Chapter Five:

Fiber Optics
 Introduction
• An optical fiber is essentially a waveguide for light
• It consists of a core and cladding that surrounds the core
• The index of refraction of the cladding is less than that of the core,
causing rays of light leaving the core to be refracted back into the core
• A light-emitting diode (LED) or laser diode (LD) can be used for the
source
• Advantages of optical fiber include:
– Greater bandwidth than copper
– Lower loss
– Immunity to crosstalk
– No electrical hazard
Optical fibre layers
Optical Fiber & Communications System
 Optical Fiber
• Optical fiber is made from thin strands of either
glass or plastic
• It has little mechanical strength, so it must be
enclosed in a protective jacket
• Often, two or more fibers are enclosed in the
same cable for increased bandwidth and
redundancy in case one of the fibers breaks
• It is also easier to build a full-duplex system using
two fibers, one for transmission in each direction
 Total Internal Reflection
• Optical fibers work on the principle of total
internal reflection
• With light, the refractive index is listed
• The angle of refraction at the interface between
two media is governed by Snell’s law:

n1 sin 1  n2 sin 2
Refraction & Total Internal Reflection
 Numerical Aperture
• The numerical aperture of the
fiber is closely related to the
critical angle and is often used in
the specification for optical fiber
and the components that work
with it
• The numerical aperture is given by
the formula:
N . A.  n  n  sin a
2
1
2
2

• The angle of acceptance is sine

inverse of numerical aperture.
Numerical Aperture
 Types of fibres
Multimode(MMF)
Single mode(SMF)
• Diameter-62.5/125μm
• Diameter-
• 1.Step Index-(SPIN)
4/125μm(core/cladding)

2.Graded Index(GRIN)
 Modes and Materials
• Since optical fiber is a waveguide, light can propagate in a
number of modes
• If a fiber is of large diameter, light entering at different angles
will excite different modes while narrow fiber may only excite
one mode
• Multimode propagation will cause dispersion, which results in
the spreading of pulses and limits the usable bandwidth
• Single-mode fiber has much less dispersion but is more
expensive to produce. Its small size, together with the fact that
its numerical aperture is smaller than that of multimode fiber,
makes it more difficult to couple to light sources
 Types of Fiber
• Both types of fiber described earlier are known as step-index fibers because
the index of refraction changes radically between the core and the cladding
• Graded-index fiber is a compromise multimode fiber, but the index of
refraction gradually decreases away from the center of the core
• Graded-index fiber has less dispersion than a multimode step-index fiber

SMF GRIN SPIN

What is Signal Attenuation?
The yellow character which is further away from the white
character hears a weaker sound than the purple character.
Sound gets attenuated.
In a similar way, light gets attenuated when travelling in an
optical fibre.
The amount of light coming out at the end of the fibre
is less than the amount originally transmitted.
Attenuation is measured in decibels per
kilometer (dB/km).
It is related to the ratio of the input and output power of the
fiber.
α=10 log(P1/P2)
L
 Causes of Attenuation

• The attenuation or losses ocurring in glass

fibre are due to:
• 1· absorption
• 2· scattering
• 3· geometrical effects
• All these phenomena contribute to
the degradation of the fibre transmission.
 1.Light Absorption

• Light is absorbed in glass by:

• · the material itself
• · the impurities present in glass
• · the atomic defects present in glass
• Absorption due to impurities also contributes to signal attenuation.
• The main culprits are:
• the transition metal ions
• the OH ions present in the glass.
• The unwanted elements are mainly Fe, Cu, V, Co, Ni, Mn and Cr.The OH ions come
from water.
• Absorption of light by these impurities causes the electrons in low-level energy states to go
to levels of higher energy.
• The OH ions pose a big problem in fibre fabrication as they are quite easy to create: light is
absorbed significantly by OHat 1.37, 1.23 and 0.95 µm. These wavelengths must be
avoided when transmitting light in a fibre.
•

•
 2.Scattering
• During the fabrication of a fibre,
small variations of density are created as the glass cools
down. These variations are smaller than the wavelengths used
in optical communications and act as scattering objects.
• We know from the fizzz of scattering, that Rayleigh
scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of
the wavelength.
• Rayleigh scattering prohibits the use of wavelengths below
0.8 µm.
•
 3.Geometry Effects(Bending
Losses)
• Light is lost at bends.
• A light ray travels into a fibre by total internal reflection.
• At a bend, the angle between the normal and the ray might be less than
the critical angle: the ray is not reflected but is radiated. (when Ø<C)

•
Total Attenuation
 Losses
• Losses vary greatly depending upon the type of fiber
– Plastic fiber may have losses of several hundred dB per kilometer
– Graded-index multimode glass fiber has a loss of about 2–4 dB
per kilometer
– Single-mode fiber has a loss of 0.4 dB/km or less.
Fiber-Optic Cable Construction
 Fiber-Optic Technology:
Benefits/Drawbacks
• Benefits-High transmission rate(at velocity of light)
• Immunity to electromagnetic interference
• Low attenuation
• High security of data
• Small weight and size
• Low power consumption
• Non-flammable
• Free from electric shocks ,Short circuit
• Flexibility

• Drawbacks-High installation cost

• Less Durability
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 High Transmission Rate
• Fiber supports extremely high transmission rates
• Many applications require these rates
– Video
– Music sharing
– Transmission of medical images
– Satellite imagery
– Cable TV broadcasting
– Internet’s transmission backbone
• A fiber optic communication system with 160
WDM channels could transmit close to 26 terabits
per second (i.e. 26,000,000,000,000)

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 Immunity to Electromagnetic
Interference
• Light rather than electricity
• Immune to electromagnetic interference (EMI)
• The presence of EMI directly affects the
transmission rate
• Thus, the immunity to EMI enables the large
capacity of fiber optics
• Fiber used to replace copper in noisy environments
• A safer option in an industrial environment, where
the presence of an electrical signal could present a
fire hazard

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 Low Attenuation
• Low attenuation—on the order of fractions of a
dB/km in some transmission systems.
• As compared to Copper cables, no heating loss is
• in OFC.
• Glass used for fiber-optic cables is much purer
than the glass we find in a car windshield
• The purer the glass, the lower the signal
degradation
• Low attenuation translates directly to efficient
long-distance communications, such as
transatlantic or other suboceanic cable routes
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 High Security
• Unlike wireless or copper-based transmission
systems, fiber-optic systems more difficult to crack
• You cannot tap into a fiber cable by merely slicing
the cable jacket and clipping a crocodile clip on the
cable, as you can with a copper cable
• Banks, embassies, and many governmental
departments that require private communications
use heavy-duty, robust fiber-optic cabling systems
due to its high level of security

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 Small Weight and Size
• Because fiber cables are either made of glass or
plastic, they are much more lightweight than a
metal like copper
• A fiber as thin as a strand of hair has much more
capacity than a thick, heavy coaxial copper cable
• In applications used on aircraft and satellite
systems, where weight is a major issue, and in
applications where space is a concern, fiber
optics has obvious advantages

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 Low Power Consumption
• Because fiber-optic cables have low attenuation
characteristics, the amount of power that must
be supplied in the cable is much lower than in
copper-based systems across the same distance
• Efficient LEDs and LDs as well as efficient light
detectors are readily available to reduce the
overall power consumption of an optical link

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 High Installation Cost
• High planning, installation, and maintenance cost
• To properly install, lay, and align these cables,
personnel usually require extensive training,
because these cables can be sensitive to stretching
or other physical effects
• Elaborate installations are often required for
important applications to minimize these effects
• The cost of installing fiber-optic systems is
decreasing because more efficient components and
techniques are being developed to make
installation easier

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 Commercial Cables

• Fiber optics used in a wide array of

applications:
– Medicine
– Telecommunications
– Computing
– Computer networking
– Transoceanic cables
– Military applications
– (Fiber guided Missiles)
– Optical Fiber Sensors
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Commercial Cables (continued)
• Fiber optics used in a wide array of medical
applications:
– Endoscopy
• The process of inspecting various
organs of the body using a device
called an endoscope
• A fiber-optic cable as part of an
endoscope can be used to provide the
light and transport the imagery of
various organs of the body such as the
stomach

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Structure of Commercial Cables

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 Summary
• Fiber-optic cables are made up of a few basic
components, including the core, cladding, and coating
or jacket
• Light within a fiber-optic cable is carried from one
end to the other based on a phenomenon called total
internal reflection
• The core and the cladding have different refractive
indices, so that light that traverses the core and hits
the core-cladding boundary undergoes refraction
• Light rays that strike the core-cladding boundary at
an angle greater than the critical angle undergo total
internal reflection

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 Summary (continued)
• Lasers and LEDs are the primary sources that are used to
insert light into a fiber-optic cable
• Photodiodes and phototransistors are transducers that
convert light back into electricity
• Fiber-optic cables may be classified as either single-mode
or multi-mode; single-mode fibers have a smaller core
diameter and can support higher transmission rates across
longer distances than multi-mode fibers
• Fiber-optic cables may also be classified according to the
nature of their core’s refractive index
• Step index fibers have a uniform refractive index
throughout their core, whereas graded index fibers have a
refractive index that varies gradually through their core

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 Summary (continued)
• Advantages of fiber-optic cables include high
transmission rates, immunity to EMI, low
attenuation, high security, small weight and size,
and low power consumption
• Disadvantages include higher installation and
maintenance costs and difficulty in splicing.

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 Summary (continued)
• Commercial fiber-optic cables are sold with
multiple strands of fibers packaged as a single
cable with extra components that increase its
strength
• Established but unused fiber-optic systems are
called dark fiber
• Various commercial applications of fiber-optic
cables include transoceanic communications,
computer networking, computing, and medicine

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