Optical fibre waveguides:

Optical fibres are one of the most important components in an optical fibre system because
its transmission characteristics play an important role in the performance of the entire system.
Some important questions on optical fibre:
what is the structure of an optical fibre?
how does light propagate along the fibre?
what materials are fibres made of?
how is it fabricated?
what is the signal loss or attenuation mechanism in a fibre?
Optical Fibre Waveguide
How does light propagate along a fibre?
Need to understand the physics of the problem.
Basically, the involved theory can be divided into two types as follows:
Ray theory transmission
Wave theory transmission
Important definition:
Refractive index n is the the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to that in the material.
n = c/v
Upon entering a material, the speed of light would reduce, and it depends on the type of
material.
The concept of reflection and refraction can be understood by considering the behaviour of
light rays travelling in a dielectric material.
When light ray encounters a boundary separating two different media, a part of the ray is
reflected back ( if n
1
> n
2
) and the remainder will bend (refracted) as it enters the second
medium.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Snells law states the relationship between the refractive indices of materials, and
the angles of incidence and refraction as:
n
1
sin
1
= n
2
sin
2
where n
1
and n
2
are the refractive indices of different materials, while
1
and
2
are
the angles of incidence and refraction, respectively.
RAY THEORY TRANSMISSION
Snells Law:
Optical Fibre Waveguide
2
1
Normal

2
Critical Angle
As n
1
> n
2
, the angle of refraction is always greater than the angle of incidence.
When the angle of refraction
2
is 90
o
(parallel to the interface), the incidence angle is called
the critical angle
c
.
Snells law becomes: sin
c
= n
2
/ n
1
Total Internal Reflection:
At the angles of incidence greater than the critical angle, light is reflected back into the originating
dielectric medium.
Total internal reflection occurs when:
n
1
> n
2
.
angle of incidence exceeds the critical angle.
This is the basic mechanism by which light can propagate down an optical fibre.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
High Index n
1
(glass)
Incident Ray
Partial Internal
Reflection
Exit Ray
Low Index n
2
(air)

1

2
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Transmission of a light ray in a perfect optical fibre:
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Acceptance Angle
We have considered the propagation of light in an optical fibre. But what is the amount of light
which can enter the optical fibre?
Since only rays with a sufficiently shallow grazing angle at the interface is transmitted, it is
clear that not all the rays entering the fibre core will continue to propagate down the fibre.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Numerical Aperture
The relationship between the acceptance angle and the refractive indices of the media leads to the
definition of numerical aperture NA, which is given as:
NA = n
o
sin
a
= (n
1
2
n
2
2
)
1/2
It should be noted that rays over the range of 0 <
1
<
a
will be propagated within the fibre.
The NA can also be written in terms of the relative refractive index as:
NA = n
1
(2)
1/2
where = (n
1
2
n
2
2
)/ 2n
1
2
or (n
1
n
2
)/n
1
for n
1
> n
2
.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Waveguide Theory
In the previous section, we have discussed the propagation of light in terms of
ray theory.
In order to obtain a more detail model for the EM wave propagation,
electromagnetic wave theory must be considered.
The basis is provided by Maxwells equations:
t
B
E

=
r
r r
0 = D
r r
0 = B
r r
D = E and B = H
E
t
E
H +

=
r r
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Substituting for D and B and taking the curl of eqs. (1) and (2)
( )
2
2
t
E
E

=
r
r

( )
2
2
t
H
H

=
r
r

These lead to the nondispersive wave equations in a nonconducting medium:

1
=
p
v
where is the phase velocity in the medium.
( ) ( ) E E E
2
=
Vector identity:
Optical Fibre Waveguide
2
2
2 2
2
2
1
t
H
v t
H
H
p

=
r r
r

2
2
2 2
2
2
1
t
E
v t
E
E
p

=
v v
r

If E and H vary sinusoidally with time at the frequency of light, then E and H
can be written as
E = E
x
exp (jt) a
x
and H =H
y
exp(jt) a
y
, then from eqs. (1) and (2)
Differentiating eq. (5) with respect to z and substituting from eq. (6) we get
(5) (6)
Optical Fibre Waveguide
E E j
z
H
+ =

H j
z
E
=

E j E
z
E
+ =

2
2
2
H j H
z
H
+ =

2
2
2
Let
2
=
2
+j, the solution of these equations are:
E = E
xo
exp(jt) exp(z)
H = H
yo
exp(jt) exp(z)
Writing = + j, being the attenuation coefficient and the phase
constant, the electric and magnetic fields are given by
E=E
xo
cos(tz) exp(z)
H= H
yo
cos(tz) exp(z)
These equations describe a TEM wave travelling in the positive z-
direction undergoing attenuation exp(z).
Useful expression:
exp(jt) = cos(t) + j sin(t)
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Rewriting the propagation constant as :
= + j and

2
=
2
+ j
Equating the real and imaginary parts:

2

2
=
2

and 2 =
As glass is an insulator, the conductivity is very low, and the relative
permeability is approximately unity. Therefore, = 0 and
r
= 1. In this
situation, we get = 0 and = (). So, the fields are given by
E = E
xo
cos(tz) and H = H
yo
cos(tz)
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Cartesian and cylindrical polar coordinates of the wave equations hold for
each component of the field vector, every component satisfying the scalar
wave equation.
represents a component of the E or H field.
For a scalar wave equation: ,
the solution is given by
where k is the propagation vector or wave number. It carries the information
about the direction of propagation, and the rate of change of phase with
distance. The magnitude of k is
2
2
2
2
1
t v
p

r
( ) r k t j
r
r
= exp
0

2
= k
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Phase velocity:
At a given time, say at t = 0 and z = 0, the amplitude of the wave is zero.
After t
1
sec, i.e. at t = t
1
the amplitude of the wave is still zero but it has
traveled a distance z
1
. Thus,
sin(t
1
z
1
) = 0 i.e t
1
z
1
= 0, which gives t
1
= z
1
The velocity of propagation is given by z
1
/t
1
= /, which is called phase
velocity v
p
.
Thus, the phase velocity is the velocity of propagation of a point of constant
phase in the wave.
v
p
= / = /() = 1/()
If the dielectric medium is free space, then v
p
is the velocity of light c = 310
8
m/s. For a dielectric of relative permitivity
r
, the phase velocity is given by
v
p
= 1/(
0

r
)= c/
r
= c/n
where n =
r
is the refractive index of the dielectric medium.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
If
0
is the wavelength in the free space, the wavelength in
the dielectric material is given by
= 2/ = 2v
p
/ = 2c/n = c/nv =
0
/n
Thus, we get an alternative definition of given by
= 2/ = 2n/
0
= nk
where k = 2/
0
is the propagation constant in the free
space.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Group velocity:
In practice, the light do not travel with only one wavelength, but instead, a
combination of wavelengths.
The light is generally composed of a group of plane wave components
resulting in a packet of waves.
This wave packet do not travel at the phase velocity of individual waves, but
propagate with a group velocity v
g
.
1/v
g
= d/d = (d/d)( d/d)
From above = 2/ = 2v
p
/ = 2c/n , so that d/d = 2c/n
2
= /
d/d = /, and d/d = d/d{2n
1
/) = 2n
1
/
2
+ 2/ dn
1
/d
Therefore, v
g
is given by v
g
= (d/d)/(d/d) = c/[n
1
(dn
1
/d)] = c/N
g
where N
g
is called the group refractive index or group index of the fibre.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Power flow in a dielectric medium
If we take the cross product of E and H, we get a third vector acting in the
direction of propagation with the units of watt/m
2
which is the power flow
per unit area. This vector is known as Poynting vector S given by
S = E H
The average power is given by S
av
= Re [(1/2) E H
*
].
Optical Fibre Waveguide
Planar waveguide
d/2
x = 0
z
x
k
1
k
2

q
Combination of ray theory and wave theory (EM theory)
( ) r k t j E E
u
u
r
r
= exp
0
The propagation constants k
1
and k
2
are vectors, which can be decomposed into
its x and z axis to give
q = (n
1
2
k
o
2

2
)
1/2
p = (
2
n
2
2
k
o
2
)
1/2
where p and q are propagation constants in x-direction, while is the
propagation constant in the z-direction.
Optical Fibre Waveguide
When the critical angle exceeds in the slab, p becomes imaginary, and can be
expressed in terms of a real attenuation
p = j
2
when this equation is used with the wave equation and the boundary condition,
the solution obtained would be:
( )
( )

|
.
|

\
|

|
.
|

\
|

=
2
exp
2
exp
2
cos
2
exp cos
) , (
d
x for z j
d
x p
qd
d
x for z j qx
E z x E
o y

Optical Fibre Waveguide

The solution gives is the lowest order electric field TE
0
.