UNIT IV – FIBRE OPTICS

OPTICAL FIBRE
1. What is optical fibre?
Optical fiber is a wave guide made up of transparent dielectric like glass or plastics
in cylindrical form through which light is transmitted by total internal reflection. An
optical fiber consists of a central core glass about 50μm diameter surrounded by a
cladding about 125μmto 200 μm diameter which is of slightly lower refractive index
than core material.
2. Define fiber optics.
Fiberoptics is defined as a branch of physics which deals with the transmission and
reception of light waves using optical fibers which acts as a guiding media.
3. What are the features of optical fibre?
a. It is light in weight
b. It has high band width and low loss.
c. There is no internal noise or cross talk.
d. It is non-conductive, non-radiative and non-inductive.
4. What is the role of cladding in an optical fibre?
An optical fiber consists of core which is surrounded by cladding, which has slightly
lower refractive index than core. Here the role of cladding is to make the light to
suffer total internal reflection inside the fiber, satisfying the condition that the light
should travel from denser to rarer medium.
5. What is called mode of propagation in optical fibres?
Mode of propagation represents the number of possible directions or the path of
propagation of light through the optical fibers. When single ray of light propagate
through a path then it is called single mode and when many rays propagates through
different directions it is called multimode.
6. Why are optical fibres called as wave guides?
After the invention of lasers, powerful coherent radiation sources are available for
communication purpose. But the laser light cannot travel over long distance in open
atmosphere as the light energy gets very rapidly dissipated. Therefore, a guiding
medium is needed just like a metal wire needed for conducting the electric current.
Optical fibre can act as a guiding medium for the transmission of light waves.
 LIGHT PROPAGATION
7. Define acceptance angle.
Acceptance angle may be defined as the maximum angle at or below which the light
can suffer total Internal Reflection.
√𝑛12 −𝑛22
αi = sin-1 𝑛0

8. Define numerical aperture of an optical fibre.

The sine of acceptance angle of the fibre is known as numerical aperture (NA). It
denotes the light gathering capability of the optical fibre.
√𝑛12 −𝑛22 =
NA=sinθ0= sin sin-1 √𝑛12 − 𝑛22 (for air n0=1)
𝑛0

9. What is meant by fractional index change?

It is the ratio of refractive index difference in core and cladding to the refractive
index of core.
10. How will you classify optical fibres?

Optical fibers are classified into three major categories based on

1. Material
2. Number of modes
3. Refractive index profile.
1. Based on the material it can be classified into
a. Glass fiber b. Plastic fiber
2. Based on number of modes they are classified as
a. Single mode fiber b. Multimode fiber
3. Based on refractive index profile they can be classified as
a. Step index fiber
b. Graded index fiber
11. Write the differences between single and multimode fibres?
S.NO SINGLE MODE FIBRE MULTIMODE FIBRE
In single mode fiber only one The fiber in this case allows large number
1 mode can be propagated. of modes for light to pass through
it.
It has small core diameter and Here both the core and cladding
2 difference in refractive index of refractive indices differences is large as
core and cladding is small. the core diameter is large.
 3 No dispersion. Dispersion is more
Since the information Information can be carried to shorter
transmission capacity is inversely distance only.
4 proportional to dispersion T. The
fiber can carry information’s to
longer distance.
Launching of the light and Launching of the light and connecting to
5
connecting to fibers are difficult. fibers are easy.
Initialization or fabrication is Initialization or fabrication is easy as it
6
difficult as it is more costly cost is low.

12. What are the differences between step index and graded index fibres?

S.NO. STEP INDEX MODE GRADED INDEX MODE

The refractive index profile is in The refractive index of the core
1 the form of a step. gradually decreases from the centre
towards core-cladding interface.
The path of light rays is of zig- The path of light rays is of helical
2
zag shape. shape.
3 Intermodal dispersion is more. Intermodal dispersion is less.
4 It has lower bandwidth. It has higher bandwidth.

13. Mention the components involved in fibre optic communication system?

i)Light source ii)Optical fibre transmission line iii)Photo detector
14. Give the applications of the fibre optical communication system.
i) It can be used for long distance communication in trunk lines.
ii) A large number of telephone signals nearly 15000 can be passed through the
optical fibres in a particular time without any interference.
iii) It is used in computer networks, especially in LAN.
iv) It is also used as optical sensors.
15. Explain the basic principle of fibre optic communication.
A powerful light source is used as a carrier of message from one place to other place.
In the transmitting end, the message to be transmitted is first converted into electrical
signal and then into optical signal. The optical signal is carried through an optical
 fibre. In the receiving end, the optical signal is first converted into electrical signal
then into original message.

16. Define total internal reflection.

When light travels from a denser to a rarer medium, at a particular angle of incidence
called critical angle, the ray emerges along the surface of separation. When the angle
of incidence exceeds the critical angle, the incident ray is reflected in the same
medium and the phenomenon is called total internal reflection.
17. What are the conditions to obtain total internal reflection?
i) Light must travel from medium of higher refractive index n1 and to a medium of
lower refractive index n2.
ii) At the interface, the angle of incidence θ must be greater than the critical angle and
𝑛2
defined as sin θc = 𝑛1

18. Calculate the numerical aperture of an optical fiber whose core and cladding
are made of materials of refractive index 1.6 and 1.5 respectively.

Numerical aperture = √𝑛12 − 𝑛22

= √1.62 − 1.52 = √0.31

= 0.5568
19. A Step-Index fibre has a numerical aperture of 0.26, core refractive index of 1.5
and a core diameter of 100 µm. calculate the refractive index of the cladding.
NA = √𝑛12 − 𝑛22
NA2 = n12-n22
n22 = n12-NA2
= 1.52-0.262
n2 = 2.1824
n2 = 1.4773
20. A silicon optical fibre has a core refractive index of 1.50 and a cladding
refractive index of 1.47. Calculate the critical angle at the core-cladding interface.
𝑛2
sin θc = 𝑛1
𝑛2
θc = sin-1(𝑛1 )
1.47
= sin-1 1.5

= 78.5217 = 78˚31ʹ
21. Calculate the numerical aperture and the acceptance angle of an optical fiber from
the following data. Refractive index of coreis1.55, Refractive index of cladding is
n2=1.50. Refractive index of core n1 = 1.55 Refractive index of cladding n2 = 1.5
NA = √𝑛12 − 𝑛22
= √1.552 − 1.52
NA = 0.3487
θa = sin-1√𝑛12 − 𝑛22 = sin-1(0.3487) = 20.4078 = 20˚24ʹ
22. Calculate the numerical aperture and acceptance angle of a fibre with a core index
of 1.54 and cladding 1.50.
NA = √𝑛12 − 𝑛22
= √1.542 − 1.52
= √0.1216
NA = 0.3905
Acceptance angle θa = sin-1√𝑛12 − 𝑛22 = sin-1(0.3905) = 22.9856 = 22˚59ʹ
LOSSES AND APPLICATIONS
23. What is meant by attenuation?
It means “loss of optical power” suffered by the optical signal in the fibre itself. The
logarithmic value of ratio of optical power output to the power input per kilometer length
of the fibre.
−10 𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡
Attenuation α = log10 [ 𝑃𝑖𝑛 ] dB/Km
𝐿

24. What are the losses that occur during optical fibre communication?
When light is transmitted through an optical fibre, transmission losses will occur. These
losses will reduce the bandwidth, transmission rate and efficiency of the optical fibres.
These losses are due to
i) Attenuation ii) Dispersion
25. What are the types of sensors used in fibre optics?
The fibre optic sensors are classified into two types, namely
i)Active or intrinsic sensor
ii)Passive or extrinsic sensor
26. Give four applications of fibre optic sensors.
i) They can be used to measure pressure and temperature
ii) They can be used to measure the liquid level.
 iii) They can be used to measure the position and displacement of the object.
iv) They can be used in Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) to measure the velocity and
fluid surface velocity.
27. Define WDM.
Wavelength division multiplexing is a technology of combining a number o f wavelength
onto the same fibre simultaneously.
28. Mention the fibre optic applications in computers.
i) Fibre optics for PC to PC communication
ii) Fibre optics in computer networking
iii) Fibre optics in network
iv) Fibre optics in optical computing
29. Define dispersion.
When an optical signal or pulse is sent into the fibre, the signal spreads or broadens as it
propagates through the fibre. This phenomenon is called as dispersion.