Light Ray Propagation 1

Light Ray Propagation

Objectives
In this lecture you will learn the following
 Simple ray model
 Propagation of Meridional Rays
 Dispersion
 Different types of fibers
 Limitations of the Ray-model
PROPAGATION OF LIGHT IN AN OPTICAL FIBER (RAY MODEL)
1.1 BASICS
1. Optical fiber is basically a solid glass rod. The diameter of rod is so small that it looks like
a fiber.
2. Optical fiber is a dielectric waveguide. The light travels like an electromagnetic wave
inside the waveguide. The dielectric waveguide is different from a metallic waveguide
which is used at microwave and millimeter wave frequencies.
3. In a metallic waveguide, there is a complete shielding of electromagnetic radiation but in
an optical fiber the electromagnetic radiation is not just confined inside the fiber but also
extends outside the fiber.
4. The light gets guided inside the structure, through the basic phenomenon of total internal
reflection .
5. The optical fiber consists of two concentric cylinders; the inside solid cylinder is called the
core and the surrounding shell is called the cladding . (See Fig 1)

Figure1: Schematic of an optical fiber

6. For the light to propagate inside the fiber through total internal reflections at core-cladding
interface, the refractive index of the core must be greater than the refractive index of the
cladding. That is n1 > n2.

1.2 SIMPLE RAY MODEL

Figure 2 (optical fiber with core, cladding and total internally reflected ray)

For propagation of light inside the core there are two possibilities.

1. A light ray is launched in a plane containing the axis of the fiber. We can then see the light
2 Light Ray Propagation

ray after total internal reflection travels in the same plane i.e., the ray is confined to the plane
in which it was launched and never leave the plane. In this situation the rays will always cross
the axis of the fiber. These are called the Meridional rays. (Fig. 2)

2. The other possibility is that the ray is not launched in a plane containing the axis of the
fiber.
For example if the ray is launched at some angle such that it does not intersect the
axis of the fiber, then after total internal reflection it will go to some other plane. We can see
that in this situation the ray will never intersect the axis of the fiber. The ray essentially will
spiral around the axis of fiber. These rays are called the Skew rays.
So it can be concluded that if the light is to propagate inside an optical fiber it could
be through two types of rays

a) Meridional rays: The rays which always pass through the axis of fiber giving high optical
intensity at the center of the core of the fiber.
b) Skew Rays : The rays which never intersect the axis of the fiber, giving low optical
intensity at the center and high intensity towards the rim of the fiber.

1.3 Propagation of Meridional Rays

Figure (3)

1. Let us consider figure 3. A ray is launched from outside (air) at an angle θ0 , from the axis
of the fiber.
The question is, under what conditions the ray is ultimately guided inside the core due
to total internal reflections at the core cladding boundary?

2. Let the ray makes an angle θ1 with the axis of the fiber inside the core, and let the ray
make an angle ϕ1 with core-cladding interface. Let ϕ2 be the angle of refraction in the
cladding.
If ϕ1 < critical angle the ray is refracted in cladding. The ray which goes to cladding is
lost and is not useful for communication. The ray which is confined to the core is useful
for optical communication.

3. Now as we increase the launching angle θ0, the angle θ1 also increases.
Since
 Light Ray Propagation 1

ϕ1 decreases and at some point becomes less than the critical angle. When ϕ1 = critical
angle, ϕ2 = π/2. The maximum launching angle then corresponds to ϕ2 = π/2 .

4. Let us apply Snell's law at the launching point and at the core-cladding interface for
the maximum launching angle θ0max
For this case let

then we have

now,

So the sine of the maximum angle at which the ray will be guided inside the
fiber is given by square root of the difference of squares of the refractive indices of
the core and cladding. The quantity Sin θ0max is called NUMERICAL APERTURE of
an optical fiber.
The NA is a measure of the power launching efficiently of an optical fiber.

5. Numerical Aperture: This parameter tells us that if we take an optical fiber and put it
in front of an optical source then how much light is collected by the fiber from the
source. Smaller the value of N.A, smaller the value of θ0max(maximum launching
angle) and smaller is the power accepted by the fiber. In other words, if the light is
available from various directions from the source, only a portion of light is accepted
by an optical fiber and the remaining part of the light is rejected by it.

6. If we want good light launching efficiency then θ0max should be as large as possible.
Since Sin θ0max is related to the difference of the squares of the refractive indices of the
core and the cladding, the difference of squares of the refractive indices should be as
large as possible.
So, for good launching efficiency, should be large compared to . Since
the material for the optical fiber has been chosen as glass, the refractive index of the
core is practically fixed to about 1.5.
The only choice therefore we have is to reduce the refractive index of the
cladding for good launching efficiency. Since n2 = 1(i.e., no cladding) is the minimum
possible value, it suggests that the cladding is an undesirable feature. In the first look
it then appears that the cladding is only for mechanical support.

4. DISPERSION

1. The amount of light accepted by an optical fiber is only one of the parameters in optical
communication. A more important parameter is the data rate which the fiber can handle
since the primary purpose here is to send information from one point to another.
4 Light Ray Propagation

Figure (4)

2. As we see from the figure 4, all the rays contained within the cone 2θ0max are accepted by
the optical fiber.
(a) Let us take two extreme rays; one at the lowest possible angle (along the axis of the
fiber), and one at the highest possible angle (θ0max ).
(b) Take a length L along the fiber axis traveled by the rays.
(c) Let us now transmit a narrow pulse of light. The light pulse indicates binary
information. If there is a pulse then a bit is present, otherwise the bit is absent. When
the light is switched on, all the rays are switched on at the same time. The pulse
energy is therefore divided between different rays which travel by different paths
inside the fiber.
(d) The pulse along the axis of the optical fiber takes less time to travel the distance L,
than the pulse which travels at the extreme angle .
(e) As shown in the figure 4, the distance traveled by the extreme ray is
The time difference between the axial ray and the extreme ray then is:

where c is velocity of light. Since the core material is glass,n 1 ≈ 1.5 , and since , n2 ≤ n1, it can
lie between 1 and 1.5.
The ratio n1 / n2 then lies between 1 and 1.5 only. The time difference Δt per unit
length therefore is more or less proportional to (n1 - n2) .
Δt per km α (n1 - n2)
The time difference Δt essentially is the measure of pulse broadening on the optical fiber.
This phenomenon is called DISPERSION of an optical fiber. The dispersion (pulse
broadening) has to be small since the data rate is inversely proportional to the pulse
broadening. For high speed communication (high speed does not refer to the time taken by
data to reach the destination but it refers to the number of bits per sec) the pulse broadening
and hence the dispersion should be minimal.
f) For low dispersion (n1 - n2) should be as small as possible. So for an optical fiber the
refractive index of core has to be made as close to the refractive index of cladding as
possible.

3. Contradictory Requirement:
(a) For higher launching efficiency (higher NA), n1 - n2 should be as large as possible .
(b) For high data rate (bandwidth), n1 - n2 should be as small as possible .
The two are contradictory requirements.
 Light Ray Propagation 1

Since data transfer rate is rather more important in communication, is made as small
as the fabrication technology permits.

So for all practical fibers,

Refractive index of the cladding differs from that of the core by only 0.1 to 1%.

3. Different types of fibers:

1. STEP INDEX FIBER

Figure (5): Step Index Fiber (Refractive index profile)

For this fiber the refractive index of the core is constant (see Fig 5). Since refractive
indexprofile looks like a pulse or step, this kind of fiber is called the STEP INDEX FIBER.
This structure is useful for analyzing propagation of light inside an optical fiber. Generally it
is not used in practice because data transfer rate in this fiber is the lowest.
Just as a small exercise we can ask, what kind of pulse broadening occurs in a step
index fiber if we do not use cladding?
Let us take 1Km of the optical fiber.
Since n1 = 1.5, n2 = 1 and L = 100m,

Bandwidth ≈

So if we make a cladding-less optical fiber, its light launching efficiency is excellent

but it has hardly any bandwidth. Even an electrical cable is better than the optical fiber.
Important Conclusion: The cladding is an essential part of an optical fiber. It does
not just provide the mechanical support but increases the bandwidth of the fiber.

We can observe from the expression for pulse broadening that Δt α L keeping all other
parameters constant.
Since BW ~ 1/ Δt, we get

Important: We can trade in the bandwidth for the length and vice versa. That is, we can send
low bit rate signals over long distances and high bit rate signals only over short distances.

2. GRADED INDEX FIBER

(a) In a step index fiber since the refractive index is constant inside the core, the
velocity of all the rays is constant and hence there is travel time difference between
different rays. If we develop a system where the rays which travel longer distances
travel with higher velocities and the rays which travel shorter distances travel with
6 Light Ray Propagation

lower velocities, the pulse spread on the fiber can be reduced and consequently the
bandwidth can be increased.
(b) The ray which is at a higher angle, should speed up and the ray which is along
the axis of the fiber should travel with the slowest possible velocity. Since velocity is
inversely proportional to the refractive index, it can be manipulated by changing the
refractive index of the core. The refractive index of outer layers of the core should be
smaller compared to that of the inner layers, so the rays that go in the outer layers,
travel faster.
So we find that for reducing dispersion, the refractive index at the center
should be maximum and it should gradually decrease from the center to the core-
cladding interface.The rays that go at higher angles speed up and the dispersion gets
reduced. 2
In this fiber we grade the refractive index profile of the core and consequently
it is called the graded index fiber.

A graded index fiber and the ray propagation is shown in the figure 6:

Figure (6): (Graded Index Profile)

(c) If we taper the profile optimally, we get the dispersion reduction compared to
that for a step index fiber, even by a factor of thousand. The data rate of a typical
graded index fiber is typically 10 to 100 times higher compared to a step index fiber.
Therefore, in practice, even for LANs, we use GIF (Graded Index Fiber) instead of
SIF (Step Index Fiber).

3. SINGLE MODE OPTICAL FIBER

The light basically consists of wave fronts. A line perpendicular to a wave front is called
the ray. Light is an electromagnetic wave and when we say it travels like a ray it is a
collection of wavefronts which move.
Let us take an optical fiber with light rays propagating in it. The rays and the wave
fronts which are perpendicular to the rays, are as shown in figure 7:

Figure (7): Core of optical fiber, rays with wave fronts

 Light Ray Propagation 1

Let us consider a phase front corresponding to the ray AB and passing through the
point B. This phase front also meets the ray CD at point E. In other words, the phase of the
ray at B (just before the reflection) is same as that of the ray at point E. That is to say that the
phase change corresponding to the distance BCE added with the phase (δ) of the reflection
coefficient at points B and C should be a multiple of 2π. This is what is called the condition
for the constructive interference.
From simple geometric considerations we have

phase change from B to E is

For constructive interference the phase change should be multiple of 2π

Simplifying equations we get a condition for sustained propagation of light rays inside the
core as

It can be noted that for ϕ = π/2 (i.e. the ray along the axis of the fiber), δ = 0 and the
condition is satisfied with m = 0 for any value of n1, d and λ.
As (n1d / λ) increases (either due to increase of the diameter of the core or refractive
index of the core, or decrease in wavelength) more values of m satisfy the condition and
therefore have sustained propagation inside the fiber.
The above phase condition can be satisfied only by discrete rays entering the structure
i.e. rays at finite number of angles are accepted by the optical fiber. The ensemble of rays
entering at a specific angle from the axis of the fiber gives discrete optical intensity
distributions. These are called the modes of an optical fiber.
From the expression of the phase matching condition we find that as d increases, the
number of rays accepted by the optical fiber increases and as d decreases the number of rays
decreases.
Since the dispersion is due to presence of multiple rays (modes), if only one ray is
made to propagate inside the fiber, there is no dispersion. So if we take a value of d small
enough such that it satisfies the phase condition only the lowest value of m, only one mode
will propagate inside the fiber.
The lowest value of m corresponds to the ray traveling along the axis of the fiber. In
fact this ray does not have any constraint on the size of the fiber etc, as it does not really go
through the total internal reflection at the core cladding boundary. This ray therefore always
propagates.
The optical fiber in which only one ray travels along the axis of fiber is called the
single mode optical fiber .
Single mode optical fiber is the best amongst the three types of fibers, namely the step
index fiber, GI fiber and the single mode fiber.
In a long distance communication, we use single mode optical fiber, whereas in LANs
we generally use graded index optical fiber.
8 Light Ray Propagation

Note: For single mode optical fiber however we have to use a source like laser because the
diameter of the fiber is very small and without a highly collimated beam, sufficient light can
not be launched inside the fiber.
The three types of fibers have typical diameters as follows:

OPTICAL FIBERS CORE DIAMETER.

SM 5 – 10 μm
GRADED INDEX 50 – 60 μm
STEP INDEX 50 – 60 μm

Note: The Cladding Diameter for all types of fibers has been standardized to 125 μm.

Limitations of the Ray-model

(1) The ray model gives an impression that during total internal reflection the energy is
confined to the core only. However, it is not so. In reality the optical energy spreads in
cladding also.
(2) The ray model does not speak of the discrete field patterns for propagation inside a
fiber.
(3) The ray model breaks down when the core size becomes comparable to the
wavelength of light. The ray model therefore is not quite justified for a SM fiber.
The limitations of the Ray model are overcome in the wave model discussed in the next
module.