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Ofc Assign02

There are three main types of dispersion in optical fibers: 1) Chromatic dispersion occurs because different wavelengths of light travel at different speeds through the fiber material. This causes pulse spreading over long distances. 2) Polarization mode dispersion arises from imperfections in the fiber that cause different polarization modes to travel at different speeds. It varies over time based on environmental factors. 3) Material and waveguide dispersion both arise from the fiber properties and cause wavelength-dependent pulse spreading, with waveguide dispersion additionally dependent on the fiber design. Managing these dispersion types is important for high-speed optical transmission.

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64 views4 pages

Ofc Assign02

There are three main types of dispersion in optical fibers: 1) Chromatic dispersion occurs because different wavelengths of light travel at different speeds through the fiber material. This causes pulse spreading over long distances. 2) Polarization mode dispersion arises from imperfections in the fiber that cause different polarization modes to travel at different speeds. It varies over time based on environmental factors. 3) Material and waveguide dispersion both arise from the fiber properties and cause wavelength-dependent pulse spreading, with waveguide dispersion additionally dependent on the fiber design. Managing these dispersion types is important for high-speed optical transmission.

Uploaded by

Asad Malik
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Dispersion in Fiber Optics

Introduction
Dispersion is the spreading out of a light pulse in time as it propagates down the fiber. The pulse at the output of the fiber is wider than the input since as it travels along the fiber it becomes wider. Dispersion is measured in units of time, ususally nanoseconds or picoseconds. The total dispersion of a fiber depends on its length. A longer fiber causes more pulse broadening and has larger dispersion. There are basically three types of dispersion, Model Dispersion, Material Dispersion, and Waveguide Dispersion

Chromatic Dispersion (CD)


CD Definition and Origin Light within a medium travels at a slower speed than in vacuum. The speed at which light travels is determined by the mediums refractive index. In an ideal situation, the refractive index would not depend on the wavelength of the light. Since this is not the case, different wavelengths travel at different speeds within an optical fiber.

Figure 1: CD in single-mode fiber Laser sources are spectrally thin, but not monochromatic. This means that the input pulse contains several wavelength components, traveling at different speeds, causing the pulse to spread. The detrimental effects of chromatic dispersion result in the slower wavelengths of one pulse intermixing with the faster wavelengths of an adjacent pulse, causing intersymbol interference. The Chromatic Dispersion of a fiber is expressed in ps/(nm*km), representing the differential delay, or time spreading (in ps), for a source with a spectral width of 1 nm traveling on 1 km of the fiber. It depends on the fiber type, and it limits the bit rate or the transmission distance for a good quality of service.

Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD)


PMD Definition and Origin Testing for Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) is becoming essential before upgrading a network to a higher bit rate because PMD can highly degrade the quality of transmission. It is a difficult parameter to measure, however, because it varies with time and depends on environmental conditions.PMD is known to stem from the difference in the propagation constants of a fiber due to geometrical imperfections in the fiber. The term PMD denotes both the physical phenomenon and the associated temporal delay. PMD also causes a system penalty because of the associated pulse spreading in a highspeed digital transmission system. The physical origin of PMD is essentially linear birefringence due to core eccentricity and ovalization. These appear during the manufacturing process or result from external stresses on the fiber, such as bends and twists, and can be considered constant over a length called the coupling length. The typical value of the coupling length is several hundred meters and depends on fiber manufacturing parameters. This means that for distances that are practical for transmission applications, the actual length of the fiber is much greater than the coupling length. The PMD phenomenon is characterized by Differential Group Delay (DGD). DGD is the difference in propagation time between the two polarization eigenstates, which are the states of polarization with minimum and maximum propagation time for each wavelength.

Figure 9: DGD of PM and random coupling fibers Phase-shift method CD-OTDR method application long-haul link metro & access link measurement constraint two-ended measurement one-ended measurement accuracy good accuracy (depending on number of acquired points) <5% with 6-wavelength CD-OTDR cost high low + 3-wavelength OTDR testing capability In case of weak mode coupling (Polarization Maintaining Fiber--short length of ordinary fiber), the light polarized along the slow axis arrives later than the light traveling along the fast axis (i.e., the fast and slow axes have different indexes of refraction). In this case, the PMD is equal to the DGD. In other cases (long

fiber lengths), the optical fiber acts like many short birefringent elements stacked together and the alignment of fast- and slow-axes is random from element to element. Consequently, we speak about random (or strong) mode coupling. In that case, the DGD varies as a function of wavelength and the PMD, expressed in ps, is the average value of the DGD spectral distribution. The average DGD scales as the square root of the length of the fiber. So the PMD coefficient, expressed in ps/km, is often calculated. In addition, the second-order PMD coefficient, in ps/ (nm.km), expresses the PMD dependency with the wavelength. PMD needs to be tested on the C&L bands. But, depending on the wavelength transmission window of the network, there is a need to also test PMD at 1310 nm as PMD values could be different from 1310 nm to 1550 nm. The Statistical Nature of PMD For a practical transmission system, DGD determines the system penalty and depends to a large extent on the wavelength of operation within the operating wavelength band. But DGD also changes with environmental conditions over time. The next two traces show DGD as a function of wavelength, for the same fiber at different times.

Model Dispersion in Multimode Fibers


This is related to the fact that a pulse of light transmitted through a fiber optic cable is composed of several rays of light instead of only one single beam, therefore it is called modal dispersion. They have a much larger core size. Each mode enters the fiber at a different angle and then travels at different paths in the fiber. Since the rays of the light pulse are not perfectly focused together into one beam, each mode of light travels a different path, some short and some long. Therefore, the modes will not be received at the same time and the signal will be distorted or possibly even lost over long distances. The light pulse spreads out and eventually can cause signal overlapping so bad that you can't distinguish them anymore. It is not a problem in single mode fibers since there is only one mode that can travel in the fiber.

Material Dispersion
This is also known as chromatic dispersion. Since the refractive index of the fiber medium varies. And since the light source nor the fiber optic cable is 100 percent pure, the pulse being sent becomes less and less precise as the light's wavelengths are separated over long distances. This same effect happens when a glass prism disperses light into a spectrum.

Waveguide Dispersion
This is very similar to material dispersion in that they both cause signals of different wavelengths and frequencies to separate from the light pulse. However, with wave-guide dispersion it depends on the shape, design and chemical composition of the fiber core. Only 80 percent of the power from a light source is confined to the core in a standard single-mode fiber, the other 20 percent actually propagates through the inner layer of the cladding. This 20 percent travels faster because the refractive index of the cladding is lower than that of the core. Therefore, signals of differing frequencies and wavelengths are dispersed and the pulse becomes indistinguishable. An increase in the wave-guide dispersion in an optical fiber can be used to counterbalance material dispersion and change the wavelength of zero chromatic dispersion to 1550 nanometers.

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