1

Optical fibres are one of the most important components in an optical fibre system
because its transmission characteristics play an important role in the performance of the
entire system.
Some important questions on optical fibre:
What is the structure of an optical fibre?
How does light propagate along the fibre?
What materials are fibres made of?
How is it fabricated?
What is the signal loss or attenuation mechanism in a fibre?
Optical Fibre Waveguide Optical Fibre Waveguide
2
How does light propagate along a fibre?
Basically, the involved theory can be divided into two types as follows:
Ray theory transmission
Wave theory transmission
Refractive index n is the the ratio of the speed of light, c in vacuum to that in the
material, v.
n = c / v
Upon entering a material, the speed of light would reduce, and it depends on the type of
material.
The concept of reflection and refraction can be understood by considering the behaviour
of light rays travelling in a dielectric material.
When light ray encounters a boundary separating two different media, a part of the ray is
reflected back ( if n
1
> n
2
) and the remainder will bend (refracted) as it enters the second
medium.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
n
air
= 1.00, n
water
= 1.33
n
glass
= 1.50, n
diamond
= 2.42
3
Snells law states the relationship between the refractive indices of materials, and the
angles of incidence and refraction as:
n
1
sin
1
= n
2
sin
2
, where n
1
and n
2
are the refractive indices of different materials, while
1
and
2
are the
angles of incidence and refraction, respectively.
Ray Theory Transmission
Snells Law:
Medium 2
Medium 1
Normal

2
High index n
1
(glass)
Incident ray
Partial internal
reflection
Exit ray
Low index n
2
(air)

2
Optical Fibre Waveguide
4
Critical Angle
As n
1
> n
2
, the angle of refraction is always greater than the angle of incidence.
When the angle of refraction
2
is 90
o
(parallel to the interface), the incidence angle is
called the critical angle
c
.
sin
c
= n
2
/ n
1
Total Internal Reflection
At the angles of incidence greater than the critical angle, light is reflected back into the
originating dielectric medium.
Total internal reflection occurs when:
n
1
> n
2
.
angle of incidence exceeds the critical angle.
This is the basic mechanism by which light can propagate down an optical fibre.

1

2
Optical Fibre Waveguide
5
Transmission of a light ray in a perfect optical fibre:
Optical Fibre Waveguide
6
Acceptance Angle
We have considered the propagation of light in an optical fibre.
What is the amount of light which can enter the optical fibre?
Since only rays with a sufficiently shallow grazing angle at the interface is transmitted,
it is clear that not all the rays entering the fibre core will continue to propagate down the
fibre.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
7
Numerical Aperture
The relationship between the acceptance angle and the refractive indices of the media
leads to the definition of numerical aperture NA, which is given as:
NA = n
o
sin
a
= (n
1
2
n
2
2
)
1/2
It should be noted that rays over the range of 0 <
1
<
a
will be propagated within the
fibre.
The NA can also be written in terms of the relative refractive index as:
NA = n
1
(2)
1/2
, where = (n
1
2
n
2
2
)/ 2n
1
2
(core-cladding index difference/=0.01)
or (n
1
n
2
)/n
1
for n
1
> n
2
.
NA: 0.14 0.50
Optical Fibre Waveguide
for commercial use
NA=0.3
Waveguide Theory
In the previous section, we have discussed the propagation of light in terms of ray theory.
In order to obtain a more detail model for the EM wave propagation, electromagnetic
wave theory must be considered.
The basis is provided by Maxwells equations:
t
B
E

=
r
r r
0 = D
r r
0 = B
r r
D = E and B = H
E
t
E
H +

=
r r
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
, where : permittivity or dielectric constant
: permeability
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Substituting for D and B and taking the curl of eqs. (1) and (2)
( )
2
2
t
E
E

=
r
r
( )
2
2
t
H
H

=
r
r

These lead to the nondispersive wave equations in a nonconducting medium:

1
=
p
v is the phase velocity in the medium. where
( ) ( ) E E E
2
=
(Using vector identity: )
2
2
2 2
2
2
1
t
E
v t
E
E
p

=
v v
r

2
2
2 2
2
2
1
t
H
v t
H
H
p

=
r r
r

Wave
equations
Optical Fibre Waveguide
If E and H are varying sinusoidally with time at the frequency of light, then E and H can
be written as
E = E
x
exp (jt) a
x
and H = H
y
exp(jt) a
y
, then from eqs. (1) and (2)
Differentiating eq. (5) with respect to z and substituting from eq. (6), we get
(5)
(6) H j
z
E
=

E E j
z
H
+ =

E j E
z
E
+ =

2
2
2
H j H
z
H
+ =

2
2
2
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Let
2
=
2
+j, the solution of these equations are:
E = E
xo
exp(jt) exp(z)
H = H
yo
exp(jt) exp(z)
Writing = + j, being the attenuation coefficient and the phase constant, the
electric and magnetic fields are given by
E =E
xo
cos(tz) exp(z)
H = H
yo
cos(tz) exp(z)
These equations describe a TEM wave travelling in the positive z-direction undergoing
attenuation exp(z).
Useful expression: exp(jt) = cos(t) + j sin(t)
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Rewriting the propagation constant as :
= + j and

2
=
2
+ j
Equating the real and imaginary parts:

2

2
=
2

and 2 =
As glass is an insulator, the conductivity is very low, and the relative permeability is
approximately unity. Therefore, = 0 and
r
= 1.
In this situation, we get = 0 and = (). So, the fields are given by
E = E
xo
cos(tz) and H = H
yo
cos(tz)
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Cartesian and cylindrical polar coordinates of the wave equations hold for each
component of the field vector, every component satisfying the scalar wave equation.
represents a component of the E or H field.
For a scalar wave equation: ,
the solution is given by
, where k is the propagation vector or wave number.
It carries the information about the direction of propagation, and the rate of change of
phase with distance.
The magnitude of k is
2
2
2
2
1
t v
p

r
( ) r k t j
r
r
= exp
0

2
= k
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Phase velocity:
At a given time, say at t = 0 and z = 0, the amplitude of the wave is zero.
After t
1
sec, i.e. at t = t
1
the amplitude of the wave is still zero but it has traveled a
distance z
1
. Thus,
sin(t
1
z
1
) = 0 i.e t
1
z
1
= 0, which gives t
1
= z
1
The velocity of propagation is given by z
1
/t
1
= /, which is called phase velocity v
p
.
Thus, the phase velocity is the velocity of propagation of a point of constant phase in the
wave.
v
p
= / = /() = 1/()
If the dielectric medium is free space, then v
p
is the velocity of light c = 310
8
m/s.
For a dielectric of relative permitivity
r
, the phase velocity is given by
v
p
= 1/(
0

r
)= c /
r
= c/n
, where n =
r
is the refractive index of the dielectric medium.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
If
0
is the wavelength in the free space, the wavelength in the dielectric material is
given by
= 2/ = 2v
p
/ = 2c/n = c/nv =
0
/n
Thus, we get an alternative definition of given by
= 2/ = 2n/
0
= nk
, where k = 2/
0
is the propagation constant in the free space.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Group velocity:
In practice, the light do not travel with only one wavelength, but instead, a combination of
wavelengths.
The light is generally composed of a group of plane wave components resulting in a
packet of waves.
This wave packet do not travel at the phase velocity of individual waves, but propagate
with a group velocity v
g
.
1/v
g
= d/d = (d/d)( d/d)
From above = 2/ = 2v
p
/ = 2c/n , so that d/d = 2c/n
2
= /
d/d = /, and d/d = d/d{2n
1
/) = 2n
1
/
2
+ 2/ dn
1
/d
Therefore, v
g
is given by v
g
= (d/d)/(d/d) = c/[n
1
(dn
1
/d)] = c/N
g
, where N
g
is called the group refractive index or group index of the fibre.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
The real velocity of the EM wave
Power flow in a dielectric medium
If we take the cross product of E and H, we get a third vector acting in the
direction of propagation with the units of watt/m
2
which is the power flow
per unit area. This vector is known as Poynting vector S given by
S = E H
The average power is given by S
av
= Re [(1/2) E H
*
]
The power in the core is calculated by
The power in the clad is calculated by
The relative core and cladding powers for a particular mode is given by


=
a
x y y x core
dr d H E H E r P
0
2
0
) (
2
1

=
0
2
0
) (
2
1

dr d H E H E r P
x y y x clad
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
+
) ( ) (
) (
1 1
1 1
2
2
2
ua J ua J
ua J
V
u
P
P
core

Optical Fibre Waveguide

<--- Treated as a loss
Over the whole cladding layer.
Planar waveguide
Combination of ray theory and wave theory (EM theory)
( ) r k t j E E
u
u
r
r
= exp
0
The propagation constants k
1
and k
2
are vectors, which can be decomposed into its x and
z axis to give
q = (n
1
2
k
o
2

2
)
1/2
p = (
2
n
2
2
k
o
2
)
1/2
, where p and q are propagation constants in x-direction, while is the propagation
constant in the z-direction.
d/2
x = 0
z
x
k
1
k
2

q
Optical Fibre Waveguide
NOT INCLUDED IN SYLLBUS
When the critical angle exceeds in the slab, p becomes imaginary, and can be expressed
in terms of a real attenuation
p = j
2
when this equation is used with the wave equation and the boundary condition, the
solution obtained would be:
( )
( )

|
.
|

\
|

|
.
|

\
|

=
2
exp
2
exp
2
cos
2
exp cos
) , (
d
x for z j
d
x p
qd
d
x for z j qx
E z x E
o y

The solution gives is the lowest order electric field TE

0
.
Optical Fibre Waveguide