CH 2 Fabrication & Losses

Chapter 2: Fabrication & Losses
Fiber material
(Ref: Keiser)
In selecting materials for optical fibers following requirements must be satisfied:
Materials satisfying these requirements are glasses and plastics. So these are two main type of materials for
making optical fibers.
Plastic Fibers
The plastics offers advantages in terms of cost, ease of fabrication and have high mechanical flexibility. They
exhibit considerably greater optical signal attenuations than glass fibers, so they are often good candidates for
fairly short distance (upto about 100m) communication. The toughness and durability of plastic allow these
fibers to be handled without special care.
High refractive index differences (Δ) can be achieved between the core and cladding materials yield numerical
apertures1 as high as 0.6 and large acceptance angles2 of upto 70o. In addition, the mechanical flexibility of plastic
allows these fibers to have large cores. This factor permit the use of inexpensive large-area light emitting diodes
which, in conjunction with the less expensive plastic fibers, make an economically attractive system.
Examples of plastic fiber constructions are:
Glass Fibers
Glass is made by fusing mixtures of metal oxides, sulfides, or selenides. The largest category of optically
transparent glasses from which optical fibers are made consists of the oxide glasses. Of these the most common
is silica (SiO2), which has refractive index of 1.458 at 850 nm.
To produce two similar materials having slightly different indices of refraction for the core and cladding, either
fluorine or various oxides referred to as dopants such as B2O3, GeO2, or P2O5 are added to the silica.
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Class Note, Optical Fiber Communication (Chapter 2), By: Krishna Prasad Phelu
Doping of silica with GeO2, or P2O5 increases the refractive index whereas addition of B2O3 decreases the
refractive index. Since the cladding must have a lower index than the core, examples of fiber compositions are:
The principal raw material silica is sand. Glass composed of pure silica is referred to either as silica glass, fused
silica, or vitreous silica. Some of its desirable properties are
 Resistance to deformation at temperatures as high as 1000oC,
 High resistance to breakage from thermal shock because of its low thermal expansion,
 Good chemical durability and
 High transparency in both the visible and infrared regions of interest to fiber optic communication system.
High melting temperature is a disadvantage of silica glass if it is prepared from a molten state. However, this
problem is partially avoided when using vapor density techniques.
Fluride glasses, which is a class of non-oxide optical glasses composed of fluorides of various metals, have
extremely low transmissin loasses at mid-infrafed wavelengths (0.2 to 8 µm , with the lowest loss being aroung
2.44 µm). Altough these glasses potentially offer intrinsic minimum losses of 0.01 to 0.001 dB/km, fabricating
long lengths of these fibers is difficult because of:
 Ultrapure materials must be used to reach this low loss level
 Fluoride glass is prone to devitrification3. Fiber-making techniques have to take this into account to avoid
the formation of microcrystallites, which have a drastic effect on scattering losses.
Fiber fabrication process

(Ref: Senior and Keiser)
The methods of fabricating the all-glass optical fiber generally fall into two major categories which are:
a) Direct melt method and
b) Vapor phase oxidation process
Direct melt method
The first stage in this process is the preparation of ultrapure material powders which are usually oxides or
carbonates of the required constituents. Carbonates will decompose into oxides during the glass melting. Very
high initial purity is essential and purification accounts for a large proportion of the material cost.
3
Devitrification is the growth of crystalline structures within or on the surface of glass.
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The next stage is to melt these high-purity, powdered, low-melting-point glass materials to form a homogeneous,
bubble-free multicomponent glass. A refractive index variation may be achieved by either a change in the
composition of the various constituents or by ion exchange when the materials are in the molten phase. The
melting of these multicomponent glass systems occurs at relatively low temperatures between 900 and 1300°C
and take place in a silica crucible as shown in figure below.
The glass is homogenized and dried by bubbling pure gases through the melt, while protecting against any
airborne dust particles either originating in the melt furnace or present as atmospheric contamination. After the
melt has been suitably processed, it is cooled and formed into long rods (cane) of multicomponent glass.
After the melt has been suitably processed, it is cooled and formed into a clear glass rod or tube. This rod or tube
is called a preform. The preform is then drawn into fiber.
Fiber drawing
An original technique for producing fine optical fiber waveguides was to make a preform using the rod in tube
process. A preform is a cylindrical glass blank that provides the
source material from which the glass fiber will be drawn in a single,
continuous strand. A rod of core glass is inserted into a tube of
cladding glass and the preform was drawn in a vertical muffle
furnace, as illustrated in Figure shown below.
This technique was useful for the production of step index fibers
with large core and cladding diameters.
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Subsequent development in the drawing of optical fibers (especially graded index) produced by liquid-phase
techniques has concentrated on the double-crucible method. In this method the inner crucible contains core
material and the outer one contains cladding material. The two crucibles are kept inside the furnace which is
heated to high temperature. When the temperature of the furnace is raised sufficiently high by switching on the
heating power, the core material flows through the inner nozzle into the center of the flow stream of the outer
crucible.
The fiber is then allowed to pass through a bath containing molten plastic for protective coating of plastic over
the fiber. Below this is curing oven and then a rotating take up drum on which composite fiber is wound onto it.
The direct melt double-crucible method for fiber drawing

If the two materials remain separated then step index fiber will result. Index grading may be achieved through
the diffusion of mobile ions across the core–cladding interface within the molten glass. The index profile can be
controlled by diffusion process.
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Using very high-purity melting techniques and the double-crucible drawing method, step index and graded index
fibers with attenuations as low as 3.4 dB km−1 and 1.1 dB km−1 , respectively, have been produced.
In this method due to lack of precise control it is not possible to obtain the optimum near-parabolic profile which
yields the minimum pulse dispersion.
Vapor-phase oxidation process
In the vapor phase oxidation process, highly pure vapors of metal halides (eg SiCl4 and GeCl4) react with oxygen
to form a white power of SiO2 particles. The particles are then collected on the surface of a bulk glass. Then these
particles are sintered (transformed to a homogeneous glass mass by heating without melting) by one of a variety
of techniques to form a clear glass rod or tube (depending on the process). This rod or tube is called a preform.
The preform is then drawn into fiber.
There are a number of variations of vapor-phase deposition which have been successfully utilized for mass
production of preforms in the manufacture of multimode and single-mode fibers. They are:
a. Outside vapor-phase oxidation process
b. Vapor Phase axial deposition (VAD)
c. Modified chemical vapor deposition
d. Plasma-activated chemical vapor deposition (PCVD)
Outside vapor-phase oxidation process
The first fiber to have a loss of less than 20dBkm-1 was made by outside vapor phase oxidation (OVPO) process.
First silica is generated as a fine SiO2 particles called ‘soot’ by hydrolyzing the halide vapors (SiCl4) in an
oxygen–hydrogen flame. Metal halide dopants such as GeCl4 or TiCl4 are added and the mixture is blown
through the oxygen–hydrogen flame. The reactions are:
Then this soot is deposited from a burner onto a cool rotating ceramic mandrel. The flame of the burner is reversed
back and forth over the length of the mandrel until a sufficient number of layers of silica are deposited on it.
When this process is completed the mandrel is removed and the porous tube is sintered to form a clear glass
preform. This preform is then drawn into a fiber. The central hole in the tube is collapses during this drawing
process.
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The preform may contain both core and cladding glasses by properly varying the dopant concentrations during
the deposition process. Fine control of the index gradient for graded index fibers may be achieved using this
process as the gas flows can be adjusted at the completion of each traverse of the burner.
The OVPO process is a useful fiber preparation technique, it has several drawbacks:
 Cracks may form due to stress concentration on the surface of the inside wall when the mandrel is
removed.
 The refractive index profile has a central depression due to the collapsed hole when the fiber is drawn.
 It is a batch process, which limits its use for the volume production of optical fibers.
Vapor phase axial deposition (VAD)
This process was developed in the search for a continuous (rather than batch) technique for the production of
low-loss optical fibers.
The VAD technique uses an end-on deposition onto a rotating fused silica target. The vaporized constituents are
injected from burners and react to form silica soot by flame hydrolysis. This is deposited on the end of the starting
target in the axial direction forming a solid porous glass preform. The target is continuously rotation to maintain
cylindrical symmetry of the particle deposition. The preform which is growing in the axial direction is pulled
upwards at a rate which corresponds to the growth rate.
Pg. 6/32
It is initially dehydrated by heating with SOCl2 using the reaction:
Then it is sintered into a solid preform in a furnace. The resulting preform can be then drawn into a fiber. Both
step index and graded index in either multimode or single mode varieties can be made by the VAD method.
Advantages of VAD method are:
 The preform has no central hole as occurs in the OVPO process
 The preform can be fabricated in continuous lengths which can affect process costs and product yields
 The fact that the deposition chamber and the zone-melting ring heater are tightly connected to each other
in the same enclosure allows the achievement of a clean environment.
Modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD)

The MCVD process is also an inside vapor-phase oxidation (IVPO) technique taking place inside a silica tube.
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The vapor-phase reactants (halide and oxygen) flow through the inside of a revolving silica tube. Glass particles
formed during this reaction travel with the gas flow and are deposited on the walls of the silica tube. A hot zone
is created by traversing heat source which encourages high-temperature oxidation reactions to form SiO2
particles. The hot zone is moved back and forth along the tube to sinter deposited SiO2 particles into a clear glass
layer; it also allowing the particles to be deposited on a layer-by-layer basis.
When the desired thickness of glass has been deposited, the vapor flow is shut off and the tube is heated strongly
to cause it to collapse into a solid rod preform which may then be drawn into fiber. The rod will have a core that
consists of the vapor-deposited material and a cladding consisting of the original silica tube.
A graded refractive index profile can be created by changing the composition of the layers as the glass is
deposited.
Plasma-activated chemical vapor deposition (PCVD)
The PCVD method is similar to the MCVD process in that deposition occurs within a silica tube. However, a
nonisothermal microwave plasma operating at low pressure initiates the chemical reaction. The plasma-induced
chemical vapor deposition inside a silica tube is shown in Figure below.
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The essential difference between this technique and the MCVD process is the stimulation of oxide formation by
means of a nonisothermal plasma maintained at low pressure in a microwave cavity (2.45 GHz) which surrounds
the tube. Volatile reactants are introduced into the tube where they react heterogeneously within the microwave
cavity, and no particulate matter is formed in the vapor phase. The high deposition efficiency allows the
composition of the layers to be accurately varied by control of the vapor-phase reactants.
This process deposits clear glass material directly on the tube wall; there is no soot formation. Thus no sintering
is required. When one has deposited the desired glass thickness, the tube is collapsed into a preform just as in the
MCVD case.
Attenuation and loses

(Ref: Senior and Keiser)
Attenuation
Attenuation is loss of signal power. It is also known as fiber loss or single loss. The attenuation or transmission
loss of optical fibers has proved to be one of the most important factors in bringing about their wide acceptance
in telecommunications. As channel attenuation largely determined the maximum transmission distance prior to
signal restoration, optical fiber communications became especially attractive when the transmission losses of
fibers were reduced below those of the competing metallic conductors (less than 5 dB km−1).
Signal attenuation within optical fibers is usually expressed in the logarithmic unit of the decibel. The decibel is
defined for a particular optical wavelength as the ratio of the input (transmitted) optical power Pi into a fiber to
the output (received) optical power Po from the fiber as:
This logarithmic unit has the advantage that the operations of multiplication and division reduce to addition and
subtraction.
In optical fiber communications the attenuation is usually expressed in decibels per unit length (i.e. dB km−1)
following:
Where αdB is the signal attenuation per unit length in decibels which is also referred to as the fiber loss parameter
and Lis the fiber length.
An ideal fiber would have no loss so that Pi=Po. This corresponds to a 0-dB attenuation, which is impossible in
practice. If an optical fiber have a 3-dB/Km average loss. This means that optical signal power would decrease
by 50% over a 1-Km length and would decrease by 75% (a 6-dB loss) over a 2 Km length.
Question 1: When the mean optical power launched into an 8 km length of fiber is 120μW, the mean optical
power at the fiber output is 3μW. Determine: (a) the overall signal attenuation or loss in decibels through the
fiber assuming there are no connectors or splices; (b) the signal attenuation per kilometer for the fiber. (c) the
overall signal attenuation for a 10 km optical link using the same fiber with splices at 1 km intervals, each giving
an attenuation of 1 dB; (d) the numerical input/output power ratio in (c).
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Solution:
a) the overall signal attenuation in decibels through the fiber is:
b) The signal attenuation per kilometer for the fiber may be simply obtained by dividing the result in (a) by
the fiber length which corresponds to
c) the loss incurred along 10 km of the fiber is given by:
However, the link also has nine splices (at 1 km intervals) each with an attenuation of 1 dB. Therefore, the
loss due to the splices is 9 dB. Hence, the overall signal attenuation for the link is: 29dB.
d) To obtain a numerical value for the input/output power ratio:
A number of mechanisms are responsible for the signal attenuation within optical fibers. They may be categorized
within several major areas which include
1. Material Absorption losses: Absorption is related to the fiber material.
2. Scattering losses: Scattering is associated both with the fiber material and with structural imperfections
in the optical waveguide
3. Fiber Bending Losses/Radiative losses: Radiative effects originates from perturbations (both
microscopic and macroscopic) of fiber geometry.
There are also losses at connectors and splices, as illustrated in above example. However, in this chapter we are
interested solely in the characteristics of the fiber.
Material Absorption losses
Material absorption loss results in the dissipation of some of the transmitted optical power as heat in the
waveguide. The absorption of the light is caused by three different mechanisms:
a. Absorption by atomic defects in the glass composition
b. Intrinsic absorption by the basic constituent atoms of the fiber glass material
c. Extrinsic absorption by impurity atom in the glass material
Absorption by atomic defects
Atomic defects are imperfections of the atomic structure of the fiber material such as missing molecules, high-
density clusters of atom groups, or oxygen defects in the glass structure. Usually absorption losses arising from
these defects are negligible compared to intrinsic and extrinsic (i.e. impurity absorption) effects.
Intrinsic absorption
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Intrinsic absorption occurs when the material is in a perfect state with no density variations, impurities, material
inhomogeneiies, etc. Thus intrinsic absorption thus sets the fundamental lower limit on absorption for any
particular material.
There are two major intrinsic absorption mechanisms:
 Electronic absorption bands in the ultra-violet region and
 Atomic vibration bands in the near infrared region.
The electronic absorption bands are associated with the band gaps of the amorphous glass materials. Absorption
occurs when a photon interacts with and electron in the valence band and excites it to a higher energy level. The
characteristic of the ultraviolet absorption are shown in the figure below:
Since photon energy is inversely proportional to the wavelength, ultraviolet absorption decays exponentially with
increasing wavelength.
As shown in above figure the ultraviolet loss is small compared to scattering loss in near infrared region. In the
near infrared region above 1.2 µm, the intrinsic absorption loss is predominantly determined by the presence of
OH ions and the inherent infrared absorption of the constituent material. The infrared absorption is associated
with the characteristic vibration frequency of the particular chemical bond between the atoms of which the fiber
is composed. An interaction between the vibrating bond and the electromagnetic field of the optical signal results
in a transfer of energy form the field to the bond, thereby giving rise to absorption. The infrared absorption is
quite strong because of the many bonds present in the fiber.
These mechanisms result in a spectral loss characteristic (wedge-shaped) as shown in the figure above. The
minimum loss of 0.154 dB Km-1 at 1.55µm in a single mode fiber have been measured.
Extrinsic absorption
In practical optical fibers prepared by conventional melting techniques, a major source of signal attenuation is
extrinsic absorption. Extrinsic absorption losses occur due to:
 Either because of electronic transition between the energy levels associated with the incompletely folled
inner subsheel
 Or because of charge transition from one ion to another
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Major source of signal attenuation is extrinsic absorption from transition metal element impurities such as iron,
chromium, cobalt and copper. The transition metal impurities present in the starting materials used for direct-
melt fibers range between 1 and 10 parts per billion (ppb) causeing losses from 1 to 10 dB Km -1. The impurity
level in vapor phase deposition processes are usually one to two orders of magnitude lower. The absorption peaks
of the various transition metal impurities tend to be broad, and several peaks may overlap, which further broadens
the absorption region.
Another major extrinsic loss mechanism is caused by absorption due to water (as the hydroxyl or OH ion)
dissolved in the glass. Water impurity concentrations of less than a few parts per billion are required if the
attenuation is to be less than 20 dB Km-1. Early optical fibers had high levels of OH ions which results large
absorption peaks occurring harmonically at 1.38 μm, 0.95 μm and 0.72μm as shown in figure below. These are
the first, second and third overtones respectively of the fundamental absorption peak of water near 2.7µm.
Between these absorption peaks there are regions of low attenuation. The peaks and valleys in the attenuation
vurve resulted in the assignment of various “transmission windows” to early optical fibers.
Significant progress has been made in reducing the residual OH content of fibers to less than 1 ppb. The loss
curve of a silica fiber prepared by the VAD method with an OH content of less than 0.8 ppb is shown in figure
below:
Scattering losses
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It occurs when the light (Photon energy) is deviated from straight path due to presence of non uniformities in
the medium through which it passes and hence this photon energy splits in various direction. Scattering losses
occurs due to:
 Microscopic variation in the material density.
o Glass is composed of randomly connected network molecules which contains variation of
molecular density
 Compositional fluctuation
o Variation in Refraction index
 Structural inhomogeneity or defects
o These defect may be in the form of trapped gas bubbles, un reacted reactance materials and
crystallized region in the glass.
Types of Scattering losses
1. Linear scattering losses
2. Nonlinear scattering losses
1. Linear scattering losses
Linear scattering mechanisms cause the transfer of some or all of the optical power contained within one
propagating mode to be transferred linearly into a different mode. This process tends to result in attenuation of
the transmitted light as the transfer may be to a leaky or radiation mode which does not continue to propagate
within the fiber core, but is radiated from the fiber. In linear scattering there is no change of frequency on
scattering.
Linear scattering may be categorized into two major types:
a. Rayleigh scattering
b. Mie scattering
Rayleigh scattering
Relay scattering in glass is the same phenomenon that scatters light from the sun in the atmosphere, thereby
giving rise to a blue sky. It results from inhomogeneities of a random nature occurring on a small scale compared
with the wavelength of the light. These inhomogeneities, which arise from density and compositional variations
which are frozen into the glass lattice on cooling, manifest themselves as refractive index fluctuations.
In this process, atoms or other particles within the fiber absorb the light signal and instantly re-emits the light in
another direction. In this way Rayleigh scattering appears very much like absorption but it absorbs and redirects
the light so quickly that is considered scattering.
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The subsequent scattering due to the density fluctuations, which is in almost all directions, produces an
attenuation proportional to 1/λ4 following the Rayleigh scattering formula. For a single-component glass this is
given by:
where γR is the Rayleigh scattering coefficient,

λ is the optical wavelength,
n is the refractive index of the medium,
p is the average photoelastic coefficient,
βc is the isothermal compressibility at a fictive temperature TF and
K is Boltzmann’s constant
Mie scattering
Linear scattering may also occur at inhomogeneities which are comparable in size with the guided wavelength.
These result from the nonperfect cylindrical structure of the waveguide such as irregularities in the core–cladding
interface, core–cladding refractive index differences along the fiber length, diameter fluctuations. When the
scattering inhomogeneity size is greater than λ/10, the scattered intensity which has an angular dependence can
be very large.
The scattering created by such inhomogeneities is mainly in the forward direction and is called Mie scattering.
Depending upon the fiber material, design and manufacture, Mie scattering can cause significant losses. The
inhomogeneities may be reduced by:
 removing imperfections due to the glass manufacturing process;
 carefully controlled extrusion and coating of the fiber;
 increasing the fiber guidance by increasing the relative refractive index difference.
1. Nonlinear scattering losses

This nonlinear scattering causes the optical power from one mode to be transferred in either the forward or
backward direction to the same, or other modes, at a different frequency. It depends critically upon the optical
power density within the fiber and hence only becomes significant above threshold power levels.
The most important types of nonlinear scattering within optical fibers are
 Stimulated Brillouin scattering and
 Stimulated Raman scattering,
Both of them can be understood as scattering of a photon to a lower energy photon such that the energy difference
appears in the form of a phonon. The main difference between the two is that optical phonons participate in
Raman scattering, whereas acoustic phonons participate in Brillouin scattering. Both scattering processes result
in a loss of power at the incident frequency. Both of which are usually only observed at high optical power
densities in long single-mode fibers.
Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS)
Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) may be regarded as the modulation of light through thermal molecular
vibrations within the fiber. The incident photon in this scattering process produces a phonon of acoustic frequency
as well as a scattered photon. The frequency shift is a maximum in the backward direction, reducing to zero in
the forward direction, making SBS a mainly backward process. Brillouin scattering is only significant above a
threshold power density.
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Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS)
Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is similar to SBS except that a high-frequency optical phonon rather than an
acoustic phonon is generated in the scattering process. Also, SRS can occur in both the forward and backward
directions in an optical fiber, and may have an optical power threshold of up to three orders of magnitude higher
than the Brillouin threshold in a particular fiber.
Difference between SBS and SRS:
(i) SBS occurs only in the backward direction whereas SRS can occur in both directions;
(ii) The scattered light is shifted in frequency by about 10 GHz for SBS but by 13 THz for SRS and
Fiber Bending Losses/Radiative losses

Optical fibers suffer radiation losses at bends or curves on their paths. Fibers cab be subject to two types of bends:
1. Macroscopic bends having radii that are large compared to the fiber diameter. Example when fiber cable
turns a corner.
2. Random microscopic bends of the fiber axis that can arise when the fibers are incorporated into cables
Macroscopic bending loss
Large-curvature radiatio losses are known as macrobending losses or simply bending losses. This loss occurs
mainly during installation process. Macrobending losses occur when the fiber cable is subjected to a significant
amount of bending above a critical value of curvature. For slight bends the loss is extremely small and is
essentially unobservable. As the radius of curvature decreases, loss increases exponentially until at a certain
critical radius (Rc) when the curvature loss become observable. At Rc, the bending loss is observable. If the bend
radius is made less than Rc, then the losses suddenly become extremely large.
To explain the curvature loss effect we need to understand the modal electrical field distribution in the optical
fiber.
The optical power propagation mechanism in a fiber is obtained by solving Maxwell’s equation subject to the
cylindrical boundary conditino of the fiber. The appearance of modal fields in the planar dielectric slab waveguide
is shown in following figure.
This waveguide is composed of a core of refractive index n1 sandwiched between cladding of refractive index n2
< n1. This figure shows the field patterns of several of the lower-order modes which are solutions of Maxwell’s
equations. The order of a mode is equal to the number of field zeros across the guide. The plots shows that the
electric field of the guided modes are not completely confined to the central dielectric slab (i.e. they do not go to
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zero at the guide-cladding interface), but, instead, they extend partially into the cladding. This fields vary
harmonically in the guiding region of refractive index n1 and decay exponentially outside of this region.
For low-order modes the fields are tightly concentrated near the axis of an optical fiber with little penetration into
the cladding region. On the other hand, for higher-order modes the fields are distribued more toward the edges
of the core and penetrate further into the cladding region.
This modal electric field distribution shows that any bound core mode has an evanescent field tail in the cladding
which decays exponentially as a function of distance from the core. Since this field tail moves along with the
field in the core, part of the energy of a propagation mode travels in the fiber cladding. When the fiber is bent,
the field tail on the far side of the center of curvature must move faster to keep up with the field in the core as
shown in the figure shown below for the lowest-order fiber mode.
At a certain critical deistance xc from the center of the fiber the field tail would have to move faster than the speed
of light to keep up with the core field. Since this is not possible the optical energy in the field tail beyound x c
radiates away.
The amount of oprical radiation from a bent fiber depends on the field strength at xc and on the radius of curvature
R. Since higher-order modes are bound less tightly to the fiber core than lower-order modes, the higher-order
modes will radiate out of the fiber first. Thus the total number of modes that can be supported by a curved fiber
is less than in a straight fiber.
The loss can generally be represented by a radiation attenuation coefficient which has the form
where R is the radius of curvature of the fiber bend and

c1, c2 are constants which are independent of R.
Furthermore, large bending losses tend to occur in multimode fibers at a critical radius of curvature Rc, which
may be estimated from
Hence the potential macrobending losses may be reduced by:
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 designing fibers with large relative refractive index differences;
 operating at the shortest wavelength possible.
The above criteria for the reduction of bend losses also apply to single-mode fibers.
Microscopic bending loss
Another form of bending/radiation loss in optical fiber results from random microbends of the optical fiber.
Microbends are repetitive small-scale fluctuations in the radius of curvature of the fiber axis as shown in figure
below.
They are caused either by nonuniformities in the manufacturing of the fiber or by nonuniform lateral pressures
created during the cabling of the fiber. An increase of attenuation occurs in microbendins because of fiber
curvature causes repetitive coupling of energy between the guided modes and the leaky or nonguided modes in
the fiber.
One method of minimizing microbending losses is by shilding a compressible jacket over the fiber. When external
foreces are applied to this configuration, the jacket will be deformed but the fiber will tend to stay relatively
straight.
For a multimode graded-index fiber having a core radius a, outer radius b (excluding the jacket), and index
difference Δ, the microbending loss αm of a jacketed fiber is reduced from that of an unjacketed fiber by a factor:
Here Ej and Ef are the Young’s moduli4 of the jacket and fiber respectively.
Dispersion and Intersymbol interference

Dispersion of the transmitted optical signal causes distortion for both digital and analog transmission along
optical fibers.
In optical fiber transmission which involves digital modulation, dispersion mechanisms within the fiber cause
broadening of the transmitted light pulses as they travel along the channel as shown in figure below. This pulse
broadening will eventually cause a pulse to overlap with neighboring pulses. After certain amount of overlap has
occurred, adjacent pulses can no longer be individually distinguished at the receiver and errors will occur. The
effect is known as intersymbol interference (ISI). Thus an increasing number of erros may be encountered on
the digital optical channel as the ISI becomes more pronounced. Hence, signal dispersion limits the maximum
4
Young's modulus, also known as the elastic modulus, is a measure of the stiffness of a solid material.
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possible bandwidth attainable with a particular optical fiber to the point where individual symbols can no longer
be distinguished.
Following figure diagrammatically illustrat the pulse broadening associated with three common optical fiber
structures, namely multimode step index, multimode graded index and single-mode step index. The multimode
step index fiber exhibits the greatest dispersion of a transmitted light pulse and the multimode graded index fiber
gives a considerably improved performance. The single-mode fiber gives the minimum pulse broadening and
thus is capable of the greatest transmission bandwidths. The measurement of the dispersive properties of a
particular fiber is usually stated as the pulse broadening in time over a unit length of the fiber (i.e. ns km−1).
Bandwidth Length Product
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Hence, the number of optical signal pulses which may be transmitted in a given period, and therefore the
information-carrying capacity of the fiber, is restricted by the amount of pulse dispersion per unit length. The
pulse broadening increases linearly with fiber length and thus the bandwidth is inversely proportional to distance.
This leads to the adoption of a more useful parameter for the information-carrying capacity of an optical fiber
which is known as the bandwidth–length product (i.e. Bopt ×L). The typical best bandwidth–length products are
20 MHz km, 1 GHz km and 100 GHz km for multimode step index, multimode graded index and single-mode
step index fibers respectively.
Types of Dispersion:
1. Intramodal dispersion or chromatic dispersion
2. Intermodal dispersion or modal dispersion
3. Polarization mode dispersion
Intramodal dispersion or chromatic dispersion

Intramodal dispersion or chromatic dispersion is pulse spreading that occurs within a single mode. It is a result
of the group velocity being a function of the wavelength λ. Since optical sources do not emit just a single
frequency but a band of frequencies then there may be propagation delay differences between the different
spectral components of the transmitted signal. This causes broadening of each transmitted mode and hence
intramodal dispersion. For light-emitting diodes (LEDs) the rms spectral width is approximately 5% of a central
wavelength. For example if peak emission wavelength of an LET source is 850 nm, a typical source spectral
width would be 40 nm; that is that LED emits most of its optical power in the 830 to 870 nm wavelength band.
Laser diode optical source have much narrower spectral widths, typically 1 to 2 nm.
Two main causes of intramodal dispersion are:
a. Material dispersion
b. Waveguide dispersion
Material dispersion
Pulse broadening due to material dispersion results from the different group velocities of the various spectral
components launched into the fiber from the optical source. This arises from the variation of the refractive index
of the core material as a function of wavelength. So pulse spreading occurs even when different wavelengths
follow the same path. A material is said to exhibit material dispersion when the second differential of the
refractive index with respect to wavelength is not zero (i.e. d2n/dλ2≠0).
The use of an injection laser with a narrow spectral width rather than an LED as the optical source leads to a
substantial reduction in the pulse broadening due to material dispersion.
Waveguide dispersion
Waveguid dispersion occurs because a single-mode fiber only confines about 80% of the optical power to the
core. Rest 20% of the light propagates in the cladding. since, ηcladding < ηcore => Vcladding > Vcore. As light in the
cladding travels faster than the light confined to the core Dispersion arise.
For a single mode whose propagation constant is β, the fiber exhibits waveguide dispersion when d2β/dλ2≠0. As
β is a function of a/λ (i.e. the optical fiber dimension relative to the wavelength) the amount of waveguide
dispersikon depends on the fiber design. Multimode fibers, where the majority of modes propagate far from
cutoff, are almost free of waveguide dispersion and it is generally negligible compared with material dispersion
(≈0.1 to 0.2 ns km−1).
Hence, waveguide dispersion usually can be ignored in multimode fibers.
Intermodal dispersion or modal dispersion
Pg. 19/32
Pulse broadening due to intermodal dispersion (sometimes referred to simply as modal or mode dispersion)
results from the propagation delay differences between modes within a multimode fiber. Multimode fiber can
guide many different light modes. Also they have larger core size. Each mode travels at different angle and thus
different paths in the fiber. So different modes which constitute a pulse in a multimode fiber travel at different
group velocities. That results rays arrives at different times at output. Hence light pulse spreads out in time which
can cause signal overlapping. The pulse width at the output is dependent upon the transmission times of the
slowest and fastest modes.
The multimode step index fibers exhibit a large amount of intermodal dispersion which gives the greatest pulse
broadening. However, intermodal dispersion in multimode fibers may be reduced by adoption of an optimum
refractive index profile which is provided by the near-parabolic profile of most graded index fibers. Under purely
single-mode operation there is no intermodal dispersion and therefore pulse broadening is solely due to the
intramodal dispersion mechanisms. In theory, this is the case with single-mode step index fibers where only a
single mode is allowed to propagate.
Polarization mode dispersion
Single-mode fibers with nominal circular symmetry about the core axis allow the propagation of two nearly
degenerate modes with orthogonal polarizations. In an optical fiber with an ideal optically circularly symmetric
core both polarization modes propagate with identical velocities. However the practical optical fiber exhibit some
differences in the core geometry (i.e. ellipticity) resulting from variations in the internal and external stresses,
and fiber bending. This results the difference in the effective refractive indices, and hence phase velocities, for
these two orthogonally polarized modes.
Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) is a source of pulse broadening which results from difference in phase
velocities two orthogonally polarized modes. It is a random effect due to both intrinsic (caused by noncircular
fiber core geometry and residual stresses in the glass material near the core region) and extrinsic (caused by stress
from mechanical loading, bending or twisting of the fiber) factors which in actual manufactured fibers result in
group velocity variation with polarization state.
The figure shows time domain effect of polarization mode dispersion in a short fiber length with a pulse being
launched with equal power on the two orthogonal axes having different phase velocities x and y, becoming two
pulses at the output separated by the differential group delay.
Nonlinear Optical Effects

The response of any dielectric to light becomes nonlinear for intense electromagnetic fields, and optical fibers
are no exception. Nonlinear effects are weak at low powers but they can become much stronger at high optical
intensities. This situation can result either when the power is increased, or when it is concentrated in a small area
such as the core of a single-mode optical fiber. Furthermore, the optical power levels become much larger when
wavelength division multiplexing packs many signal channels into one single-mode fiber such that the overall
power level is the summation of the individual channel optical powers.
There are two broad categories of nonlinear effects that can be separated based on their characteristics:
 Scattering Effect and
Pg. 20/32
 Kerr Effects.
Scattering Effect
The fiber attenuation associated with nonlinear scattering was discussed previously. When an optical wave is
within a fiber medium incident photons may be scattered, producing a phonon emitted at acoustic frequencies by
exciting molecular vibrations, together with another photon at a shifted frequency. The scattered photon therefore
emerges at a frequency shifted below or above the incident photon frequency with the energy difference between
the two photons being deposited or extracted from the scattering medium. An upshifted photon frequency is only
possible if the material gives up quantum energy equal to the energy difference between the incident and scattered
photon. The frequency shifts associated with nonlinear scattering can be small (less than 1 cm−1), which represent
Brillouin scattering with an acoustic frequency phonon. Larger frequency shifts (greater than 100 cm −1)
Characterize the Raman regime where the photon is scattered by local molecular vibrations or by optical
frequency phonons.
An interesting feature of these nonlinear scattering processes is that they not only result in a frequency shift but
for sufficiently high incident intensity also provide optical gain at the shifted frequency. The incident optical
frequency is also known as the pump frequency ωp, which gives the Stokes component (ωs), which is frequency-
downshifted, and anti-Stokes (ωa) components, which is frequency-upshifted, of the scattered radiation. For a
typical fiber, a pump power of around 1 watt in 100 m of fiber results in a Raman gain of about a factor of 2. By
contrast, the peak Brillouin gain is more than two orders of magnitude greater than the Raman gain, but the
Brillouin frequency shift and gain bandwidth are much smaller. Furthermore, Brillouin gain only exists for light
propagation in the opposite direction to the pump light while Raman amplification will occur for light propagating
in either direction.
Kerr Effects
Nonlinear effects which can be readily described by the intensity-dependent refractive index of the fiber are
commonly referred to as Kerr nonlinearities. There are primarily three processes which produce Kerr effects:
 Self-phase modulation (SPM),
Pg. 21/32
 Cross-phase modulation (XPM) and
 Four-wave mixing (FWM)
Self-phase modulation (SPM)
The intensity-dependent refractive index causes an intensity-dependent phase shift in the fiber. Hence, for a light
pulse propagating in the fiber, Kerr nonlinearities result in a different transmission phase for the peak of the pulse
compared with the leading and trailing pulse edges. This effect, which is known as self-phase modulation (SPM),
causes modifications to the pulse spectrum. As the instantaneous frequency of a wave is the time derivative of
its phase, then a time-varying phase creates a time-varying frequency. Thus SPM can alter and broaden the
frequency spectrum of the pulse. The spectral broadening caused by SPM produces dispersion-like effects which
can limit transmission rates in some long-haul optical communication systems. For ultrashort pulses (less than 1
picosecond) with very high peak powers, its effect can be very strong, generating a broad continuum of
wavelengths.
Cross-phase modulation (XPM)
Cross-phase modulation (XPM) is a similar effect to SPM except that overlapping but distinguishable pulses, for
example, different wavelengths or polarizations, are involved. It occurs when two or more optical channels are
transmitted simultaneously inside an optical fiber using the WDM technique. In this case variations in intensity
of one pulse will modulate the refractive index of the fiber which causes phase modulation of the overlapping
pulse(s). As with SPM, this phase modulation translates into frequency modulation which broadens the pulse
spectrum. Thus XPM is exhibited as a crosstalk mechanism between channels when either intensity modulation
is used in dispersive optical fiber transmission or, alternatively, when phase encoding is employed.
The strength of XPM increases with the number of channels and it also becomes stronger as the channel spacing
is made smaller. There is no energy transfer, however, between channels, which distinguishes the effect from
other crosstalk processes. Although the overall strength of XPM is twice that of SPM because the total intensity
is the square of the sum of two electric field amplitudes, the effect is weakened as pulses with different
wavelengths or polarizations are usually not group velocity matched and therefore the overlap is not maintained.
Four-wave mixing (FWM)
The interaction between light at different frequencies or wavelengths in multichannel fiber transmission causes
phase modulation of the channels and hence the generation of modulation sidebands at new frequencies which
are termed four-wave mixing (FWM). If three optical fields with carrier angular frequencies ω1, ω2, and ω3 co-
propagate inside the fiber simultaneously, it generates a fourth field whose frequency ω4 is related to other
frequencies by a relation
ω4=ω1±ω2±ω3
Several frequencies corresponding to different plus and minus sign combinations are possible in principle. In
practice, most of these combinations do not build up because of a phase-matching requirement. Frequency
combinations of the form ω4=ω1+ω2−ω3 can be problematic for multichannel optical communications as they
can become phase matched if the channel wavelengths are close to the zero-dispersion wavelength. FWM is
therefore one of a broad class of harmonic mixing or harmonic generation processes in which two or more waves
combine to generate waves at a different frequency that is the sum (or difference) of the signals that are mixed.
Although FWM is a weak effect, it can accumulate when multichannel signals remain in phase with each other
over long transmission distances, which is typically when the fiber chromatic dispersion is very close to zero.
Hence pulses transmitted over different optical channels at different wavelengths stay in the same relative
positions along the fiber length because the signals experience near-zero dispersion. In this case the effect of
FWM is amplified and a noise signal builds up which interferes with other channels on the system. Hence one
method to minimize crosstalk resulting from FWM in wavelength division multiplexed systems based on low-
Pg. 22/32
dispersion fiber is to employ unequal channel spacing so that the FWM noise components are not generated at
frequencies which correspond to the channel frequencies.
Coupler, connector, splicing and their loses

Optical fiber links, in common with any line communication system, have a requirement for both jointing and
termination of the transmission medium. Need of optical joints/connections:
 To make long span optical link
 To join two fibers in case of disconnection or damage.
 For connecting with optical terminal equipment.
 Connecting for test purposes at terminal equipment. (eg to measure losses)
It is therefore apparent that fiber-to-fiber connection with low loss and minimum distortion remains an important
aspect of optical fiber communication systems. There are two major categories of fiber joint currently in both
use and development. These are as follows:
a. Fiber splices. These are semipermanent or permanent joints which find major use in most optical fiber
telecommunication systems (analogous to electrical soldered joints).
b. Demountable fiber connectors (or simple connectors). These are removable joints which allow easy,
fast, manual coupling and uncoupling of fibers (analogous to electrical plugs and sockets).
The above fiber–fiber joints are designed ideally to couple all the light propagating in one fiber into the adjoining
fiber. By contrast fiber couplers are branching devices that split all the light from a main fiber into two or more
fibers or, alternatively, couple a proportion of the light propagating in the main fiber into a branch fiber.
Moreover, couplers are often bidirectional, providing for the combining of light from one or more branch fibers
into a main fiber.
Fiber splices
A permanent/ semi-permanent joint formed between two individual optical fibers in the field or factory is known
as fiber splice. Splicing is frequently used:
 To establish long haul optical fiber links
 when no repeated connections or disconnection is required.
Splices may be divided into two broad categories depending upon the splicing technique utilized
i. Fusion splicing or welding and
ii. Mechanical splicing.
A requirement with fibers intended for splicing is that they have smooth and square end faces. In general this end
preparation may be achieved using a suitable tool which cleaves the fiber as as shown in figure below. This
process is often referred to as scribe and break as it involves the scoring of the fiber surface under tension with a
cutting tool (e.g. sapphire, diamond,
tungsten carbide blade). Below figure
illustrates this process with the fiber
tensioned around a curved mandrel.
Pg. 23/32
Fusion splicing
Fusion splicing is accomplished by applying localized heating (e.g. by a flame or an electric arc) at the interface
between two butted, prealigned prepared fiber ends causing them to soften and fuse. It is essential that the fiber
ends are adequately positioned and aligned in order to achieve good continuity of the transmission medium at the
junction point. Hence the fibers are usually positioned and clamped with the aid of an inspection microscope.
The most widely used heating source is an electric arc. This technique offers advantages of consistent, easily
controlled heat with adaptability for use under field conditions. Fusion method of fiber splicing is shown in figure
below.
This figure shows a development of the basic arc fusion process which involves the rounding of the fiber ends
with a low-energy discharge before pressing the fibers together and fusing with a stronger arc. This technique,
known as prefusion, removes the requirement for fiber end preparation which has a distinct advantage in the field
environment.
Drawbacks associated with fusion splicing:
 The heat necessary to fuse the fibers may weaken the fiber in the vicinity of the splice.
o The fiber fracture generally occurs in the heat affected zone adjacent to the fused joint.
o It is therefore necessary that the completed splice is packaged so as to reduce tensile loading upon
the fiber in the vicinity of the splice.
Mechanical splices
In mechanical splicing, fibers are held in alignment by some mechanical means, may be achieved by various
methods including
 Use of tubes around the fiber ends (tube splices) or
 V-grooves into which the butted fibers are placed (groove splices).
A common method involves the use of an accurately produced rigid alignment tube into which the prepared fiber
ends are permanently bonded. This is known as snug tube splicing which is illustrated in figure below.
Pg. 24/32
Snug tube splicing may utilize a glass or ceramic capillary with an inner diameter just large enough to accept the
optical fibers. Transparent adhesive (e.g. epoxy resin) is injected through a transverse bore in the capillary to give
mechanical sealing and index matching of the splice.
However, in general, snug tube splices exhibit problems with capillary tolerance requirements, which increases
loss.
Other common mechanical splicing techniques involve the use of grooves to secure the fibers to be jointed. A
simple method utilizes a V-groove into which the two prepared fiber ends are pressed. The V-groove splice
which is illustrated in the figure below.
The V-groove gives alignment of the prepared fiber ends through insertion in the groove. The splice is made
permanent by securing the fibers in the V-groove with epoxy resin. V-groove splices formed by sandwiching the
butted fiber ends between a V-groove glass substrate and a flat glass retainer plate is shown in Figure (b).
A further variant on the V-groove technique is the elastic tube or elastomeric splice shown in figure below. The
device comprises two elastomeric internal parts, one of which contains a V-groove. An outer sleeve holds the
two elastic parts in compression to ensure alignment of the fibers in the V-groove, and fibers with different
diameters tend to be centered and hence may be successfully spliced.
Fiber connectors
Removable joint formed between two individual fibers is known as demountable fiber connectors. Demountable
fiber connectors are more difficult to achieve than optical fiber splices. This is because they must maintain similar
tolerance requirements to splices in order to couple light between fibers efficiently, but they must accomplish it
in a removable fashion. Also, the connector design must allow for repeated connection and disconnection without
problems of fiber alignment, which may lead to degradation in the performance of the transmission line at the
joint. Some of the principal requirements of a good connector design are as follows:
 Low coupling losses. The connector assembly must maintain stringent alignment tolerances to assure low
mating losses. These low losses must not change significantly during operation and after numerous
connects and disconnects.
Pg. 25/32
 Interchangeability. Connectors of the same type must be compatible from one manufacturer to another.
 Ease of assembly. A service technician should be able to readily install the connector in the field
environment. The connector loss should also be fairly insensitive to the assembly skill of the technician.
 Low environmental sensitivity. Conditions such as temperature, dust, moisture should have a small effect
of connector loss variation.
 Ease of connection/disconnect. Generally one should be able to simply mate and demount the connector
by hand.
There are a large number of demountable single-fiber connectors, both commercially available and under
development, which have insertion losses in the range 0.2 to 3 dB. Fiber connectors may be separated into two
broad categories:
a. Butt-jointed connectors and
b. Expanded beam connectors
Butt-jointed connectors
Butt-jointed connectors rely upon alignment of the two prepared fiber ends in close proximity (butted) to each
other so that the fiber core axes coincide. The majority of connectors today are of the butt-joint type.
The basic butt-joint connector is Ferrule connector which is perhaps the simplest optical fiber connector design.
These connectors employ a metal, ceramic or molded-plastic ferrule for each fiber and precision sleeve into which
the ferrule fits. Ferrule have an accurately drilled central hole in their end faces. The stripped (of buffer coating)
fiber is epoxied into a precision hole of ferrule hole. Within the connector the two ferrules are placed in an
alignment sleeve which allows the fiber ends to be butt jointed. It is essential with this type of connector that the
fiber end faces are smooth and square.
Two popular butt-joint alignment design for ferrule connector are straight-sleeve and the biconical-sleeve (or
tapered-sleeve) mechanisms as shown in figure below. The straight-sleeve connector uses a straight sleeve to
guide straight ferrules where as a biconical connector uses a tapered sleeve to guide tapered ferrules.
Pg. 26/32
Expanded beam connectors
Expanded beam connectors utilize interposed optics at the joint (i.e. lenses) in order to expand the beam from the
transmitting fiber end before reducing it again to a size compatible with the receiving fiber end. It employs lenses
on the ends of the fibers. These lenses either collimate the light emerging from the transmitting fiber, or focus
the expanded beam onto the core of the receiving fiber. The fiber-to-lens distance is equal to the focal length of
the lens.
The advantage of this scheme is that, since the beam is collimated, separation of the fiber ends may take place
within the connector. Thus in this connector the achievement of lateral alignment much less critical than with a
butt-jointed fiber connector. In addition, optical processing elements, such as beam splitters and switches, can
easily be inserted into the expanded beam between the fiber ends.
Fiber alignment and joint loss

A major consideration with all types of fiber–fiber connection is the optical loss encountered at the interface.
Types of fiber alignment and joint loss are:
1. Fresnel Reflection
2. Deviations in the geometrical and optical parameters
3. Misalignment Loss
Fresnel Reflection
Even when the two jointed fiber ends are smooth and perpendicular to the fiber axes, and the two fiber axes are
perfectly aligned, a small proportion of the light may be reflected back into the transmitting fiber causing
attenuation at the joint. This phenomenon, known as Fresnel reflection, is associated with the step changes in
refractive index at the jointed interface (i.e. glass–air–glass).
The magnitude of this partial reflection of the light transmitted through the interface may be estimated using the
classical Fresnel formula for light of normal incidence and is given by
Where, r is the fraction of the light reflected at a single interface,
Pg. 27/32
n1 is the refractive index of the fiber core and
n is the refractive index of the medium between the two jointed fibers (i.e. for air n=1).
The loss in decibels due to Fresnel reflection at a single interface is given by:
However, in order to determine the amount of light reflected at a fiber joint, Fresnel reflection at both fiber
interfaces must be taken into account. Therefore, Total loss due to fresnel reflection is given by:
The effect of Fresnel reflection at a fiber–fiber connection can be reduced to a very low level through the use of
an index-matching fluid in the gap between the jointed fibers. When the index-matching fluid has the same
refractive index as the fiber core, losses due to Fresnel reflection are in theory eradicated.
Question: An optical fiber has a core refractive index of 1.5. Two lengths of the fiber with smooth and
perpendicular (to the core axes) end faces are butted together. Assuming the fiber axes are perfectly aligned,
calculate the optical loss in decibels at the joint (due to Fresnel reflection) when there is a small air gap between
the fiber end faces.
Solution:
The magnitude of the Fresnel reflection at the fiber–air interface is given by
The value obtained for r corresponds to a reflection of 4% of the transmitted light at the single interface. The
optical loss in decibels at the single interface
From considerations of symmetry it is clear that the optical loss at the second interface is also. 0.18 dB. Hence
the total loss due to Fresnel reflection at the fiber joint is approximately 0.36 dB.
Pg. 28/32
Deviations in the geometrical and optical parameters
Unfortunately, Fresnel reflection is only one possible source of optical loss at a fiber joint. A potentially greater
source of loss at a fiber–fiber connection is caused by deviation in Geometrical & Optical Parameters of the two
jointed fibers. Any deviations in the geometrical and optical parameters of the two optical fibers which are jointed
will cause loss because all light from one fiber is not transmitted to another fiber.
There are inherent connection problems when jointing fibers with, for instance:
a. Different core and/or cladding diameters;
b. Different numerical apertures and/or relative refractive index differences;
c. Different refractive index profiles;
d. Fiber faults (core ellipticity, core concentricity, etc.).
The major deviation comprising a mismatch in the fiber core diameters, a mismatch in the fiber numerical
apertures and differing fiber refractive index profiles.
The losses caused by the Fresnel reflection and deviation in the geometrical and optical parameters are usually
referred to as intrinsic joint losses. These type of losses can be minimized with compatible (same) fibers which
are manufactured to the lowest tolerance.
Misalignment Loss
There is still the problem of the quality of the fiber alignment provided by the jointing mechanism. It is apparent
that misalignment may occur in three dimensions. Possible misalignment between coupled compatible optical
fibers are:
a. Longitudinal misalignment (separation between the fibers),
b. Lateral/Radial/Axial misalignment (offset perpendicular to the fiber core axes) and
c. Angular misalignment (angle between the core axes).
Optical losses resulting from these three types of misalignment depend upon the fiber type, core diameter and the
distribution of the optical power between the propagating modes.
Pg. 29/32
Relatively small levels of lateral and/or angular misalignment can cause significant attenuation at a fiber joint.
This is especially the case for fibers of small core diameter (less than150μm) which are currently employed for
most telecommunication purposes.
The lateral misalignment gives significantly greater losses per unit displacement than the longitudinal
misalignment. For instance, in case of a graded index fiber of 50μm core diameter a lateral displacement of 10μm
gives about 1 dB insertion loss whereas a similar longitudinal displacement gives an insertion loss of around 0.1
dB.
Fiber Couplers
An optical fiber coupler is a device that distributes light from a main fiber into one or more branch fibers. The
latter case is more normal and such devices are known as multiport fiber couplers. Couplers are used to split,
combine and route signals. Optical fiber couplers are often passive devices in which the power transfer takes
place either:
a. Core interaction type: through the fiber core cross-section by butt jointing the fibers or by using some
form of imaging optics between the fibers; or
b. Surface interaction type: through the fiber surface and normal to its axis by converting the guided core
modes to both cladding and refracted modes which then enable the power-sharing mechanism.
1 Xn coupler is called a splitter and

nX1 coupler is called a combiner.
Multiport optical fiber couplers can also be subdivided into the following three main groups:
i. Three- and four-port couplers, which are used for signal splitting, distribution and combining.
ii. Star couplers, which are generally used for distributing a single input signal to multiple outputs.
iii. Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) devices, which are a specialized form of coupler designed
to permit a number of different peak wavelength optical signals to be transmitted in parallel on a single
fiber. In this context WDM couplers either combine the different wavelength optical signal onto the fiber
(i.e. multiplex) or separate the different wavelength optical signals output from the fiber (i.e. demultiplex).
Pg. 30/32
Ideal fiber couplers should distribute light among the branch fibers with no scattering loss (The scattering loss
through the coupler is often referred to as the excess loss) or the generation of noise, and they should function
with complete insensitivity to factors including the distribution of light between the fiber modes, as well as the
state of polarization of the light.
Unfortunately, in practice passive fiber couplers do not display all of the above properties and hence the
characteristics of the devices affect the performance of optical fiber networks. In particular, the finite scattering
loss at the coupler limits the number of terminals that can be connected, or alternatively the span of the network.
Whereas the generation of noise and modal effects can cause problems in the network performance.
The most common method for manufacturing couplers is the Fused Biconical Taper (FBT) technique. In this
method the fibers are generally twisted together and then spot fused under tension such that the fused section is
elongated to form a biconical taper structure.
Three- and four-port couplers
Manufacturing of couplers using FBT (Fused Biconical Taper) is shown in the figure below. Twist two bare
fibers around each other. Then heat the junction until the glass softens and the cladding fuses. And pull the fiber
ends apart, forming a taper in the fused portion of the coupler.
FBT is a four-port device consisting of two fibers that have been fused together, etched or polished over a small
interaction region. A three-port coupler is formed by removing one of the input fibers.
Optical power launched into the input fiber propagates in the form of guided core modes. The higher order modes,
however, leave the fiber core because of its reduced size in the tapered-down region and are therefore guided as
cladding modes. These modes transfer back to guided core modes in the tapered-up region of the output fiber
with an approximately even distribution between the two fibers. Often only a portion of the total power is coupled
between the two fibers because only the higher order modes take part in the process, the lower order modes
generally remaining within the main fiber. However, when the waist of the taper is made sufficiently narrow,
then the entire mode volume can be encouraged to participate in the coupling process and a larger proportion of
input power can be shared between the output fibers. This strategy gives an improvement in both the power and
modal uniformity of the coupler.
Star couplers
Pg. 31/32
It is single mode & multi-mode fiber coupler with more than 4 ports. Star couplers distribute an optical signal
from a single-input fiber to multiple-output fibers. The manufacturing process for the FBT star coupler is similar
to that for the three- and four-port FBT coupler. Thus the fibers which constitute the star coupler are bundled,
twisted, heated and pulled, to form the device shown in following figure.
Wavelength division multiplexing couplers

WDM devices are a specialized coupler type which enable light from two or more optical sources of differing
nominal peak optical wavelength to be launched in parallel into a single optical fiber. Hence such couplers
perform as either wavelength multiplexers or wavelength demultiplexers. The important optical parameters
associated with the WDM coupler are
 The low attenuation of the light over a particular wavelength band,
 The high interband isolation (to minimize crosstalk) and
 The small wavelength band or channel separation.
Single-mode fiber WDM coupler can be manufactured from the FBT technique. Carefully fabricated fused
couplers display very low insertion losses and provide a high degree of environmental stability. The
manufacturing process requires the single-mode fibers to be fused together at around 1500 °C before being pulled
while heat is still applied. The pulling process decreases the fiber core size causing the evanescent field of the
transmitted optical signal to spread out further from the fiber core, which enables light to couple into the adjacent
fiber. In practice this manufacturing process necessitates the monitoring of the optical power output from the two
fibers, the process being halted when the required coupling ratio is reached.
Pg. 32/32

CH 2 Fabrication & Losses

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CH 2 Fabrication & Losses

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Chapter 2: Fabrication & Losses

Fiber fabrication process

The direct melt double-crucible method for fiber drawing

Modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD)

Attenuation and loses

c) the loss incurred along 10 km of the fiber is given by:

where γR is the Rayleigh scattering coefficient,

1. Nonlinear scattering losses

Fiber Bending Losses/Radiative losses

where R is the radius of curvature of the fiber bend and

Hence the potential macrobending losses may be reduced by:

Dispersion and Intersymbol interference

Bandwidth Length Product

Intramodal dispersion or chromatic dispersion

Intermodal dispersion or modal dispersion

Nonlinear Optical Effects

Coupler, connector, splicing and their loses

Fiber alignment and joint loss

Where, r is the fraction of the light reflected at a single interface,

1 Xn coupler is called a splitter and

Wavelength division multiplexing couplers

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