Types of optical fibres

Different mechanisms of attenuation

1. Absorption: The optical fibre material and the impurities present in the material absorb light
leading to fibre loss.
2. Rayleigh scattering: This occurs due to the local variations in refractive index. The Rayleigh
scattering loss depends on the wavelength. It varies as 1/l4 and becomes significant at lower
wavelengths. Below 0.8mm, the scattering loss is very high.
3. Radiation losses: This occurs due to the bending of the fibre. There are two types of bends-
Macroscopic and Microscopic.
Dispersion losses due to various modes of propagation
1) Waveguide dispersion
In single mode fibres, part of the light ray will be refracted into the cladding. The loss due to this
is referred as waveguide dispersion. Waveguide dispersion is negligible in multimode fibres.
2) Intermodal dispersion
The intermodal dispersion occurs in multimode fibres where rays associated with various modes
travel different distances through the fibre. As a result, the signal broadens and the output signal
is no longer identical with the input signal. Signal broadening is less in graded index and step
index single mode fibres.
3) Material dispersion or chromatic dispersion
If we use white light, all the colours of the input radiation are not reaching the other end at the
same time since they travel with different velocities. Signal distortion of this kind is called
material dispersion or chromatic dispersion.
Applications of optical fibres
1. In fibre optic communication
2. In fibre optic sensors
3. For industrial automation
4. In security alarm systems
5. In local area network (LAN) of computers
6. For high speed data transmission in computers
7. Medical applications- for diagnosis and surgical applications (endoscopy)
8. Military applications (fibre guided missiles)
Point to point light wave communication using optic fibre
A simple block diagram of fibre optic communication system is shown below:
Optical transmitter
A light emitting diode (LED) or a semiconductor laser can be used as optical source. Modulation
modulates the input signal and optical signal and then transmitted through optical fibre cables to
the receiver.
Optical receiver
A photodiode can be used as optical detector. The detected wave is demodulated to extract the
signal.
Advantages of fibre optic communication
1) Wide band width.
2) Low attenuation and other transmission losses.
3) Small size and weight.
4) Safe from electrical interference caused by lightning, electric motors, fluorescent tube and
other electrical noise sources.
5) Lack of cross talk between parallel fibres.
6) Easy installation and easy maintenance.
7) Flexible.
8) Temperature resistance.
9) Highly economical.
10) High degree of signal security.
11) Longer life span.
Disadvantages of fibre optic communication
1) Highly skilled man power required for splicing.
2) Optic connectors which are used for splicing are highly expensive.
3) Fibre amplifiers are required to counter fibre loss.