LECTURE 6: OPTICAL FIBER WAVEGUIDES: RAY THEORY

A Course Material on

Optical Fiber Communication

Dr. Samarth Borkar
Dept. of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering.
Goa College of Engineering.

Optical Fiber Waveguides: Ray Theory

(Revision and Numerical)

Fiber Optic Basics

Optical fibers are circular dielectric wave-guides that
can transport optical energy and information. They
have a central core surrounded by a concentric
cladding with slightly lower (by ≈ 1%) refractive index.
Optical fibers are typically made of silica with index-
modifying dopants such as GeO2. A protective coating
of one or two layers of cushioning material (such as
acrylate) is used to reduce cross talk between adjacent
fibers and the loss-increasing microbending that
occurs when fibers are pressed against rough surfaces.

Numerical Aperture of Optical Fibers

What is the Numerical Aperture of an Optical Fiber?
Numerical Aperture is the measure of the ability of an optical fiber to collect or confine the
incident light ray inside it. It is among the most basic property of optical fiber.
NA is related to acceptance angle. As acceptance angle is that max angle through which light
enters the fiber. Hence the acceptance angle and numerical aperture are related to each
other.

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 LECTURE 6: OPTICAL FIBER WAVEGUIDES: RAY THEORY

Consider an optical fibre having a core of refractive index n1 and cladding of refractive index
n2. let the incident light makes an angle i with the core axis as shown in figure (6.2). Then
the light gets refracted at an angle θ and fall on the core-cladding interface at an angle
where,

---------------------- (1)

Figure 6.2 Ray propagation through optical fiber

By Snell’s law at the point of entrance of light in to the optical fiber we get,

-------------------- (2)

Where n0 is refractive index of medium outside the fiber. For air n0 =1.

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 LECTURE 6: OPTICAL FIBER WAVEGUIDES: RAY THEORY

When light travels from core to cladding it moves from denser to rarer medium and so it
may be totally reflected back to the core medium if θ' exceeds the critical angle θ'c. The
critical angle is that angle of incidence in denser medium (n1) for which angle of refraction
become 90°. Using Snell’s laws at core cladding interface,

or

----------------------- (3)

Therefore, for light to be propagated within the core of optical fiber as guided wave, the
angle of incidence at core-cladding interface should be greater than θ'c. As i increases, θ
increases and so θ' decreases. Therefore, there is maximum value of angle of incidence
beyond which, it does not propagate rather it is refracted in to cladding medium ( fig:6.2(b)).
This maximum value of i say im is called maximum angle of acceptance and n0 sin im is
termed as the numerical aperture (NA).
From equation (2),

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 LECTURE 6: OPTICAL FIBER WAVEGUIDES: RAY THEORY

From equation (2)

Therefore,

The significance of NA is that light entering in the cone of semi vertical angle im only
propagate through the fibre. The higher the value of im or NA more is the light collected for
propagation in the fibre. Numerical aperture is thus considered as a light gathering capacity
of an optical fibre.
Numerical Aperture is defined as the Sine of half of the angle of fiber’s light acceptance
cone. i.e. NA= Sin θa where θa, is called acceptance cone angle.

1). What is the numerical aperture (NA)?

Numerical aperture is the ability to gather light otherwise an optical fiber capacity.
2). What is the application of the numerical aperture of optical fiber?
In fiber optics, it describes the angles range where light is occurring on the fiber optic will
be broadcasted along with it.
3). What is the application of numerical aperture?
NA is generally used in microscopy for describing the acceptance cone
4).What is the acceptance angle in fiber optic cable?
The maximum angle completed through the light ray using the fiber axis to propagate the
light via the fiber after the whole internal reflection is known as the acceptance angle.

5). How to select an optical fiber?

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 LECTURE 6: OPTICAL FIBER WAVEGUIDES: RAY THEORY

There are various parameters that should be taken into reflection to select the suitable
optical fiber in signal propagation.

6).What is the working principle of a fiber optic cable?

The working principle of a fiber optic cable is total internal reflection where the light signals
can be broadcasted from one position to another through a small loss of energy.

Exercise 1: A step-index fiber has a core index of refraction of n1 = 1.425. The cut-off angle for
light entering the fiber from air is found to be 8.50o. (a) What is the numerical aperture of
the fiber? (b) What is the index of refraction of the cladding of this fiber? (c) If the fiber
were submersed in water, what would be the new numerical aperture and cut-off angle?

Solution:

(a) From the reference text of indices of refraction, we see that n0 = nair = 1.0003. The
numerical aperture is therefore
NA = n0 sin θ0max = (1.0003) sin (8.50o) = 0.148.
(b) The index of refraction of the cladding can be found from the numerical aperture:
n12 - n22 = NA2.
n22 = n12 - NA2 = (1.425)2 - (0.1479)2 = 2.0088
n2 = 1.417.
(c) From the reference text, we see that the n0 = nwater = 1.33. Since the numerical aperture is
a property of the fiber and only depends upon n1 and n2, it will not change when the
medium outside the fiber changes. The cut-off angle, however, will have to change if the
numerical aperture is to be unaffected by a change in n0:
NA = 0.148.
sin θ0max = NA/n0
θ0max = sin-1(NA/n0) = sin-1(0.1479/1.33) = = sin-1(0.1112) = 6.38o.

The geometry of the 3-dim acceptance cone is dependent on the indices of refraction of the
outside medium, the core medium, and the cladding medium.

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Exercise 2: Assume that a particular fiber optic cable is surrounded by water (n = 1.33) and
the fiber core and cladding are plastic (n = 1.45 and 1.40, respectively), thus defining a
certain acceptance cone and angle.
a. What is the acceptance angle?
b. Predict what would happen to the following fiber properties if the index of refraction of
the plastic fiber core is increased to a more refractive material such as flint glass (n = 1.7):
The critical angle at the core/cladding interface? Would it get bigger, smaller, or stay the
same? Why?
The acceptance cone? Would it get bigger, smaller, or stay the same? Why?
What is the acceptance angle of this new type of fiber?
Solution:

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 LECTURE 6: OPTICAL FIBER WAVEGUIDES: RAY THEORY

Exercise 3: Using Snell’s Law, geometric identities and your experimental data on
acceptance angle (see Experiment 1), complete the following: (given: n air = 1.0003, n
water = 1.33, n acrylic = 1.49)
a. Carefully draw the path of light as it travels through the air into an acrylic rod
surrounded by water except at the end face. Include the following on your drawing:
1. Label all indices of refraction on the diagram
2. An incident light ray that is at the boundary of the acceptance cone. Label the angle ɵa .
3. The refracted angle ɵt at the air/acrylic interface. Calculate ɵt.
4. The critical angle ɵc at the core/cladding interface. Calculate ɵc.

b. Calculate the acceptance angle for this experiment and compare your calculated value
to the measured acceptance angle. Show all work.
c. Will light with an incident angle greater than the acceptance angle enter the core of the
fiber and exhibit TIR down the fiber? If not, what will it do? Explain your answer by relating
it to your experimental results.
d. Will light with an incident angle less than the acceptance angle enter the core of the fiber
and exhibit TIR down the fiber? If not, what will it do? Explain your answer by relating it
to your experimental results.

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References:
https://www.newport.com/t/fiber-optic-basics
https://www.rpi.edu/dept/phys/ScIT/InformationTransfer/reflrefr/rr_sample/rrsample
_25.html
https://www.rp-photonics.com/numerical_aperture.html (Online Calculator)

My lecture notes prepared over the years forms the resource material for this compilation. Most of the
material and figures have been taken from a wide collection of Textbooks, research papers, and review articles
published in journals/proceedings. Although this compilation has been created with utmost determination
and hard work still any kind of constructive criticism are always welcome and gratefully appreciated. I do not
lay any claims to original research therein but what I can claim is the way the contents have been presented.
Refer standard suggested textbooks for in-depth understanding. It is beyond the scope of this compilation to
cover all the aspects exhaustively. ~ Dr. Samarth Borkar, Goa College of Engineering.