Wave Model

Dr. Kazi Abu Taher

Professor
Dept. of ICT
Bangladesh University of Professionals

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Objectives
• Analysis of cylindrical waveguides
• Characteristic Equation (Eigen Value Equation)
• Modes of optical fiber

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MODAL PROPAGATION INSIDE AN
OPTICAL FIBER
There are certain limitations to ray model.
• The ray model does not predict correctly that even after total internal
reflection there will be some field in the cladding. Also it does not
predict that rays can be launched at only discrete angles in an optical
fiber.
• For an accurate and complete description of light propagation inside
an optical fiber we have to go in for a more rigorous model, called the
WAVE MODEL. Here we shall discuss the propagation of light inside
an optical fiber, treating light as an electromagnetic wave.

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• Inside a fiber core the optical energy gets guided i.e. the energy
propagates along the axis of the core and the fields exponentially decay
in the cladding away from the core-cladding interface.
• In a practical fiber the cladding is surrounded by a protective layer.
Generally, by the time the field reaches that layer, it dies down
significantly so that the protecting layer does not affect the propagation
of the wave significantly. That is, the whole propagation of light is
governed by the core cladding interface and the interface between the
cladding and other protecting layers does not affect the propagation. In
other words, we can take the cladding to be of infinite size in our
analysis, without incurring significant error.
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Analysis of cylindrical waveguides (Optical
Fiber)

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Single-mode fibers
The advantage of the propagation of a single mode within an optical
fiber is that the signal dispersion caused by the delay differences
between different modes in a multimode fiber may be avoided.
Multimode step index fibers do not lend themselves to the propagation
of a single mode due to the difficulties of maintaining single-mode
operation within the fiber when mode conversion (i.e. coupling) to
other guided modes takes place at both input mismatches and fiber
imperfections.
Hence, for the transmission of a single mode the fiber must be
designed to allow propagation of only one mode, while all other modes
are attenuated by leakage or absorption.
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• Following the preceding discussion of multimode fibers, this may be
achieved through choice of a suitable normalized frequency for the fiber.
• For single-mode operation, only the fundamental LP01 mode can exist.
Hence the limit of single-mode operation depends on the lower limit of
guided propagation for the LP11 mode.
• The cutoff normalized frequency for the LP11 mode in step index fibers
occurs at Vc = 2.405. Thus single-mode propagation of the LP01 mode in
step index fibers is possible over the range:

• as there is no cutoff for the fundamental mode. It must be noted that

there are in fact two modes with orthogonal polarization over this range,
and the term single-mode applies to propagation of light of a particular
polarization.

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• Also, it is apparent that the normalized frequency for the fiber may be
adjusted to within the range given in Eq. (2.96) by reduction of the
core radius, and possibly the relative refractive index difference
following Eq. (2.70), which, for single-mode fibers, is usually less than
1%.

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It is clear from Example 2.6 that in order to obtain single-mode operation
with a maximum V number of 2.4, the single-mode fiber must have a
much smaller core diameter than the equivalent multimode step index
fiber (in this case by a factor of 32).

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• Graded index fibers may also be designed for single-mode operation
and some specialist fiber designs do adopt such non step index
profiles (see Section 3.12). However, it may be shown [Ref. 35] that
the cutoff value of normalized frequency Vc to support a single mode
in a graded index fiber is given by:

• Therefore, as in the step index case, it is possible to determine the

fiber parameters which give single-mode operation.
• It may be noted that the critical value of normalized frequency for the
parabolic profile graded index fiber is increased by a factor of √2 on
the step index case. This gives a core diameter increased by a similar
factor for the graded index fiber over a step index fiber with the
equivalent core refractive index (equivalent to the core axis index)
and the same relative refractive index difference.
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 Following the emergence of single-mode fibers as a viable communication medium in 1983, they
quickly became the dominant and the most widely used fiber type within telecommunications. Major
reasons for this situation are as follows:

1. They exhibit the greatest transmission bandwidths and the lowest losses of the fiber transmission media.
2. They have a superior transmission quality over other fiber types because of the absence of modal noise.
3. They offer a substantial upgrade capability for future wide bandwidth services using either faster optical
transmitters and receivers or advanced transmission techniques e.g. coherent technology.
4. They are compatible with the developing integrated optics technology.
5. The installation of single-mode fiber will provide a transmission medium which will have adequate
performance such that it will not require replacement over its anticipated lifetime of more than 20 years.

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The maximum V number which permits single-mode operation can be
increased still further when a graded index fiber with a triangular
profile is employed.
It is apparent from Eq. (2.97) that the increase in this case is by a factor
of √3 over a comparable step index fiber.
Hence, significantly larger core diameter single-mode fibers may be
produced utilizing this index profile.

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• A further problem with single-mode fibers with low relative refractive
index differences and low V values is that the electromagnetic field
associated with the LP10 mode extends appreciably into the cladding.
• For instance, with V values less than 1.4, over half the modal power
propagates in the cladding.
• Thus the exponentially decaying evanescent field may extend
significant distances into the cladding.
• It is therefore essential that the cladding is of a suitable thickness, and
has low absorption and scattering losses in order to reduce
attenuation of the mode.

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Cutoff wavelength
• It may be noted by rearrangement of Eq. (2.70) that single-mode
operation only occurs above a theoretical cutoff wavelength λc given
by:

• where Vc is the cutoff normalized frequency. Hence λc is the

wavelength above which a particular fiber becomes single-moded.
Dividing Eq. (2.98) by Eq. (2.70) for the same fiber we obtain the
inverse relationship:

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• Thus for step index fiber where Vc = 2.405, the cutoff wavelength is
given by:

• An effective cutoff wavelength has been defined by the ITU-T which is

obtained from a 2 m length of fiber containing a single 14 cm radius
loop. This definition was produced because the first higher order LP11
mode is strongly affected by fiber length and curvature near cutoff.
• Recommended cutoff wavelength values for primary coated fiber
range from 1.1 to 1.28 μm for single-mode fiber designed for
operation in the 1.3 μm wavelength region in order to avoid modal
noise and dispersion problems.

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• practical transmission systems are generally operated close to the
effective cutoff wavelength in order to enhance the fundamental
mode confinement, but sufficiently distant from cutoff so that no
power is transmitted in the second-order LP11 mode.

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Mode-field diameter and spot size
• Many properties of the fundamental mode are determined by the radial extent of its
electromagnetic field including losses at launching and jointing, microbend losses,
waveguide dispersion and the width of the radiation pattern.
• Therefore, the MFD is an important parameter for characterizing single-mode fiber
properties which takes into account the wavelength-dependent field penetration
into the fiber cladding.
• In this context it is a better measure of the functional properties of single-mode fiber
than the core diameter.
• For step index and graded (near parabolic profile) single-mode fibers operating near
the cutoff wavelength λc, the field is well approximated by a Gaussian distribution.
• In this case the MFD is generally taken as the distance between the opposite 1/e =
0.37 field amplitude points and the power 1/e2 = 0.135 points in relation to the
corresponding values on the fiber axis, as shown in Figure 2.31.
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• Another parameter which is directly related to the MFD of a single-
mode fiber is the spot size (or mode-field radius) ω0.
• Hence MFD = 2ω0, where ω0 is the nominal half width of the input
excitation (see Figure 2.31).
• The MFD can therefore be regarded as the singlemode analog of the
fiber core diameter in multimode fibers.
• However, for many refractive index profiles and at typical operating
wavelengths the MFD is slightly larger than the single-mode fiber core
diameter.

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Effective refractive index
• The rate of change of phase of the fundamental LP01 mode
propagating along a straight fiber is determined by the phase
propagation constant β.
• It is directly related to the wavelength of the LP01 mode λ01 by the
factor 2π, since β gives the increase in phase angle per unit length.
Hence:

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• Moreover, it is convenient to define an effective refractive index for
single-mode fiber, sometimes referred to as a phase index or
normalized phase change coefficient neff, by the ratio of the
propagation constant of the fundamental mode to that of the vacuum
propagation constant:

• Hence, the wavelength of the fundamental mode λ01 is smaller than

the vacuum wavelength λ by the factor 1/neff where:

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• It should be noted that the fundamental mode propagates in a medium with a
refractive index n(r) which is dependent on the distance r from the fiber axis. The
effective refractive index can therefore be considered as an average over the refractive
index of this medium
• Within a normally clad fiber, not depressed-cladded fibers, at long wavelengths (i.e.
small V values) the MFD is large compared to the core diameter and hence the electric
field extends far into the cladding region.
• In this case the propagation constant β will be approximately equal to n2k (i.e. the
cladding wave number) and the effective index will be similar to the refractive index of
the cladding n2. Physically, most of the power is transmitted in the cladding material.
• At short wavelengths, however, the field is concentrated in the core region and the
propagation constant β approximates to the maximum wave number n1k. Following
this discussion, and as indicated previously in Eq. (2.62), then the propagation
constant in single-mode fiber varies over the interval n2k < β < n1k. Hence, the
effective refractive index will vary over the range n2 < neff < n1.
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• In addition, a relationship between the effective refractive index and
the normalized propagation constant b defined in Eq. (2.71) as:

Making use of the mathematical relation A2 − B2 = (A + B)(A − B), Eq.

(2.104) can be written in the form:

• However, taking regard of the fact that β ~= n1k, then Eq. (2.105)
becomes:

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• Finally, in Eq. (2.102) neff is equal to β/k, therefore:

• The dimensionless parameter b which varies between 0 and 1 is

particularly useful in the theory of single-mode fibers because the
relative refractive index difference is very small, giving only a small
range for β.
• Moreover, it allows a simple graphical representation of results to be
presented as illustrated by the characteristic shown in Figure 2.32 of the
normalized phase constant of β as a function of normalized frequency V
in a step index fiber.
• It should also be noted that b(V) is a universal function which does not
depend explicitly on other fiber parameters.
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The Gaussian approximation
• The field shape of the fundamental guided mode within a single-
mode step index fiber for two values of normalized frequency is
displayed in Figure 2.34.
• It has the form of a Bessel function (J0(r)) in the core region matched
to a modified Bessel function (K0(r)) in the cladding.
• Depending on the value of the normalized frequency, a significant
proportion of the modal power is propagated in the cladding region,
as mentioned earlier. Hence, even at the cutoff value (i.e. Vc) only
about 80% of the power propagates within the fiber core.

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• It may be observed from Figure 2.34 that the shape of the
fundamental LP01 mode is similar to a Gaussian shape, which allows
an approximation of the exact field distribution by a Gaussian
function. The approximation may be investigated by writing the scalar
wave equation Eq. (2.27) in the form:

• where k is the propagation vector defined in Eq. (2.33) and n(x, y) is

the refractive index of the fiber, which does not generally depend on
z, the coordinate along the fiber axis.
• It should be noted that the time dependence exp(jωt) has been
omitted from the scalar wave equation to give the reduced wave
equation in Eq. (2.115). This representation is valid since the guided
modes of a fiber with a small refractive index difference (i.e. Δ << 1)
have one predominant transverse field component, for example Ey. By
contrast Ex and the longitudinal component are very much smaller.
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• The field of the fundamental guided mode may therefore be
considered as a scalar quantity and need not be described by the full
set of Maxwell’s equations. Hence Eq. (2.115) may be written as:

• where φ represents the dominant transverse electric field

component.
• Therefore, the predominant electric field component of the single
guided mode may be written as the Gaussian function

• where the radius parameter r2 = x2 + y2 , ω0 is a width parameter

which is often called the spot size or radius of the fundamental mode
and β is the propagation constant of the guided mode field.
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• Using the latter technique, solutions of the wave equation, Eq.
(2.116), are claimed to be functions of the minimum integral:

• where the asterisk indicates complex conjugation.

• Use of variational calculus indicates that the wave equation Eq.
(2.116) is the Euler equation of the variational expression given in Eq.
(2.118). Hence, the functions that minimize J satisfy the wave
equation. Firstly, it can be shown that the minimum value of J is zero if
φ is a legitimate guided mode field. We do this by performing a partial
integration of Eq. (2.118) which can be written as:

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• the guided mode field may be expressed as:

• Integration over z effectively multiplies the remaining integral over

the cross-section by the cylinder length L because the integrand is
independent of z. Hence dividing by L we can write:

• where the operator ∇t indicates the transverse part (i.e. the x and y
derivatives) of ∇.

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• The latter parameter may be obtained by solving Eq. (2.121) for β2
with J = 0, as has been proven to be the case for solutions of the wave
equation. Thus:

• The Gaussian approximation given in Eq. (2.117) can therefore be

substituted into Eq. (2.122) to obtain:

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• For step index profiles it can be shown that an optimum value of the
spot size ω0 divided by the core radius is only a function of the
normalized frequency V. The optimum values of ω0/a can be
approximated to better than 1% accuracy by the empirical formula:

• The approximate expression for spot size given in Eq. (2.126) is

frequently used to determine the parameter for step index fibers over
the usual range of λ/λc (i.e. 0.8 to 1.9).
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Equivalent step index methods
• Another strategy to obtain approximate values for the cutoff
wavelength and spot size in graded index single-mode fibers (or
arbitrary refractive index profile fibers) is to define an equivalent step
index (ESI) fiber on which to model the fiber to be investigated.
• Hence, as step index fiber characteristics are well known, it is
convenient to replace the exact methods for graded index single-
mode fibers by approximate techniques based on step index fibers. In
addition, such ESI methods allow the propagation characteristics of
single-mode fibers to be represented by a few parameters.

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• An early proposal for the ESI method involved transformation of the
basic fiber parameters following

• where the subscript s is for the ESI fiber and X, Y are constants which
must be determined.
• An alternative ESI technique is to normalize the spot size ω0 with respect
to an optimum effective fiber core radius aeff. This latter quantity is
obtained from the experimental measurement of the first minimum
(angle θmin) in the diffraction pattern using transverse illumination of the
fiber immersed in an index-matching fluid. Hence:

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• where k = 2π/λ. In order to obtain the full comparison with single-mode
step index fiber, the results may be expressed in terms of an effective
normalized frequency Veff which relates the cutoff
frequencies/wavelengths for the two fibers:

• The technique provides a dependence of ω0/aeff on Veff which is almost

identical for a reasonably wide range of profiles which are of interest for
minimizing dispersion (i.e. 1.5 < Veff < 2.4).
• A good analytical approximation for this dependence is given by:

• Refractive index profile-dependent deviations from the relationship shown

in Eq. (2.132) are within ±2% for general power-law graded index profiles.

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Thank you!

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