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OPTICAL COMMUNICATION
Libish T.M.
Associate Professor
SCT College Of Engineering
Trivandrum
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OPTICS : The branch of physical science which deals
with the generation and propagation of light
and its interaction with matter.
Optoelectronics: The technology of electronic devices
that interacts with light.
Fiber-optic communication
is a method of transmitting information from one
place to another by sending light through an
optical fiber.
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Classes of transmission media
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Twisted Pair
Oldest but still very common.
Telephone system.
Cheap and effective for long ranges.
Can transmit both analog and digital signals.
Bandwidth depends on thickness of wire and distance
traveled.
Mb/s for few kilometers.
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Coaxial Cable
Better performance than twisted pair, i.e., higher
bandwidth and longer distances.
Good noise immunity.
Bandwidths close to GHz range.
Used widely in telephone networks for longer
distances; but gradually being replaced by fiber.
Used for CATV!
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Fiber Optics
Optical transmission.
Optical transmission system: light source,
medium, and detector.
Pulse of light = 1.
No light = 0.
Transmission medium: ultra thin fiber of glass.
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Why Optical?
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The replacement of electronic by photonic means is forced by
fundamental physical reasons that limit the information transmission
rate using purely electronic means:
As the frequency of an electrical signal
propagating through a conductor increases, the impedance of
the conductor also increases, thus the propagation
characteristics of the electrical cable become less favourable.
Light Frequencies (10
14
Hz) - much
larger than
Radio wave frequencies 10
6
Hz
Microwave frequencies 10
9
Hz
Lightwaves are capable of carrying
much larger amount of information
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Fiber Optics
Transmission of Light through Fiber
The attenuation of light through glass depends on the wavelength
of the light
Attenuation of light through fiber in the infrared region
1300 nm Minimum dispersion (max B.W)
1550nm- Minimum Fiber Loss. (lowest attenuation)
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OPTICAL FIBER
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Dr. Charles Kao has received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics
for groundbreaking achievements concerning
the transmission of light in fibers for optical
communication
Professor Joseph Nordgren, Chair, Nobel Committee said:
Why he won the prize
Charles Kaos discovery made in 1966 led to a
breakthrough in Fiber Optics .. revolutionized the way
in which information can be transmitted globally
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In most articles the credit for the concept of
a cladded fiber is given to van Heel in
Holland and to Hopkins and Kapany in the
UK ( ~ 1954 ).
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Fiber Optics
Fiber Optics
An optical transmission system has three key
components:
Light source: Conventionally, a pulse of light indicates a 1 bit
and the absence of light indicates a 0 bit.
Transmission medium: is an ultra-thin fiber of glass
Detector: generates an electrical pulse when light falls on
it.
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Components
Transmitters
Light Emitting Diodes (adequate performance)
Laser Diodes (high performance)
Receivers
Photodiodes (PIN, APD)
Medium
Optical Fibers (ranging from poor to high performance)
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Advantages of fiber optics
Much Higher Bandwidth - Thousands of channels can be
multiplexed together over one strand of fiber.
Immunity to Noise - Immune to electromagnetic
interference (EMI).
Safety - Doesnt transmit electrical signals, making it
safe in environments like a gas pipeline.
High Security - Impossible to tap into.
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Advantages of fiber optics(Contd.)
Less Loss - Repeaters can be spaced 75 miles apart.
Reliability - More resilient than copper in extreme
environmental conditions.
Size - Lighter and more compact than copper.
Unlimited Growth Potential.
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Disadvantages
higher initial cost in installation
cost of interfacing equipment necessary to
convert electrical signals to optical signals.
(optical transmitters, receivers)
more expensive to repair/maintain
Tools: Specialized and sophisticated
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Refractive index
Definition: a measure for the reduction of the velocity of light
in a medium
OPTICAL FIBER
An optical fiber (or fibre) is a glass or plastic fiber that
carries light along its length.
Light is kept in the "core" of the optical fiber by total
internal reflection.

SMF-28: The core and the cladding refractive indices are 1.46145
and 1.456, respectively. n=0.00545
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Optical Fiber
Core
Glass or plastic with a higher index of
refraction than the cladding
Carries the signal
Cladding
Glass or plastic with a lower index of
refraction than the core
Buffer
Protects the fiber from damage and
moisture
Jacket
Holds one or more fibers in a cable
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Reflection and Refraction of Light
Using the Snell's law at the boundary we have:
n
1
sin
1
= n
2
sin
2
or
n
1
cos
1
= n
2
cos
2
Medium 1
Medium 2
Boundary

1
=The angle of incident

1
n
2
n
1
n
1
> n
2

1

1
Reflected
ray
Refracted
ray
Incident
ray

2
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Total Internal Reflection
As
1
increases (or
1
decreases) then there is no reflection

c
n
2
n
1
n
1
> n
2

1
The incident angle

1
=
c
=Critical Angle
Beyond the critical angle, light ray
becomestotally internally reflected

1
>
c
n
2
n
1
n
1
> n
2

1
<
c

1
When
2
= 90
o
n
1
sin
1
= n
2
Thus the critical angle

=

1
2
1
sin
n
n
c
Total Internal Reflection
Total internal reflection.
When light enters a less
optically dense medium, it is
refracted away from the
normal. At a critical angle
c
,
the light is reflected along
the interface. At angles
greater than
c
, there is total
internal reflection.
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The critical angle is defined to be an angle of incidence
for which the angle of refraction is 90 degrees.
Internal reflection is the
basis of fiber optics.
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Total
internal
reflection
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Ray Propagation in Fibre -
1
2
3
4
5
Cladding n
2
Core n
1
Air (n
o
=1)

c
a
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n
o
sin
1
= n
1
sin
2
n
1
sin = n
2
sin 90 (at critical angle)
n
1
sin (90 -
2
) = n
2
x 1
n
1
cos
2
= n
2
----------1
n
o
sin
1
= n
1
sin
2
n
1
sin
2
= n
o
sin
1
-----------------2
n
0
=1 (Medium=Air)
sqrg eq 1 & eq 2
n
1
2
(sin
2

2
+ cos
2

2
) = sin
2
a +n
2
2
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Acceptanceangle,
a
, isthemaximumangle
in which external light rays may strike the
air/Fiber interface and still propagate down
theFiber.
NA determines the light gathering
capabilities of the fibre
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Note
=

1
2 1
n
n n
Relative refractive index difference
Thus
5 . 0
1
) 2 ( = n NA
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Fiber Cables
(a) Side view of a single fiber.
(b) End view of a sheath with three fibers.
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Types of Fibre
There are two main fibre types:
(1) Step index:
Multi-mode
Single mode
(2) Graded index multi-mode
STEP-INDEX
A step-index fiber has a central core with a
uniformrefractive index. An outside cladding that
also has a uniformrefractive index surrounds the
core;
however, the refractive index of the cladding is
less than that of the central core.
50-200 m
120-400m
n
1
=1.48-1.5
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Fiber-Optic Cable
Single-mode fiber
Carries light
pulses along
single path
Multimode fiber
Many pulses of
light generated
by LED travel
at different
angles
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possible paths for the light to take. These paths are
called modes
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Optical Fiber Types
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Step-index Multi-mode Fibre
Advantages:
Allows the use of non-coherent optical light source, e.g. LED's
Facilitates connecting together similar fibres
Cost effective
Disadvantages:
Suffer from dispersion
High power loss
Output pulse
Input
pulse
n
2
=1.46
50-200 m
120-400m
n
1
=1.48-1.5
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SCTCE, E & C
Department
The problem with multimode operation is that some of the
paths taken by particular modes are longer than other paths.
This means that light will arrive at different times according to
the path taken.
Therefore the pulse tends to disperse (spread out) as it travels
through the fibre. This effect is known as intersymbol
interference(Intermodal Dispersion).
This restricts the distance that a pulse can be usefully sent over
multimode fibre.
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SCTCE, E & C
Department
GRADED-INDEX
In graded-index fiber, the index of refraction in the
core decreases continuously between the axis
and the cladding. This causes light rays to bend
smoothly as they approach the cladding, rather
than reflecting abruptly from the core-cladding
boundary.
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Graded-index Multi-mode Fibre
Output
pulse
Input
pulse
n
2
n
1
50-100 m
120-140m
Advantages:
Allows the use of non-coherent optical light source, e.g. LED's
Facilitates connecting together similar fibres
Reduced dispersion compared with STMMF
Disadvantages:
Lower bandwidth compared with SMF
High power loss compared with the SMF
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Step-index Single-mode Fibre
Output pulse
Input
pulse
Advantages:
Only one mode is allowed.
Low dispersion, therefore high bandwidth.
Low loss (0.2dB/km)
8-12 m
100-120m
n
2
=1.46
n
1
=1.48-1.5
Single-mode step-index Fiber
Advantages:
Minimum dispersion: all rays take same path, same
time to travel down the cable. A pulse can be
reproduced at the receiver very accurately.
Less attenuation, can run over longer distance without
repeaters.
Larger bandwidth and higher information rate
Disadvantages:
Difficult to couple light in and out of the tiny core
Highly directive light source (Laser Diode ) is required.
Interfacing modules are more expensive
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Modes in Fibre
A fiber can support:
many modes (multi-mode fibre).
a single mode (single mode fiber).
The number of modes supported in a fiber is determined
by the indices, operating wavelength and the diameter of
the core, given as.
2
cl
2
c
2
n n a V =

V<2.405 corresponds to a single mode fiber.

NA
a
V

=
2
or
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Normalized Frequency V
V= k0 a
a -> Core Radius
K0 = 2/
V < 2.4 ------------Single Mode Fiber
V > 2.4 --------------MM
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Number Of Modes
N = V
2
/2 [/( +2) ]
Profile parameter
2 for Graded index Fiber N= V
2
/4
- for step index MM fiber N= V
2
/2
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Fiber Key Parameters
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