT AND INDIRECT BAND GAP

In semiconductor physics, the band gap of a semiconductor is always one of two types,
a direct band gap or an indirect band gap. The band gap is called "direct" if the
momentum of electrons and holes is the same in both the conduction band and the
valence band; an electron can directly emit a photon. In an "indirect" gap, a photon
cannot be emitted because the electron must pass through an intermediate state and
transfer momentum to the crystal lattice. The minimal-energy state in the conduction
band and the maximal-energy state in the valence band are each characterized by a
certain crystal momentum (k-vector) in the Brillouin zone. If the k-vectors are the same,
it is called a "direct gap". If they are different, it is called an "indirect gap".
Diagram showing:-Energy vs. crystal momentum for a semiconductor with an indirect band
gap, showing that an electron cannot shift from the lowest-energy state in the
conduction band (green) to the highest-energy state in the valence band (red) without a
change in momentum. Here, almost all of the energy comes from a photon (vertical
arrow), while almost all of the momentum comes from a phonon (horizontal arrow).

Diagram showing:-Energy vs. crystal momentum for a semiconductor with a direct band
gap, showing that an electron can shift from the lowest-energy state in the conduction
band (green) to the highest-energy state in the valence band (red) without a change in
crystal momentum. Depicted is a transition in which a photon excites an electron from
the valence band to the conduction band
1.LED-

Introduction
A light emitting diode (LED) is a device which converts electrical energy to
light energy. LEDs are preferred light sources for short distance (local area)
optical fiber network because they: are
1. inexpensive,
2. robust
3. have long life (the long life of an LED is primarily due to its being a cold
device, i.e. its operating temperature being much lower than that of,
say, an incandescent lamp)
4. can be modulated (i.e. switched on and off) at high speeds (this
property of an LED is also due to its being a cold device as it does not
have to overcome thermal inertia)
5. couple enough output power over a small area to couple to fibers
(though the output spectrum is wider than other sources such as laser
diodes).

An LED is essentially a p-n junction diode. It may be recalled that a p- type

semiconductor is made by doping an intrinsic semiconductor with acceptor
impurities while an n- type is made by doping with donor impurities. Ionization
of carriers from the localized levels near the bottom of the conduction band
provides electron carriers in the conduction band. Similarly, excitation of
electrons from near the top of valence band leave holes in the valence band.

LED STRUCTURE
The two basic LED configuration being used for fiber optics are
1.SURFACE EMITTER LED:-Surface-emitting LEDs (SLEDs) have a thin
active layer parallel to the surface from which the light extracted. In a simple
flat-diode configuration (as shown in below figure ), the active layer is just
below the emitting surface, and the current is applied with a ring electrode.
The light emitted in the “wrong” direction is absorbed by the substrate. There
are also devices where the substrate is made transparent, and the back
electrode reflects back that light, so that at least some part of it can be used.

A variant is the Burrus-type LED, where the active layer can be deeper within
the originally grown semiconductor structure, and a trench etched into the
structure allows for more efficient light extraction. It is also possible to
introduce a fiber into the trench in order to obtain a fiber-coupled LED.
2.EDGE EMITTER LED:-Edge-emitting LEDs have a structure similar to that of edge-
emitting semiconductor lasers: they are emitting from the edge of a cleaved wafer,
where the active region meets the cleaved surface. Such devices allow more efficient
fiber coupling than surface-emitting LEDs. Applied in optical fiber communications, they
allow higher data rates.

A variant of the edge-emitting LED is the super luminescent diode (SLD), where the
spontaneous emission is substantially amplified within a waveguide. Here, the emission
is much more directional, and as a consequence the brightness is much higher, even for
SLDs with quite low output power

2.LASER DIODES
Laser diodes are electrically pumped semiconductor lasers in which the gain is
generated by an electrical current flowing through a p–n junction or (more frequently) a
p–i–n structure. In such a heterostructure, electrons and holes can recombine, releasing
the energy portions as photons. This process can be spontaneous, but can also be
stimulated by incident photons, in effect leading to optical amplification, and with optical
feedback in a laser resonator to laser oscillation. The article on semiconductor lasers
describes more in detail how the laser amplification process in a semiconductor works.
Diode lasers are lasers based on one or several laser diodes. Most semiconductor
lasers are based on laser diodes, but there are also optically pumped semiconductor
lasers which do not require a diode structure and thus do not belong to the category of
diode lasers.

Laser is the result of three key processes:-

1.Photon absorption:- In the diagram shown below E1is the ground state energy and
E2 is the excited state energy . According to Planck’s law , a transition between these
two state involves the absorption or emission of a photon of energy hv 12=E2-E1.when this
photon of energy impinges on the system an electron in state E1 can absorb the photon
and excited to state E2.

2.Spontaneous emission:-When an atom (or a laser ion in a gain medium) is excited

into a higher-lying energy level, e.g. by absorption of a photon, it may after some time
spontaneously return to its ground state, or to some intermediate energy level, by
releasing the energy in the form of a photon, which carries the energy in some random
direction. (More precisely, the photon can correspond to any propagation mode of the
medium surrounding the atom or ion.) This process is called spontaneous emission.

3.Stimulated emission:-If a laser-active atom or ion is in an excited state (quantum-

mechanical energy level), it may after some time spontaneously decay into a lower
energy level, releasing energy in the form of a photon, emitted in a random spatial
direction. This process is called spontaneous emission. However, it is also possible that
the photon emission is stimulated by incoming photons, if these have a suitable photon
energy (or optical frequency); this is called stimulated emission. In that case, a photon is
emitted into the mode of the incoming photon. In effect, the power of the incoming
radiation is amplified. This is the physical basis of light amplification in laser amplifiers
and laser oscillators.
2.POWER LAUNCHING AND COUPLING

FIBER SPLICING:-a technique of making low-loss fiber joints by fusing fiber ends
together. Techniques used were as follow:-
1.Fusion splicing of optical fiber:-The principle of fusion splicing is that the two bare
fiber ends (with coatings removed) are fused together under the influence of heat. More
precisely, the fiber ends are initially brought in close contact, with a small gap in
between. After heating them for a short while such that the surfaces melt, they are
pushed together, such that the ends fuse together.

The heating is often accomplished with a high-voltage electric discharge, but there are
other methods: an electrically heated Nichrome wire, a CO2 laser, or a gas flame.

Surface tension helps to achieve a good alignment, if the fiber cores are on the fiber
axes. It is also possible to precisely align the fibers before the splicing such that the
cores (even when they are slightly off-center) match well, but there is a risk that surface
tension will pull the fiber ends toward a position where the total areas (rather than the
cores) are matched.
2.V-groove optical fiber:-This fusion splicing method uses V-grooves produced with
high precision to position and orient optical fibers and utilizes the surface tension of
melted optical fibers for alignment effects (cladding alignment).Splices made by this
method achieve low loss thanks to the recent advancement of optical fiber production
technology, which has improved the dimensional accuracy regarding the placement of
core. This method is primarily used for splicing a multi-fiber cable in a single action.

3.Elastic tube splice:-

OPTICAL FOBER CONNECTOR:-Optical fiber connectors are used to join optical fibers
where a connect/disconnect capability is required. Connectors are available in screw –
on,Bayonet mount and push –pull configuration.The basic mechanical coupling used
either butt joint or expanded beam.

1.In Butt Joint connection two polished fibre ferrules are connectedinside a ceramic
sleeve.

The butt-joint connector has a low insertion loss, usually around 0.2 dBand gives a
stable signal as long as the environment is controlled. The two-fibre ferrule stays
pressed together by springs and is easily attached and removed. The core of the
fibre is normally 9-10 μm in case of single mode and 50.0 or 62.5 μm in multimode.
A misalignment due to vibration or rapid change of temperature or
dust particles in the light pathway can easily disrupt the signal totally. The cost of
using butt-joint connectors is low and that is one of the reasons that it is the by far
most usual way of connecting two fibres.

2. In the expanded beamtechnology the light beam coming out from a fiber is
expanded and collimated by a spherical lens and the light is transported through air to a
second lens where it is focused down into a second fiber. This is described in the figure
below. The single mode expanded beam is about 2400 times enlarged compared to
when it exits the fiber core. This makes it considerably less sensitive to dust, vibration
and temperature changes. It has a slightly higher insertion loss than the butt-joint
connector, around 1.0- 1.5 dB for single mode and 0.5-1.0 dB for multimode. Due to the
fact that the expanded beam technology uses free air communication the efficiency
stays the same for a very long time, it does not deteriorate the same way

Features of good connector design:

1. Low insertion loss
2. High return loss (low amounts of reflection at the interface)
3. Ease of installatio
4. Low cost
5. Reliability
6. Low environmental sensitivity
7. Ease of use