EE5410: Fiber Optic Communication Technology (Jan-May 2014) Tutorial I - Optical Fibers and Light Sources

1. Consider light propagation at a wavelength of 1550 nm in an optical fiber with diameter d = 10 m, n1 = 1.442 and n2 = 1.439. a. Find the number of modes that satisfy the phase matching condition for propagation inside the waveguide. Assume TE case. (Hint: Oblique incidence reflection coefficient has to be considered which changes the phase matching condition to transcendental equation in ) b. Compare the bending loss at radii of curvature R= 5 mm, 10 mm and 20 mm. (Refer topic on Waveguide imperfections in Chapter 2 of Fiber-Optic Communication Systems by G P Agrawal) c. Derive an expression for confinement factor in a fiber assuming the field distribution to be Gaussian. d. Compare the confinement factor at 0 = 1550 nm, 1310 nm and 850 nm.

2. A 1.55 m fiber optic communication system is transmitting optical power over 100 km. The transmitter launches 2 mW power into the fiber and the power recorded at the receiver is 20 W. a. Calculate the attenuation constant in Nepers/km. b. Convert the given power levels into dBm and then find attenuation in terms of dB/km.

3. A 1.3-m light wave system uses a 50-km fiber link and requires at least 0.3 W at the receiver. The fiber loss is 0.5 dB/km. Fiber is spliced every 5 km and has two connectors of 1-dB loss at both ends. Splice loss is 0.2 dB. Determine the minimum power that must be launched into the fiber.

4. You are asked to design a GaAs LED operating at 850 nm wavelength. The LED spectrum is related to the spectrum of spontaneous emission, Rspon() given by

where is a constant and is bandgap. Assume a refractive index of 3.5 and an internal quantum efficiency of 0.9. a. Based on the steps outlined in class, derive the expression for external quantum efficiency (ext) in terms of the refractive index of the material. b. Find the value of at which is maximum and also find the FWHM .

c. Derive an expression for modulation bandwidth of LED in terms of carrier lifetime . Find the modulation bandwidth of an LED with of 1 ns and of 10 ns. 5. Consider an InGaAs semiconductor laser ( = 1.3 m) consisting of a 0.4 mm long cavity with internal losses of 40 cm-1 and mirror reflectivity of 0.9 at either end. a. Find the frequency spacing between the longitudinal modes of the laser. b. Find the minimum gain required to compensate the losses in the laser cavity. c. Derive an expression for power emitted from the laser in terms of applied current, losses and int. Assuming, int 1 and Ith = 50 mA, find the optical power emitted at 100 mA of drive current. d. Find the relaxation oscillation frequency of above laser with = 1 ns.