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Introduction

Communication system that carry information

through a guided fiber cable are called fiber optics
systems.

Using these system we can meet today’s and

future communication needs. In these systems we can
have very high bandwidth or information carrying
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capacity (10 to 10 Hz).

Fibers are extensively used in Medicine, Modern

warfare, in Sensor applications and Entertainment
electronics.

• Optical Fiber is a hair thin cylinder of transparent dielectric

material which may be surrounded by a second dielectric.
• The inner cylinder is known as core and the outer is known
as cladding.
• Light is transmitted through core. The refractive index of
the core is greater than that of cladding material.
• Diameter of the Core is 3 to 80 µm.
• Diameter of the Cladding is 100 to 150 µm.
• Thickness of the Cladding is normally 1 or 2 wavelengths
of the light to be guided.
• Protective skin, to have mechanical protection to the fiber.
• Properties of the fibers are decided by Refractive index of
the core and cladding and index profile of the fiber.

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Principle of Optical Fiber

Total Internal Reflection
• When the ray of light transfer from denser medium into a rarer medium and the
angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle then the light gets totally
reflected.
• To satisfy the condition of total internal reflection the refractive index of the
core(n1) must be greater than the refractive index of the cladding(n2). That is
n1> n2. According to the Snell’s law.

In case of total internal reflection there is absolute no absorption of light

energy at the reflecting surface. Hence Optical Fibers are designed to
guide light waves over very long distances.

Optical fiber

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Expressions for Acceptance angle, Acceptance cone

and Numerical Aperture

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Modes of propagation

Types of fibers
 Based on mode of propagation fibers are classified into two
types
i) Single mode fiber (SMF) ii) Multi mode fiber (MMF)

Single mode fiber:

• A single mode fiber has a smaller core diameter (~4μm), which is
of the order of few wavelengths of light and can support only one
mode of propagation.
• In SMF light travels along a single path, that is along the axis.
Obviously, it is the zero order mode that is supported by a SMF.
• The value of Δ is of the order of 0.002.

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Multi mode fiber (MMF):

• Multi mode fiber has larger core diameter (~100μm), which is very
large compared to the wavelength of light and supports a number
of modes.
• In MMF light follows zig zag paths. Many such zig zag paths of
propagation are permitted in this fiber.
• The Numerical Aperture (NA) of a MMF is larger as the core
diameter of the fiber is larger. It is of the order of 0.3.

 Based on Index Profile

Index profile of an optical fiber is a graphical representation of the
refractive index of the core and cladding . Based on refractive index
of the core optical fibers are classified into two categories.
i) Step index fiber: ii) Graded index fiber:

Step index fiber has a central core In a graded index fiber there is no
with uniform refractive index. The cladding and the refractive index of
core is surrounded by an outside the core is non uniform. It is highest
cladding with uniform refractive at the centre and decreases
index less than that of the central gradually towards the outer edge.
core. In this fiber there is an
abrupt change in the refractive
index at the core/cladding
interface.

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 Based on index profile and mode of propagation together

Using index profile and mode of propagation together we can have three types of
optical fiber configurations.

a. Single mode step index fiber

b. Multi mode step index fiber
c. Multi mode graded index fiber

Single mode step index fiber:

 The core diameter of single mode step index fiber is between 3 to 10 µm.
 Only the fundamental zero-order mode is transmitted in a single mode step
index fiber. As a result modal dispersion is eliminated.
 Single-mode fibers have a higher bandwidth capability than multimode
fibers due to no modal dispersion effects. This simply means that pulses can be
transmitted much closer together in time without overlap.
 Because of higher bandwidth and the absence of modal dispersion, single-mode
fibers are used in all modern long-range communication systems.

Multi mode step index fiber:

 The core diameter of multi mode step index fiber is between 100 to 200
µm.
 The core diameters of multimode step index fibers are much larger than
single mode step index fibers. Therefore, many number of modes are
propagated.
 The core of a step-index fiber has a uniform refractive index right up to
the cladding interface where the index changes in a step-like fashion.
Therefore, different modes travel in different zig zag paths with different
travel times, resulting modal dispersion in the fiber.
 The bandwidth is smaller than the single mode step index fiber.
 Multi mode step index fibers are used for short distance communication
systems to avoid considerable modal dispersion problems.

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Multi mode graded index fiber:

 The core diameter of multi mode graded index fiber is 50, 62.5 and 100
µm.
 The core diameters of multimode graded index fibers are larger than
single mode step index fibers. Therefore, many number of modes are
propagated.
 The refractive index of core in a graded-index fiber gradually decreases
from the center to the cladding interface. As a result, the light travels
faster at the edge of the core than in the center. Therefore different modes
travel in curved paths with nearly equal travel times. This greatly reduces
modal dispersion in the fiber.
 Graded-index fibers have bandwidths which are significantly greater
than multi mode step-index fibers, but still much lower than single-mode
step index fibers.
 The main application for graded-index fibers is in medium-range
communications, such as local area networks.

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Fiber materials
 Optical fibers are fabricated from glass or plastic
which are transparent to optical frequencies.
 Step index fibers are produced in three common
forms.
i) A glass core, cladded with a glass
(All glass fibers)
ii) A silica glass core, cladded with plastic
(Plastic cladded silica)
iii) A plastic core cladded with another plastic
(All plastic fibers)

i) All glass fibers:

• In these fibers glass core is surrounded by glass cladding having
slightly lower refractive index than core.
• The most abundant and inexpensive material to make optical fibers
is silica (SiO2). It has a refractive index of 1.458 at λ=8500Ǻ.
• To get the materials having slightly different refractive index, the
basic silica material is doped with various oxides.
• If the basic material (pure silica) is doped with germania (GeO2) or
phosphorous pentoxide (P2O5), the refractive index of the material
increases. Such materials are used as core materials and pure silica
is used as cladding material.
• If the basic material (pure silica) is doped with boria (B2O3) or
fluorene, the refractive index of the material decreases. Such
materials are used as cladding materials and pure silica is used as
core material.

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i) All glass fibers

The melting point of silica is very high. Therefore, silicate

glasses having low melting poit are used in many applications.

Sodalime silicates and borosilicates are used in such cases.

Core material Refractive index Cladding material Refractive index

Silica 1.457 Borosilicate 1.452

Lead glass 1.620 Borosilicate 1.452

Sodalime dilicate 1.620 Borosilicate 1.452

The all glass optical fibers exhibit very low losses and are
used for long distance communications.

ii) Plastic cladded silica (PCS) fibers:

 In these fibers the core is made from high purity quartz.

 The cladding and support structure of optical fibers are some times
made of a transparent polymer, such as silicone resin of low
refractive index.

The PCS fibers are less expensive but have high losses.
Therefore, they are mainly used for short distance applications.

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iii) All plastic fibers:

• In these fibers plastic materials are used for core as well as cladding.
• Perspex (PMMA) and polysterene are used for core. Their refractive
indices are 1.49 and 1.59 respectively.
• Flourocarbon polymer or silicone resin is used as a cladding
material.
• A high refractive index difference is achieved between the core and
the cladding materials.
• Therefore, all plastic fibers have large numerical apertures.
The advantage of plastic fibers is their low cost and higher
mechanical flexibility.
However, they have number of limitations. Their properties are
temperature sensitive and their upper working limit is 800C. They
exhibit very high loss.

Fabrication of optical fibers

The techniques to fabricate optical fiber are classified

into two types.

i) Double Crucible method (DC)

ii) Chemical Vapour Deposition method (CVD)

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Double Crucible method

Double Crucible method

• In this method the glass is prepared in large melt and fiber is

drawn.
• This process includes preparation of multielement glasses from raw
materials like SiCl4, NaNO3, BaCl3 and Ca(NO3) etc.
• The material is purified by wet chemical process first and then the
resultant glasses are drawn in rod forms.
• For core and cladding two such glasses are formed separately with
different refractive indices.
• They are remelt in the double crucibles for fiber formation as
shown in figure.
• The purification, mixing and firing stages of this process are
achieved in a completely enclosed system that consists of two
concentric platinum crucibles which have nozzles at the centres of
the crucible base.

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Double Crucible method

• Inner crucible contains core glass and outer crucible contains

cladding glass.
• Spacing of nozzles adjusted as per the required dimensions of the
fiber be achieved. The crucibles are heated by suitable method by
maintaining a minimum operation temperature and the maximum
operational temperature can be about 8000C.
• The production capacity of this method is several hundred meters
per minute.
• The quality of fiber obtained by the method is low compared to CVD
process, because the chemicals used for purifying are less effective
in separating out the transition elements.
• However, numerical aperture available with this method is in the
range of 0.2 to 0.6.

Applications
• In telecommunication networks like telephones,
teleconferencing and cable T.V. etc..
• In digital transmission telecommunication
networks.
• Undersea cable systems are laid in international
telecommunication networks.
• In military mobile applications like aircrafts, ships
and tanks etc..
• In Local Area Networks (LAN) systems.
• Optical sensor systems.

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