OPTICAL FIBER

What is
Optical
Fiber?

An optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made of

extruded glass (silica) or plastic, slightly thicker than a

human hair.
Consists of thin glass fibers or plastic that can carry
information at frequencies in the visible light spectrum

and beyond.
Around the core is a concentric layer of glass called the cladding.
Cladding means covering or coating on a structure or material.
An optical transmission system has three basic components,
(a) Light source
(b) Transmission medium (fiber optics)
(c) Detector
Light source : In such a system a pulse of light indicates bit 1 and the absence of light

indicates bit 0. Light source can be an LED or a laser beam.

Transmission medium : Transmission medium is the ultra-thin fiber of glass.
Detector : A detector generates an electrical pulse when the light falls on it.

A typical core diameter is 62.5 microns which is 0.0629mm.

Typical cladding has a diameter of 125microns, which is 0.125mm.

An emf can couple about 100 microwatts power into an optical fiber.
Coating of cladding consist of plastic, which is called as Jacket.
The loss in signal power as light travels down the fiber is called attenuation.
An important characteristic of fiber optics is refraction.
Refraction is the characteristic of a material to either pass or reflect light.
When light passes through a medium, it bends as it passes from one medium to

the other.
An example of this is when we look into a pond of water If the angle of incidence

is small, the light rays are reflected and do not pass into the water.
If the angle of incident is great, light passes through the media but is bent or

refracted.
Optical fibers work on the principle that the core refracts the light and the

cladding reflects the light.

The core refracts the light and guides the light along its path.
The cladding reflects any light back into the core and stops light from escaping
through it - it bounds the medium

TOTAL
INTER
NAL
REFLE
CTION

Types of
Optical
Fibers

Single
Mode
Fiber
ranging from 8 to 10 microns.

The various characteristics of Single mode

fiber are:1. The diameter of glass core in single mode fiber is very small
( 1 microns = 0.001 millimeters )

2. In this mode, light can propagate only in a straight line, without bouncing.
3. Fiber glass has lower density (index of refraction) that creates a critical angle close enough to
90 such that the beam propagates in a straight line.
4. In this case, propagation of different beams is almost identical and delays are negligible. The
beams arrive at destination together and can be recombined with little distortion to the signal.
5. Single mode fibers are more expensive and are widely used for long distance communication.

6. These types of fibers can transmit data at 50 Gbps ( billions of beats per second ) for 100
kilometers without amplification.

Monom

In multimode fibers, the core has a diameter of about

100m and the cladding is about 20m thick.

ode &
Multim
ode
Fiber

The rays passing through multimode fibers undergo

material as well as modal dispersion

In multimode fiber, multiple beams travel in the core in

different paths.

In monomode fibers, the core has a diameter of about 8

-10m and the cladding is about 125m thick.

Multimode fibers can be divided into :a. Step index fibers

b. Graded index fibers

a) Step Index Fiber

1. Density of core remains constant from the center to the edges.
2. A beam of light moves in a straight line in this medium until it reaches the interface
of core and the cladding.
3. At this interface, the angle of ray is changed due to the change in density.
4. In this mode, some beams travel in a straight line through the core and reaches
destination without reflection or refraction.
5. The beams that strike the interface of core and cladding at an angle smaller than
critical angle penetrate the cladding and are lost.
6. The beams striking at angle greater than critical angle are reflected back in core
and form total internal reflection.
7. In this fiber, a ray with smaller angle of incidence requires more bounces thus will
take more time to reach the destination whereas the ray with high angle of incidence
will require less number of bounces and will reach the destination in lesser time.

b) Graded Index Fiber

1. A graded index fiber has different densities at the core and at the edges. Density is
highest at the center of the core and decreases gradually to its lowest at the edge.
2. Because of this difference in densities, different beams refract at different angles
into a curve
3. Only the horizontal beams move in a straight line due to constant density at the
center.

Adv
anta
ges

1. They are not affected by electrical and magnetic

interference as the data travel in form of light.
2. Optical fiber offers higher bandwidth than twisted
pair or coaxial cable.
3. Optical fibers are thin, lighter in weight and small
in size as compared to other wired Medias. It is easier
to group several optical fibers in one bundle.
4. Glass is more resistant to corrosive materials as
compared to copper. Hence can be laid in different

of
Opti
cal
Fibe
r

environments.
5. In optical fibers, attenuation (loss of signal) is very
low. Therefore these fibers can run several kilometers
without amplification.
6. Fibers do not leak light and are quite difficult to
tap. So they provide security against potential wire
tappers.
7. There is no cross-talk problem in optical fibers.
8. They are highly suitable for environments where
speed is needed with full accuracy.
9: Photons in fiber do not affect one another (as they
have no charge) and are not affected by stray photons
outside the fiber. But when electrons move in a wire
they affect each other and are themselves affected by
electrons outside the wire.
10. The size (diameter) of the optical fibers is very

small (it is comparable to the diameter of human hair). Therefore a large number of
optical fibers can fit into a cable of small diameter.
11. The material used for the manufacturing of optical fibers is "silica glass". This
material is easily available. So the optical fibers cost lower than the cables with
metallic conductors.
12. As the light rays have a very high frequency in the GHz range, the bandwidth of
the optical Tiber is extremely large. This allows transmission of more number of

channels. Therefore the information carrying capacity of an optical fiber is much

higher than that of a co-axial cable.

1. Fiber optics cables are fragile. ( more easily broken than wires )
2. Being fragile, optical fibers need to be put deep into the land. This causes a lot of
installation cost. Also the interface used for these fibers are expensive.
3. More difficult and expensive to splice than wires
4. Optical fibers are unidirectional for two-way communication, two fibers are

Disa
dva

required.
5. It is a newer technology and requires skilled people
to administer and maintain them.
6. At higher optical powers, is susceptible to "fiber
fuse" where in a bit too much light meeting with an
imperfection can destroy as much as 1.5 kilometers of

ntag

wire at several meters per second. A "Fiber fuse"

protection device at the transmitter can break the
circuit to prevent damage, if the extreme conditions

es of
Opti
cal
Fibe
r

for this are deemed possible.

Cha

Fiber optic cables have the following

ract

1. Fiber optic cabling can provide extremely high

erist

electricity.

characteristics:
bandwidths in the range from 100 mbps to 2 gigabits
because light has a much higher frequency than
2. The number of nodes which a fiber optic can
support does not depend on its length but on the hub

ics

or hubs that connect cables together.

of

amplifiers and repeaters in between.

Opti
cal
Fibe
r
Cabl
es:

3. Fiber optic cable has much lower attenuation and

can carry signal to longer distances without using
4. Fiber optic cable is not effected by EMI effects and
can be used in areas where high voltages are passing
by.
5. The cost of Tiber optic cable is more compared to
twisted pair and co-axial.
6. The installation of fiber optic cables is difficult and
tedious.

Use
of
Opti
cal

Fibe
r

Fibers can be used as light guides in medical and other

applications where bright light needs to be brought to
bear on a target without a clear line-of-sight path.
Optical fibers can be used as sensors to measure strain,
temperature, pressure and other parameters.
Bundles of fibers are used along with lenses for long,
thin imaging devices called endoscopes, which are used
to view objects through a small hole. Medical
endoscopes are used for minimally invasive exploratory
or surgical procedures (endoscopy). Industrial
endoscopes (see fiberscope or bore scope) are used for
inspecting anything hard to reach, such as jet engine
interiors.
In some high-tech buildings, optical fibers are used to
route sunlight from the roof to other parts of the
building.
Optical fibers have many decorative applications,
including signs and art, artificial Christmas trees,

and lighting.
A few communities have Fiber to the Home technology which provides subscribers with

Ultra High Speed Internet, Telephone, and Television services.

The German company Sennheiser developed a microphone working with a Laser and
optical fibers. German article about this microphone