Optical Fibers Notes - Final 07.10.20
Optical Fibers Notes - Final 07.10.20
Vasundhara
Optical fibers
The development in the fields of communication and information technology demand very
easy and rapid transmission of data over a long distance. Fiber optics technology is
increasingly replacing wire transmission lines (metallic wave guides) in communication
systems.
Structure of an Optical fibre: A practical optical fibre is cylindrical in shape having three
coaxial regions: CORE, CLADDING and SHEATH.
CORE: (Internal Light Carrying member): The inner most cylindrical region is the light
guiding region known as CORE. The diameter in general is in the order of 8.5μm to 62μm.
SHEATH: The outermost region is called the sheath (or) protective buffer coating. This is a
plastic coating for extra protection. The size vary in the range of 250 μ m to 900μm.
- Keeps the size of the fibre uniform and reduces the loss of light.
- Protects the fibre from physical damage and absorbing surface contaminants.
- Prevents leakage of light energy from fibre through evanescent waves.
- Reduces the cone of acceptance and increases the rate of transmission of data.
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- A solid cladding instead of air also makes it easier to add other protective layers
over the fibre.
Figure 2(a) shows refraction from rarer medium to denser medium, in which refracted ray is
bent towards the normal from original path. When a light ray travels from denser (higher
refractive index; n1) to rarer (lower refractive index; n2) medium, it is bent away from the
normal. If θ1 is the angle of incidence, θ2 is the angle of refraction, Snell’s law governs this
phenomenon of refraction.
If θ1 = θc- The ray just grazes the interface of rarer to denser medium [Fig (c)].
If θ1>θc- The ray is reflected back into the medium (Total Internal Reflection) [Fig (d)].
Critical Angle (Øc): The minimum angle of incidence above which the rays suffer total
internal reflection when they travel from denser to rarer medium. The expression can be derived
from Snell’s law at the interface of the two media using the fact that when angle of incidence
is its critical angle, the refracted ray grazes along the interface.
n1sinØc = n2 sin900
sinØc = ( )
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According to ray model, light rays enters the fibre and strikes the core – cladding
interface at different angles. As ncladding<ncore, the majority of rays undergo ‘Total Internal
Reflection’ at the interface. Due to cylindrical symmetry in the fibre structure, the same rays
suffer total internal reflection on the opposite sides also. Thus, the rays travel forward through
the fibre via a series of total internal reflections and emerge out from exit end of the fibre. The
internal reflection at the fibre wall can occur and light propagates down the fibre only when
The ray which enters the optical fibre out of the acceptance cone does not suffer total
internal reflection and will be lost. Let us consider the ray incident at an angle θwith the axis
of the cylinder and undergoes refraction at point A (Figure3) and propagates at an angle θc in
the fibre, and suffers total internal reflection at B.If angle of propagation θr is less than
θC(known as critical angle of propagation)at point B, it can undergo total internal reflection
(as Ø >Øc).
From ∆ ABC,
Øc = cos-1 ( )
If the angle of refraction at interface of the fibre θr<θc, the critical angle of propagation;
then the ray can propagate through.
Acceptance Angle:
Consider an optical fibre into which light is launched at one end, as refractive index
n1(core) > n2(cladding) and n0 (launching medium usually air ). Let θi is incident angle with
axis of fibre, θr is angle of refraction core, the ray strikes at Ø (>Øc) at core-cladding interface.
Sin θi 𝑛1
=
Sin θr 𝑛0
[If θi> θ0 (Acceptance Angle), then Ø goes below Øc and signal is lost] (or) for the
largest value θi(i.e. θ0 – the acceptance angle)
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Applying Snell’s law at air-core interface, when θi =θ0(acceptance angle), which implies Ø
=Øc
Sin θ 𝑛
=
Sin θ 𝑛
𝑛
Sin θ = Cos Øc
𝑛
Sin Øc 𝑛
=
Sin 90 𝑛
𝑛
Sin Øc =
𝑛
𝑛
Cos Øc = 1 − 𝑠𝑖𝑛 Øc = 1−( )
𝑛
𝑛 𝑛
Sin θ = 1−( )
𝑛 𝑛
Sin θ = 𝑛 −𝑛
𝟏
Therefore, acceptance angle, 𝛉𝟎 = 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝒏𝟏 𝟐 − 𝒏𝟐 𝟐
Definition: Acceptance angle is the maximum angle that a light ray can have relative to the
axis of the fibre and propagate down the fibre.
Acceptance Cone: In the three dimensions, the light rays contained within a cone having a full
angle 2θ0 are accepted and transmitted along the fibre. This cone is called as ‘Acceptance
Cone’.
Numeric Aperture (NA): The light gathering ability of a fibre depends on Numerical
Aperture (and size of the optical fibre). The NA is defined as the sine of the acceptance angle.
NA = Sin θ = 𝑛 −𝑛
Numerical Aperture determines the light gathering ability of the fibre. This is a measure of the
amount of light that can be accepted by a fibre. The usual range is 0.13 to 0.5. NA does not
depend on the size of the optical fibre.
Fractional Refractive Index Change: The fractional difference ∆ between the refractive
indices of the core and cladding is known as ‘fractional refractive index change’.
Mathematically, ∆=
NA = Sin θ = 𝑛 −𝑛
𝑛 −𝑛 = (𝑛 + 𝑛 )(𝑛 − 𝑛 )
𝑛 +𝑛 𝑛 −𝑛
𝑛 −𝑛 = 2𝑛
2 𝑛
𝑛 −𝑛 ≈ 2∆𝑛
Therefore, relation between Numerical aperture and fractional refractive index change is,
Modes of Propagation: Modes can be visualized as the possible number of allowed paths of
light in an optical fibre. That is all rays having propagation angle θ0 toθc. They cannot
propagate on same path but have phase shift. The high path along which the waves are in phase
inside are known as modes. The modes that propagate at an angle closer to the critical angle
Øc(i.e. close to θc) are higher order modes. The modes which are larger than critical angle
(≪θc) are lower order modes.
Step Index Fibre: Step Index Fibre in which Refractive Index is constant for core and
it changes abruptly for cladding at the interface.
GRIN (Graded Index) Fibres: The refractive index is changing gradually which has
maximum value at centre and falls smoothly over the diameter of the core.
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Single Mode Step Index Fibre: A single mode step index fibre has a very thin core
(~ 8 μm to 12 μm), usually mode of Germanium doped Silicon and a thick cladding (~
125 μm) and an opaque sheath.
n (r) = n1 [r < a, core]
= n2 [r>a, cladding]
The zero-order mode is the only mode supported by a Single Mode Step Index fibre.
This results in ∆ and NA are small. As Acceptance Angle is small, launching is
difficult. Costly diodes are needed to launch light.
Multi-Mode Step Index Fibre: A multimode step index fibre is very much similar to
the single mode step index but allows many modes though it. Core (50 to 100 μm) and
cladding (125 to 140 μm). The size of the core is large compared to the SMF.
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Graded Index (GRIN) Fibre: A Graded Index Fibre is a multi-mode fibre with a core
consisting of layers of different refractive indices. The variation of refractive index,
Based on Materials:
All Glass Fibres: The basic material for fabrication of optical fibres is Silica (SiO2).
It has a refractive index of 1.458 at λ = 850 nm. The basic silica doped with Germania
(GeO2) or Phosphorus Pentoxide (P2O5) used as core material (n increases) when pure
silica is used as cladding. For cladding, pure silica is doped with Boria (B2O3) (n
decreases). Hence, this can be used as clad when pure silica can be used as core.
All Plastic Fibres: Perspex PMMA [n= 1.49] (or) Polystyrene [n=1.59] are used for
core. A Silicone resin is used as cladding. Plastic fibres are low cost optical fibres
having high mechanical flexibility.
Core: Polystyrene, Cladding: Methyl Methylate cladding.
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PCS Fibres: The plastic clad silica fibres are composed of silica cores surrounded by
a low refractive index transparent cladding. E.g. High purity Quartz as core and Teflon
as cladding is less expensive but more losses and hence used for shorter distances.
The fibre optic communication system is shown in the figure. The three essential parts of the
system are Transmitter, Receiver and Optical Fibre.
Transmitter: A transmitter converts electrical signal to light signals. It consists of light source
supported by necessary drive circuits. A transmitter converts a non-electrical message into an
electrical signal and is fed to a light source.
Modulation: The light source which enables the varying intervenes of light beam from laser
diode (or) LED analogue modulation achieved [Modulation is the process of carrying a signal
on high frequency carrier wave]. Digital modulation is achieved by constructing a message
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containing 1’s and 0’s [A pulse and absence of pulse respectively]. For digital modulation,
encoders which encodes to actual messages into digital signal are also used.
Optical Fibre: Optical fibre carries the information progressively. There will be alternation
in the signal.
Receiver: A photodiode converts light signal to electrical signal. To amplify the alternated
signal, there is an amplifier used at receiving end. A decoder to decode the signal is used. The
output is led to suitable transducer to convert an audio (or) video format.
Enormous bandwidth:
The bandwidth available with a single glass fiber is more than 100 GHz. With such a
large bandwidth, it is possible to transmit thousands of video conversations or dozens
of video signals over the same fiber simultaneously. Irrespective of whether the
information is voice, data or video or a combination of these, it can be transmitted
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easily over the optical fibers. Whereas only a very less number (40-50) of independent
signals alone can be sent through metallic cables.
Lower cost:
The material used in fiber is silica or silicon dioxide which is one of the most abundant material
on earth(The mass of Earth's crust is 59 percent silica, the main constituent of more than 95
percent of the known rocks),resulting in lower cost. Optical fiber costs are continuing to
decline.
SILICON DIOXIDE
SILICA
Based on the sensor location, the fiber optic sensors are classified into two types
Intrinsic Fiber-Optic Sensors and Extrinsic Fiber-Optic Sensor. Intrinsic sensors utilize a change
that takes place within the fiber itself. example: a pressure sensor based on micro bending of
the fiber. If the optical fiber is only used to carry the light signals is called as extrinsic optical
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fiber. Using optical fibers some physical parameters like temperature, pressure, force,
displacement etc., can be measured.
Temperature sensor:
Based on modulation mechanism the temperature sensors can be divided into two types
1.Intensity modulated sensor 2. Phase modulated sensor.
Construction: The below figure illustrates a temperature sensor with a multimode fiber.
The fiber is coated at one end with a thin silicon layer. The silicon layer is in turn coated with
a reflective coating at the back. The silicon layer acts as a sensing element.
Working: The light from a light source is launched into the fiber from one of the ends of
its branches (See in below figure). It passes first through the fiber and then through the silicon
layer. The mirror coating at the other end of the silicon layer reflects the light back which
again, travel through the silicon layer. The reflected light collected by another branch of multi-
mode optical fibers and is collected by a photodetector. The amount of reflected light
converted into voltage by the photodetector. The absorption of by the silicon layer varies with
temperature and the variation modulates the intensity of the received at the detector. With
this sensor we can measure temperature with a sensitivity of 0.0010C.
Principle: This temperature sensor is based on phase variation resulting due to the
variation of refractive index of the optical fiber under the influence of temperature.
Construction: A light source such as a laser produces light. Abeam splitter divides the light
into two parts and sends light through the sensing fiber and the reference fiber. Light passing
out of the two fiber elements is fed to a detector, which measures the difference in phase of
the two light waves.
Working: The source from the light is divided into two parts by the beam splitter. One part
is passed through the refence fiber. Light rays entering the fibers are coherent have the same
phase. Prior to heating , the optical path lengths of the two fiber elements are same and hence
both the outputs will be in phase. When the sensor fiber is subjected to heating, the
temperature causes a change in refractive index of the optical fiber. Therefore,the light
coming out of the two fibers at the other end will have phase difference due to difference in
optical path difference caused by the heating. When the rays are superposed, they interfere
and interference pattern will be observed. As temperature increases, the phase difference
between the two outputs increaes and is observed as a displacement fringe pattern.By
determing the frige displacement, we can determine the magnitude of temperature.
With the help of change in intensity we can find the displacement of moving target. If the
intensity of receiving light is more then the moving target is moving towards the optical
fiber cable and if the intensity of light is less, then the moving target is moving away from
the target.
Applications: Transmission of light via an optical fibre has a wide variety of applications.
They are used for illumination and short distance transmission of images.
They are used as wave guides in telecommunication.
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Illumination & Image Transmission: Many fibres where ends are bound together, one end
in input and the other end is output. If the relative positions of the fibre terminations of both
the ends are the same and if attempt is made to align the fibres in an orderly array, this is
coherent bundle. They simply conduct right from one region to another. E.g. Endoscopes (A
flexible image carrier).
In diagnostic field, optical fibre is used in endoscopy, which facilitates visual inspection
of internal parts of human body. This is also known as “Fiberscope”.
Construction: Contains10,000 fibres having 1mm diameter as shown in the figure. There are
02 fibre bundles in endoscope. One is illuminating the internal parts of the body and the other
is used to collect the reflected light from illuminated area. A telescope is used for a wide field
of view and better image quality.
Working: The light rays coming from source illuminates the interiors of the body. The light
rays reflected from the object surface are received by the objective lens through a prism and
transmitted through the image fibre bundle to the viewing end of the scope. The eye piece of
telescope reconstructs the image of the object and one can view the image of the surface of the
object.
Endoscopes Application
Military Applications:
Endoscope is an optical instrument which facilitates visual inspection of internal parts
of a human
For body. It is alsosystems
communication calledina aircrafts,
fiberoscope. The
warships light rays
– optical fibre are focused and
communication coupled
is used.
to the illuminating fiber bundle. The light rays are finally incident on surface of the object
FibreThe
under study. guidedlightmissiles are used from
rays reflected in recent wars.
object The video
surface information
are received is givenlens
by object as
continuously
through a prism monitoring
transmitted the warship
through through optical
the imaging fibre. The
fiber bundle missile
to the can be end
viewing ensured
to hit the target.
of the scope.