Optical fibre An optical fiber is a thin transparent flexible strand that consists of a core surrounded by cladding.

It confines electromagnetic energy in the form of light to within its surfaces and guides the light in a direction parallel to its axis. The basic structure of an optical fiber is shown in the figure

It consists of a transparent core with a refractive index n1 surrounded by a transparent cladding of a slightly less refractive index n2. The refractive index of cladding is less than 1%, lower than that of core. Typical values for example are a core refractive index of 1.47 and a cladding index of 1.46.The core is the portion of the fiber that carries the transmitted light.. An optical fiber has an additional coating around the cladding called protective jacket. It protects the core and cladding from shocks that might affect their optical or physical properties. single mode and multi mode fibres Singlemode fiber optic cable has a small diametral core that allows only one mode of light to propagate. Because of this, the number of light reflections created as the light passes through the core decreases, lowering attenuation and creating the ability for the signal to travel faster, further. This application is typically used in long distance, higher bandwidth runs by Telcos, CATV companies, and Colleges and Universities.Singlemode fiber is usually 9/125 in construction. This means that the core to cladding diameter ratio is 9 microns to 125 micron.

Multimode fiber optic cable has a large diametral core that allows multiple modes of light to propagate. Because of this, the number of light reflections created as the light passes through the core increases, creating the ability for more data to pass through at a given time. Because of the high dispersion and attenuation rate with this type of fiber, the quality of the signal is reduced over long distances. This application is typically used for short distance, data and audio/video applications in LANs. RF broadband signals, such as what cable companies commonly use, cannot be transmitted over multimode fiber.Multimode fiber is usually 50/125 and 62.5/125 in construction. This means that the core to cladding diameter ratio is 50 microns to 125 microns and 62.5 microns to 125 microns. The transition between the core and cladding can be sharp, which is called a step-index profile, or a gradual transition, which is called a graded-index profile. The two types have different dispersion characteristics and thus different effective propagation distance.[5] Multi-mode fibers may be constructed with either graded or step-index profile. In the step index fiber, the refractive index of the core is uniform throughout and undergoes an abrupt or step change at the core-cladding boundary. The light rays that propagate through the fiber are in the form of meridional rays which will cross the fiber axis during every reflection at the core boundary and propagate in zigzag manner. Step index fiber can be single mode step index fiber or multimode sp index fiber. Graded index fibers do not have a constant refractive index in the core but a decreasing core index n (r) with radial distance from maximum value of at the axis to a constant value n2 beyond the core radius in cladding. The light rays

propagating through it are in the form of skey rays or helical rays which will not spiral manner. Principle of light transmission through fiber. the basic principle behind the transmission of light through the optical fibre is the total internal relfection. from the snells law,when a light ray travel from one medium to another,raito of sine of angle of incidence to ratio of sine of angle of refraction is a constant.

incident angle >critical angle.

at critical angle

incident angle < critical angle

Total internal reflection When light passes from a denser medium (glass) into a rarer medium, the light bends away from the normal. At a particular incident angle, the angle of refraction will be 90 degrees, and the refracted ray would travel along the boundary between the two media. The incident angle at which this occurs is called the critical angle. where sin 90 o = 1 If the angle of incidence is increased beyond the critical angle, the light rays will be totally reflected back into the incident medium. This effect is called total internal reflection. But note that total

internal reflection cannot occur if light is traveling from a less dense medium to a denser one.
With the help of innumerable total internal reflections light waves are propagated along the fiber with low loss as shown in figure. Acceptance angle is the maximum angle at which light may enter the fiber in order to be propagated NA = (n1-n2) = n0 sin a where n0 is the refractive index of air. Numerical aperature-it is the range of angles over which the system can accept or emit light

Optical communication system Like all other communication system, the primary objective of optical fiber communication system also is to transfer the signal containing information (voice, data, video) from the source to the destination. The general block diagram of optical fiber communication system is shown in the figure

The source provides information in the form of electrical signal to the transmitter.commonly a voltage to current converteris used. The electrical stage drives an optical source to produce modulated light wave carrier. Semiconductor LASERs or LEDs are usually used as optical source here.the main function of light source is to convert an information signal from its electrical form into light. The information carrying light wave then passes through the transmission medium. The transmission medium in fiber optic communication systems is an optical fiber. The optical fiber is the transparent and flexible filament that guides light from a transmitter to a receiver. The optical fiber provides the connection between a transmitter and a receiver. The optical fiber basically consists of two concentric layers, the light carrying core and the cladding. The cladding acts as a refractive index medium which allows the light to be transmitted through the core and to the other end with very little distortion or attenuation. Now it reaches to the receiver stage where the optical detector demodulates the optical carrier and gives an electrical output signal to the electrical stage. The common types of optical detectors used are photodiodes (p-i-n, avalanche), phototransistors, photoconductors etc. Finally the electrical stage commonly a current to voltage converter gets the real information back and gives it to the concerned destination. It is notable that the optical carrier may be modulated by either analog or digital information signal. In digital optical fiber communication system the information is suitably encoded prior to the drive circuit stage of optical source. Similarly at the receiver end a decoder is used after amplifier and equalizer stage.