Chapter 12 Fiber Optics

Deepak Chopade

Introduction
An optical fiber is essentially a waveguide for light It consists of a core and cladding that surrounds the core The index of refraction of the cladding is less than that of the core, causing rays of light leaving the core to be refracted back into the core A light-emitting diode (LED) or laser diode (LD) can be used for the source Advantages of optical fiber include:
Greater bandwidth than copper Lower loss Immunity to crosstalk No electrical hazard

Optical Fiber & Communications System

Optical Fiber
Optical fiber is made from thin strands of either glass or plastic It has little mechanical strength, so it must be enclosed in a protective jacket Often, two or more fibers are enclosed in the same cable for increased bandwidth and redundancy in case one of the fibers breaks It is also easier to build a full-duplex system using two fibers, one for transmission in each direction

Total Internal Reflection

Optical fibers work on the principle of total internal reflection With light, the refractive index is listed The angle of refraction at the interface between two media is governed by Snells law:
n1sin

sin = n
1 1 1

Refraction & Total Internal Reflection

Numerical Aperture
The numerical aperture of the fiber is closely related to the critical angle and is often used in the specification for optical fiber and the components that work with it The numerical aperture is given by the formula:
1 1 N . A. = n1 n1

The angle of acceptance is twice that given by the numerical aperture

Modes and Materials

Since optical fiber is a waveguide, light can propagate in a number of modes If a fiber is of large diameter, light entering at different angles will excite different modes while narrow fiber may only excite one mode Multimode propagation will cause dispersion, which results in the spreading of pulses and limits the usable bandwidth Single-mode fiber has much less dispersion but is more expensive to produce. Its small size, together with the fact that its numerical aperture is smaller than that of multimode fiber, makes it more difficult to couple to light sources

Types of Fiber
Both types of fiber described earlier are known as step-index fibers because the index of refraction changes radically between the core and the cladding Graded-index fiber is a compromise multimode fiber, but the index of refraction gradually decreases away from the center of the core Graded-index fiber has less dispersion than a multimode step-index fiber

Dispersion
Dispersion in fiber optics results from the fact that in multimode propagation, the signal travels faster in some modes than it would in others Single-mode fibers are relatively free from dispersion except for intramodal dispersion Graded-index fibers reduce dispersion by taking advantage of higher-order modes One form of intramodal dispersion is called material dispersion because it depends upon the material of the core Another form of dispersion is called waveguide dispersion Dispersion increases with the bandwidth of the light source

Examples of Dispersion

Losses
Losses in optical fiber result from attenuation in the material itself and from scattering, which causes some light to strike the cladding at less than the critical angle Bending the optical fiber too sharply can also cause losses by causing some of the light to meet the cladding at less than the critical angle Losses vary greatly depending upon the type of fiber
Plastic fiber may have losses of several hundred dB per kilometer Graded-index multimode glass fiber has a loss of about 24 dB per kilometer Single-mode fiber has a loss of 0.4 dB/km or less

Types of Losses

Fiber-Optic Cables
There are two basic types of fiber-optic cable
The difference is whether the fiber is free to move inside a tube with a diameter much larger than the fiber or is inside a relatively tight-fitting jacket

They are referred to as loose-tube and tight-buffer cables Both methods of construction have advantages
Loose-tube cablesall the stress of cable pulling is taken up by the cables strength members and the fiber is free to expand and contract with temperature Tight-buffer cables are cheaper and generally easier to use

Fiber-Optic Cable Construction

Splices and Connectors

In fiber-optic systems, the losses from splices and connections can be more than in the cable itself Losses result from:
Axial or angular misalignment Air gaps between the fibers Rough surfaces at the ends of the fibers

Fiber-Optic Connectors
Coupling the fiber to sources and detectors creates losses as well, especially when it involves mismatches in numerical aperture or in the size of optical fibers Good connections are more critical with single-mode fiber, due to its smaller diameter and numerical aperture A splice is a permanent connection and a connector is removable

Optical Couplers and Switches

As with coaxial cable and microwave waveguides, it is possible to build power splitters and directional couplers for fiberoptic systems It is more complex and expensive to do this with fiber than with copper wire Optical couplers are categorized as either star couples with multiple inputs and outputs or as tees, which have one input and two outputs

Coupler Construction
Optical couplers can be made in many different ways:
A number of fibers can be fused together to make a transmissive coupler A reflective coupler allows a signal entering on any fiber to exit on all other fibers, so the coupler is bidirectional

Optical Switches and Relays

Occasionally, it is necessary to switch optical signals from one fiber to another The simplest type of optical switch moves fibers so that an input fiber can be positioned next to the appropriate output fiber Another approach is direct the incoming light into a prism, which reflects it into the outgoing fiber. By moving the prism, the light can be switched between different output fibers Lenses are necessary with this approach to avoid excessive loss of light

Optical Emitters
Optical emitters operate on the idea that electromagnetic energy can only appear in a discrete amount known as a quantum. These quanta are called photons when the energy is radiated Energy in one photon varies directly with the frequency Typical optical emitters include:
Light-Emitting Diodes Laser Diodes

Light-Emitting Diodes
An LED is form of junction diode that is operated with forward bias Instead of generating heat at the PN junction, light is generated and passes through an opening or lens LEDs can be visible spectrum or infrared

Laser Diodes
Laser diodes generate coherent, intense light of a very narrow bandwidth A laser diode has an emission linewidth of about 2 nm, compared to 50 nm for a common LED Laser diodes are constructed much like LEDs but operate at higher current levels

Laser Diode Construction

Optical Detectors
The most common optical detector used with fiber-optic systems is the PIN diode The PIN diode is operated in the reverse-bias mode As a photodetector, the PIN diode takes advantage of its wide depletion region, in which electrons can create electron-hole pairs The low junction capacitance of the PIN diode allows for very fast switching

Avalanche Photodiode
The avalanche photodiode (APD) is also operated in the reversebias mode The creation of electron-hole pairs due to the absorption of a photon of incoming light may set off avalanche breakdown, creating up to 100 more pairs This multiplying effect gives an APD very high sensitivity

Wavelength Division Multiplexing

Multiple beams of light at different frequency Carried by optical fiber A form of FDM Each color of light (wavelength) carries separate data channel 1997 Bell Labs
100 beams Each at 10 Gbps Giving 1 terabit per second (Tbps)

Commercial systems of 160 channels of 10 Gbps now available Lab systems (Alcatel) 256 channels at 39.8 Gbps each
10.1 Tbps Over 100km

WDM Operation
Same general architecture as other FDM Number of sources generating laser beams at different frequencies Multiplexer consolidates sources for transmission over single fiber Optical amplifiers amplify all wavelengths
Typically tens of km apart

Demux separates channels at the destination Mostly 1550nm wavelength range Was 200MHz per channel Now 50GHz

Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing

DWDM No official or standard definition Implies more channels more closely spaced that WDM 200GHz or less

Wavelength Division multiplexing

Each wavelength is like a separate channel (fiber)

Wavelength Division Multiplexing

Passive/active devices are needed to combine, distribute, isolate and amplify optical power at different wavelengths

Why WDM?

Capacity upgrade of existing fiber networks (without adding fibers) Transparency: Each optical channel can carry any transmission format (different asynchronous bit rates, analog or digital) Scalability Buy and install equipment for additional demand as needed Wavelength routing and switching: Wavelength is used as another dimension to time and space

Evolution of the Technology

WDM, CWDM and DWDM

WDM technology uses multiple wavelengths to transmit information over a single fiber Coarse WDM (CWDM) has wider channel spacing (20 nm) low cost Dense WDM (DWDM) has dense channel spacing (0.8 nm) which allows simultaneous transmission of 16+ wavelengths high capacity

WDM and DWDM

First WDM networks used just two wavelengths, 1310 nm and 1550 nm Today's DWDM systems utilize 16, 32,64,128 or more wavelengths in the 1550 nm window Each of these wavelength provide an independent channel (Ex: each may transmit 10 Gb/s digital or SCMA analog) The range of standardized channel grids includes 50, 100, 200 and 1000 GHz spacing Wavelength spacing practically depends on:
laser linewidth optical filter bandwidth

 c ITU-T = 1 Standard Transmission DWDM windows

Principles of DWDM
BW of a modulated laser: 10-50 MHz 0.001 nm Typical Guard band: 0.4 1.6 nm 80 nm or 14 THz @1300 nm band 120 nm or 15 THz @ 1550 nm Discrete wavelengths form individual channels that can be modulated, routed and switched individuall

Nortel OPTERA 640 System

64 wavelengths each carrying 10 Gb/s

DWDM Limitations
Theoretically large number of channels can be packed in a fiber

For physical realization of DWDM networks we need precise wavelength selective devices Optical amplifiers are imperative to provide long transmission distances without repeaters

SONET/SDH
Synchronous Optical Network (ANSI) Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (ITU-T) Compatible Signal Hierarchy
Synchronous Transport Signal level 1 (STS-1) or Optical Carrier level 1 (OC-1) 51.84Mbps Carry DS-3 or group of lower rate signals (DS1 DS1C DS2) plus ITU-T rates (e.g. 2.048Mbps) Multiple STS-1 combined into STS-N signal ITU-T lowest rate is 155.52Mbps (STM-1)

SONET Frame Format