Optical fiber structure

• A typical bare fiber consists of a core, a cladding, and a polymer

jacket (buffer coating).

typically
250 µm
including
jacket for
glass fibers

• The polymer coating is the first line of mechanical protection.

• The coating also reduces the internal reflection at the cladding, so

light is only guided by the core.
2
 Silica optical fibers

• Both the core and the cladding are made from a type of glass known
as silica (SiO2) which is almost transparent in the visible and near-IR.

• In the case that the refractive index changes in a “step” between the
core and the cladding. This fiber structure is known as step-index fiber.

• The higher core refractive index (~ 0.3% higher) is typically achieved

by doping the silica core with germanium dioxide (GeO2).

3
 Step-index silica optical fiber cross-section
n2

n2
125 µm

125 µm
62.5 µm
n1

8 µm
n1
n1 core n1 core
n2 cladding n2 cladding
n2

n2
refractive refractive
index < 1% index < 1%
Multi-mode fiber Single-mode fiber

• Multi-mode fiber: core dia. ~ 50 or 62.5 or 100 µm; cladding dia. ~ 125 µm

• Single-mode fiber: core dia. ~ 8 - 9 µm; cladding dia. ~ 125 µm

Both fiber types can have the same numerical aperture (NA) because
NA is independent of the fiber core diameter!
4
 Light ray guiding condition
• Light ray that satisfies total internal reflection at the interface of the
higher refractive index core and the lower refractive index cladding can
be guided along an optical fiber.
cladding n2
core n1 θ

θ

e.g. Under what condition will light be trapped inside the fiber core?
n1 = 1.46; n2 = 1.44
θ > θc

θc = sin-1 (n2/n1) = sin-1 (1.44/1.46) = 80.5o 5

 Acceptance angle
• Only rays with a sufficiently shallow grazing angle (i.e. with an
angle to the normal greater than θc) at the core-cladding interface
are transmitted by total internal reflection.

αc θc
θa n1
A na n2

• Ray A incident at the critical angle θc at the core-cladding interface

enters the fiber core at an angle θa to the fiber axis, and is refracted
at the air-core interface.
6
 Acceptance angle

θ < θa n1 αc θc
θa
na n2

θ > θa αc θc
θa n1
na n2

• Any rays which are incident into the fiber core at an angle > θa
have an incident angle less than θc at the core-cladding interface.

These rays will NOT be totally internal reflected, thus eventually loss
to radiation (at the cladding-jacket interface). 7
 Acceptance angle
• Light rays will be confined inside the fiber core if it is input-coupled
at the fiber core end-face within the acceptance angle θa.

e.g. What is the fiber acceptance angle when n1 = 1.46 and

n2 = 1.44?

θc = sin-1 (n2/n1) = 80.5o => αc = 90o - θc = 9.5o

using sin θa = n1 sin αc (taking na = 1)

θa = sin-1 (n1 sin αc) = sin-1 (1.46 sin 9.5o) ~ 14o

=> the acceptance angle θa ~ 14o

8
 Fiber numerical aperture

In fiber optics, we describe the fiber acceptance angle using

Numerical Aperture (NA):

NA = na sin θa = sin θa = (n12 - n22)1/2

αc θc
θa n1
na n2

• We can relate the acceptance angle θa and the refractive indices of the
core n1, cladding n2 and air na.
9
 Fiber numerical aperture
• Assuming the end face at the fiber core is flat and normal to the
fiber axis (when the fiber has a “nice” cleave), we consider the
refraction at the air-core interface using Snell’s law:

At θa: na sin θa = n1 sin αc

launching the light from air: sin θa = n1 sin αc

(na ~ 1)
= n1 cos θc

= n1 (1 - sin2θc)1/2

= n1 (1 - n22/n12)1/2

= (n12 - n22)1/2 10
 Fiber numerical aperture
• Fiber NA therefore characterizes the fiber’s ability to gather light
from a source and guide the light.
e.g. What is the fiber numerical aperture when n1 = 1.46 and
n2 = 1.44?

NA = sin θa = (1.462 - 1.442)1/2 = 0.24

• It is a common practice to define a relative refractive index Δ as:

Δ = (n1 - n2) / n1

(n1 ~ n2) => NA = n1 (2Δ)1/2

i.e. Fiber NA only depends on n1 and Δ.
11
 Typical fiber NA
• Silica fibers for long-haul transmission are designed to have
numerical apertures from about 0.1 to 0.3.

• The low NA makes coupling efficiency tend to be poor, but

turns out to improve the fiber’s bandwidth! (details later)

• Plastic, rather than glass, fibers are available for short-haul

communications (e.g. within an automobile). These fibers are restricted
to short lengths because of the relatively high attenuation in plastic
materials.

• Plastic optical fibers (POFs) are designed to have high numerical

apertures (typically, 0.4 – 0.5) to improve coupling efficiency, and so
partially offset the high propagation losses and also enable alignment
12
tolerance.
Meridional and skew rays
 A meridional ray is one that has no φ component – it passes
through the z axis, and is thus in direct analogy to a slab
guide ray.
 Ray propagation in a fiber is complicated by the possibility of
a path component in the φ direction, from which arises a skew
ray.
 Such a ray exhibits a spiral-like path down the core, never
crossing the z axis.

Meridional ray Skew ray 13

Linearly polarized modes

14
 Linearly polarized modes
• These linearly polarized (LP) modes, designated as LPlm, are
good approximations formed by exact modes TE, TM, HE and EH.
• The mode subscripts l and m describe the electric field intensity
profile. There are 2l field maxima around the the fiber core
circumference and m field maxima along the fiber core radial direction.
core Electric field
intensity
fundamental
LP11
mode (LP01)

LP21 LP02

19
 Intensity plots for the first six LP modes

LP01 LP02

LP11 LP31

LP12
LP21

20
Plot of the normalized propagation constant b as a
function of V for various LP modes

2.405

V = (2πa/λ) (n12 – n22)1/2 = (u2 + w2)1/2

(see p.41)
b = (β2 – k22)/(k12 – k22) 21
 Number of guided modes

The total number of guided modes M for a step-index fiber is

approximately related to the V number (for V > 20) as follows,

M ≈ V2 / 2

e.g. A multimode step-index fiber with a core diameter of 80 µm and

a relative index difference of 1.5 % is operating at a wavelength of
0.85 µm. If the core refractive index is 1.48, estimate (a) the normalized
frequency for the fiber; (b) the number of guided modes.

(a) V = (2π/λ) a n1 (2Δ)1/2 = 75.8

(b) M ≈ V2 / 2 = 2873 (i.e. nearly 3000 guided modes!) 22

Cutoff wavelength
 The cutoff wavelength for any mode is defined as the
maximum wavelength at which that mode propagates. It is
the value of λ that corresponds to Vc for the mode concerns.
For each LP mode, the two parameters are related

λc(lm) = (2πa/(Vc(lm)) (n12 – n22)1/2

The range of wavelengths over which mode lm will propagate

is thus 0 < λ < λc(lm).
 For a fiber to operate single mode, the operating wavelength
must be longer than the cutoff wavelength for the LP11 mode.
This is an important specification for a single-mode fiber, and
is usually given the designation λc. We find λc by setting Vc
= 2.405. The range of wavelengths for singlemode operation
is λ > λc. 23
 Singlemode condition
For single-mode operation, only the fundamental LP01 mode exists.

The cutoff normalized frequency (Vc) for the next higher order (LP11)
mode in step-index fibers occurs at Vc = 2.405.

=> single-mode propagation of the LP01 mode in step-index fibers:

V < 2.405
e.g. Determine the cutoff wavelength for a step-index fiber to exhibit
single-mode operation when the core refractive index is 1.46 and the core radius is
4.5 µm, with the relative index difference of 0.25 %.

λc = (2πan1/2.405) (2Δ)1/2 = 1214 nm.
24
Hence, the fiber is single-mode for λ > 1214 nm.
Gaussian approximation for the LP01 mode field
 The LP01 mode intensity varies with radius as J02(ur/a) inside
the core and as K02(wr/a) in the cladding. The resultant
intensity profile turns out to closely fits a Gaussian function
having a width w0, known as the mode-field radius.
 This is defined as the radial distance from the core center to
the 1/e2 point of the Gaussian intensity profile.
 A similar Gaussian approximation can be applied to the
fundamental symmetric slab waveguide mode.
E(r) = E(0) exp (-r2 / w02)
=> I(r) = I(0) exp(-2r2/w02)

Mode-field diameter (MFD) = 2w0 (rather than the core diameter)

characterizes the functional properties of single-mode fibers.
(w0 is also called the spot size.) 25
Mode-field diameter

ncore
“Corning SMF-28” single-mode
nclad fiber has MFD:

core dia. 9.2 µm at 1310 nm

10.4 µm at 1550 nm

core diameter: 8.2 µm

MFD > core diameter

26
MFD
Mode-field diameter vs. wavelength

11 µm

λc ~ 1270 nm

λ = 1550 nm

λ = 1320 nm

core
1550 nm

• Mode-field intensity distribution can be measured directly by

near-field imaging the fiber output.

Why characterize the MFD for single-mode fibers?

27
 Mode-field diameter mismatch
Ans.: Mismatches in mode-field diameter can increase fiber splice loss.

e.g. Splicing loss due to MFD mismatch between two different

SMF’s

10 µm ~ dB loss per splice

8 µm

splicing
SMF1 SMF2

(A related question: why do manufacturers standardize the

cladding diameter?) 28
Remarks on single-mode fibers
• no cutoff for the fundamental mode

• there are in fact two normal modes with orthogonal polarizations

E E

29
Fiber birefringence
 In ideal fibers with perfect rotational symmetry, the two
modes are degenerate with equal propagation constants (βx =
βy), and any polarization state injected into the fiber will
propagate unchanged.
 In actual fibers there are imperfections, such as asymmetrical
lateral stresses, non-circular cores and variations in
refractive-index profiles. These imperfections break the
circular symmetry of the ideal fiber and lift the degeneracy of
the two modes.
 The modes propagate with different phase velocities, and the
difference between their effective refractive indices is called
the fiber birefringence,

B = |ny – nx|

30
Real optical fiber geometry is by no means perfect

Corning SMF-28 single-mode fiber glass geometry

1. cladding diameter: 125.0 ± 0.7 µm

2. core-cladding concentricity: < 0.5 µm

3. cladding non-circularity: < 1%

[1- (min cladding dia./max clad dia.)]

31
 Fiber birefringence
• State-of-polarization in a constant
birefringent fiber over one 2π
beat length. Input beam is linearly 3π/2
polarized between the slow π
and fast axis.
π/2
fast
axis

slow
axis Lbeat = λ / B ~ 1 m
(B ~ 10-6)
*In optical pulses, the polarization state will also be different for
different spectral components of the pulse. 32