CHARACTERIZATION OF OPTICAL

FIBERS

To evaluate the performance of an optical fiber, it is

necessary to study the various parameters that
characterize it. These are the total optical
attenuation, dispersion, numerical aperture, and
refractive index profile.
 CHARACTERIZATION OF OPTICAL
FIBERS
Measurement of Optical Attenuation
Three types of measurement techniques have been developed for measuring
attenuation in optical fibers. They measure (i) total attenuation, (ii)
absorption loss, and (iii) scattering loss. The overall or total attenuation is of
interest to the system designer, whereas the contribution to this total by the
absorption loss and scattering loss mechanisms is important in the
development of low-loss optical fibers.

The cutback or differential technique

Total attenuation
The loss due to absorption, a calorimetric method
may be used.
Loss due to scattering
Measurement of Dispersion
Measurement of Dispersion
Measurement of Numerical Aperture
Field Measurements: Optical Time Domain reflectometry
An optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) is
an optoelectronic instrument used to
characterize an optical fiber. An OTDR is the
optical equivalent of an electronic time domain
reflectometer. It injects a series of optical
pulses into the fiber under test and extracts,
from the same end of the fiber, light that is
scattered (Rayleigh backscatter) or reflected
back from points along the fiber. The scattered
or reflected light that is gathered back is used
to characterize the optical fiber. The strength of
the return pulses is measured and integrated as
a function of time, and plotted as a function of
fiber length.
OTDR provides information about the location dependence of the attenuation. The
slope of the plot simply gives the attenuation per unit length for the fiber. In this way,
it is superior to other methods of measuring attenuation, which provide the average
loss over the whole length. Further, it gives information about the splice or connector
losses and the location of any faults on the link. Finally, the overall link length can be
calculated from the time difference between the Fresnel reflections from the two
ends of the fiber. Furthermore, it requires access to only one end of the fiber for
performing measurements.
Field Measurements: Optical Time Domain reflectometry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urJ7namHVn4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Qh4NPTIlI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aH8nnn9WGM
 Optical Amplifiers
In a fiber-optic communication system, digital or analog signals from a
transmitter are coupled into the optical fiber. As they propagate along the length
of the fiber, these signals get attenuated due to absorption, scattering, etc. and
broadened due to dispersion. After a certain length, the cumulative effect of
attenuation and dispersion causes the signals to become too weak and
indistinguishable to be detected reliably. Before this happens, the strength and
shape of the signals must be restored. This can be done by using

(1) either a regenerator or

(2) an optical amplifier at an appropriate point along the length of
the fiber.
 Optical Amplifiers
A regenerator is an optoelectronic device. It amplifies and cleans up the optical
signal in three steps. The first step is to convert an optical signal into an electrical
signal and then amplify it electronically; the second step is to clean up the signal
pulses using re-timing and pulse-shaping circuits; and the third step is to
reconvert the amplified electrical signal into an optical signal. This signal is then
coupled in to the next segment of the optical fiber. Such regenerators are
designed to operate at a specific data rate and format. Their use is usually limited
to digital systems, where the digital structure of the pulses makes it possible to
discriminate between the signal and the noise. However, such systems may not
be useful in long-haul communication systems where noise and dispersion can
accumulate to obscure the signal.
 Optical Amplifiers
An optical amplifier operates solely in the optical domain, that is, it takes in a
weak optical signal from one segment of the link, amplifies it optically to produce
a strong optical signal (without recourse to photon-to-electron conversion and
vice versa), and couples it to the next segment of the link. Such devices offer
several advantages over regenerators, namely, (i) they are insensitive to data rate
or signal format and (ii) they have large gain bandwidths. Hence a single optical
amplifier can simultaneously amplify many wavelength-division multiplexed
(WDM) signals propagating through the same fiber.
 Optical Amplifiers
There are two main classes of optical amplifiers, namely,
(i) semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA), which utilize stimulated
emission from injected carriers, and

(ii) fiber amplifiers, in which the gain is provided by either rare-

earth dopants or stimulated Raman scattering.
 ERBIUM-DOPED FIBER AMPLIFIERS
An EDFA uses the process of optical pumping. This requires at least three energy
levels (the ground, metastable, and pump levels). The energy of the pumping
photon, which corresponds to the difference between the ground and pump levels, is
absorbed and the system is raised to the higher excited state (pump level). After
reaching there, the electron rapidly loses part of its energy non-radiatively and falls
to the metastable level (also known as the lasing level). If the pump power is high,
the population in the lasing level may exceed that in the ground level. This is called
population inversion. Under such a condition, if a signal photon (corresponding to the
wavelength of light being transmitted through the optical fiber link, which is 1.55 m
in the present case) passes through this medium, it can trigger a stimulated emission
from the lasing level to the ground level, thus producing a new photon that is
identical to the signal photon. Therefore, this process requires the energy of the
pumping photon to be greater than that of the signal photon. In other words, the
pump wavelength should be shorter than the signal wavelength.
ERBIUM-DOPED FIBER AMPLIFIERS
 ERBIUM-DOPED FIBER AMPLIFIERS
There are several ways to optically
pump an erbium-doped optical fiber
and achieve gain. An intense source of
pumping, e.g., a laser emitting 0.98 m
can be used to excite Er3+ ions from the
ground band 4I15/2 to the pump band
4I11/2 .

In practice, most EDFAs employ 0.98-m

pump lasers, as they are commercially
available and can provide more than 100
mW of pump power. Sources of 1.48m
are also available, but require larger fibers
and higher pump powers.