EC 8751 OPTICAL COMMUNICATION

Topics:
1) Comparison of conventional single-mode and multimode step index and
graded index optical fibers
2) Step Index Fibers
Step index single mode fibers
Step index multimode fibers
Power Flow in Step-Index Fibers
3)Graded index fiber
` graded index fiber parameters

problems

Prepared by
Mrs.N.Beaula,
AP/ECE,
ACEW,Manavilai

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Fig:Comparison of conventional single-mode and multimode step index and graded
index optical fibers

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 Step Index Fibers

Fiber with a core of constant refractive index n1 and a cladding

of slightly lower refractive index n2 is known as step index fiber.
 This is because the Refractive index profile for this type of fiber makes a
step change at the core-cladding interface.

Refractive index profile,

n1 ; r<a (core)
n(r) =
n2 ; r a (cladding)

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• i.e.,refractive index is high in the core and lower in
the cladding.
• The light in the fiber propagates by bouncing back
and forth from core-cladding interface.
• The step index fibers propagate both single and
multimode signals within the fiber core.
• The light rays propagating through it are in the form
of meridonial rays which will cross the fiber core axis
during every reflection at the core – cladding
boundary and are propagating in a zig – zag manner.

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Types of step index fibers:
• Single mode Step Index
• Multimode Step Index

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 Fig:The refractive index profile and ray
transmission in step index fibers: (a)
multimode step index fiber.
(b) single-mode step index fiber.

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Step index single mode fibers :
• The light energy in a single-mode fiber is
concentrated in one mode only.
• This is accomplished by reducing  and or the core
diameter to a point where the V is less than 2.4.
• In other words, the fiber is designed to have a V
number between 0 and 2.4.
• This relatively small value means that the fiber radius
and , the relative refractive index difference, must
be small.
• No intermodal dispersion exists in single mode fibers
because only one mode exists.
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 Contd.....

• With careful choice of material, dimensions and

, the total dispersion can be made extremely
small, less than 0.1 ps /(km  nm), making this
fiber suitable for use with high data rates.
• In a single-mode fiber, a part of the light
propagates in the cladding.
• The cladding is thick and has low loss.
• Typically, for a core diameter of 10 m, the
cladding diameter is about 120 m.
• Handling and manufacturing of single mode step
index fiber is more difficult.
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Step index multimode fibers :

 MM SI fibers allow the propagation of a finite

number of guided modes along the channel
(In such fibers light propagates in many modes).
 The light rays will be propagated in the form
skew rays (or) helical rays which will not cross
the fiber axis at any time and are propagating
around the fiber axis in a helical or spiral manner.

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 •The total number of modes increases with increase in the
numerical aperture.
•For a larger number of modes, can be approximated by

2
V 2  dn1 2 
MN   4.9  
2   

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Contd.
where d = diameter of the core of the fiber and
V = V – number or normalized frequency.
• The normalized frequency V is a relation
among the fiber size, the refractive indices and
the wavelength.
• V is the normalized frequency or simply the V
number and is given by

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  2a   2a  1
V    N.A   
 1 n  ( 2 ) 2
     
where a is the fiber core radius,
 is the operating wavelength,
n1 the core refractive index and
 the relative refractive index difference.
 For example: A MM SI fiber of core diameter 80m, core
refractive index
1.48, relative index difference of 1.5% and operating at
850nm supports 2873 guided modes.
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Contd.
To reduce the dispersion, the N.A should not be
decreased beyond a limit for the following
reasons:
• First, injecting light into fiber with low N.A
becomes difficult. Lower N.A means lower
acceptance angle, which requires the entering
light to have a very shallow angle.
• Second, leakage of energy is more likely, and
hence losses increase.
The core diameter of the typical multimode
fiber varies between 50 m and about 200 m,
with cladding thickness typically equal to the core
radius.

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 Power Flow in Step-Index Fibers

 Far from the cutoff the average power in the cladding has been
derived for the fibers in which many modes can propagate.
 Because of the large number of modes, those few modes that are
appreciably close to cutoff can be ignored to a reasonable
approximation.
The total average cladding power is thus approximated by

Here M is the total number of

modes entering the fiber

 Since M is proportional to V2, the power flow in the

cladding decreases as V increases.
 For V = 1;  70% of power flow in cladding
 For V = 2.405;  20% of power flow in cladding.
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 Power Flow in Step-Index Fibers

Fig:Fractional power flow in the cladding of a SI fiber

as a function of V.

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Graded Index Fibers/Graded Index Fiber
Structure
 Graded Index fibers do not have a constant refractive index in the
core, but a decreasing core index n(r) with radial distance from
a maximum value of n1 at the axis to a constant value n2 beyond
the core radius 'a' in the cladding. – Inhomogeneous core fibers

Index variation is represented as

where, r is the radial distance from the fiber axis,  is relative

refractive index difference , a is the core radius, n1 is the refractive
index at core axis, n2 is the refractive index of the cladding and the
dimensionless parameter  defines the shape of the index profile.

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 The light rays will be propagated in the form skew
rays (or) helical rays which will not cross the fiber
axis at any time and are propagating around the
fiber axis in a helical or spiral manner.

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 Fig:The refractive index profile and ray transmission in a
multimode graded index fiber.

= ; Step index profile

= 2; Parabolic profile
 =1 Triangular profile

Fig:Possible fiber refractive index profiles for

different
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values of  19
 Graded Index Fiber Parameters

 The parameters defined for SI fibers ( NA, , V) may be applied to GI fibers

and
give comparison between two. However, in GI fibers situation is more
complicated because of radial variation of RI of core from the axis, NA is
also function of radial distance.

Local numerical aperture

Axial numerical aperture

Number of bound modes in graded index fiber

is • For parabolic profile core (=2),
Mg = V2/4  half the number
supported by SI fiber with same
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V value 20
 Fig:A comparison of the numerical apertures for fibers having
various core index profiles

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 Solved Problem (1) : Calculate the V – number and number of modes propagating
through the fiber having a = 50 μm, n1 = 1. 53, n2 = 1.50 and λ = 1μm.

1
 2 a   2 a  2 2 2
V - Number     N.A     (n1  n 2 )
     

 
1
2  3.142  50 2 2 2
 1.53  1.50
1
 94.72
V 2 94.72 2
The number of modes propagating through the fiber M N    4486
2 2

V – number = 94.72 ; No. of modes = 4486

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Exercise (1) : Find the core radius necessary for single
mode operation at 850 nmof step index fiber with
n1 = 1.480 and n2 = 1.465.
Hint: V – number = 2.405 ( for single mode fiber)

 2a   2a  1
V    N.A     n1  (2) 2
     

a = core radius = 1.554 μm

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 THANK YOU

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