Summary

Introduction 1

I Emitters 2

I.1 Light-emitting diode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

I.2 LASER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

I.2.1 operating principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

I.2.2 Temperature effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

II Multiplexing and Demultiplexing 7

II.1 Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

II.2 Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

II.3 Ultra Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

III Fiber Optic 11

III.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

III.2 Optical fibers types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

III.3 Attenuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

III.4 Dispersion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

III
 SUMMARY

IV Photo-detectors 18

IV.1 Proprieties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

IV.2 PIN photo-diode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

IV.3 Temperature effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

IV
List of Figures

I.1 Functioning principle of a LED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

I.2 Setup of an optically pumped laser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

I.3 Stimulated emission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

I.4 Laser gain and cavity loss spectra, longitudinal mode location, and laser output . 5

I.5 Longitudinal mode spectra of a DFB laser at several temperatures . . . . . . . . 6

I.6 Diode temperature vs output power (mW). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

II.1 Multiplex and demultiplex using a prism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

II.2 Multiplex and demultiplex using diffraction grating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

II.3 Arrayed Waveguide Grating schema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

II.4 Multiplexing and demultiplexing using Thin Film Filter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

III.1 Fiber optic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

III.2 Multi-mode fiber optic cable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

III.3 Single-mode fiber optic cable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

III.4 Graded-index and step-index fibers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

III.5 Attenuation curve of silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

V
 LIST OF FIGURES

III.6 different types of dispersion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

IV.1 Functioning principal of a photo-diode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

IV.2 PIN photo-diode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

IV.3 Dark current vs temperature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

IV.4 Sensitivity vs temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

VI
Introduction

A growing number of companies are offering ”software as service” meaning you

subscribe to applications on the net rather than install them on your own computer.

All of these applications and many others we haven’t even dreamed of yet, require a

great bandwidth. This encouraged the use of optical communication. On the other side

installing an optical communication line is still expensive even with the great scientific

leaps that we are making. For this reason, in this project we are going to discuss witch

are the optimal components to use in order to satisfy our needs for a reliable and high

bandwidth network with minimal cost.

1
Emitters

I.1 Light-emitting diode

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a two-lead semiconductor light source. It is a

pn junction diode that emits light when activated. When a suitable current is applied to

the leads, electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing

energy in the form of photons. This effect is called electro-luminescence, and the color of

the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is determined by the energy band

gap of the semiconductor. LEDs are typically small (less than 1 mm2) and integrated

optical components may be used to shape the radiation pattern.

Figure I.1: Functioning principle of a LED.

2
 I. Emitters

I.2 LASER

A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based

on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. A laser is mainly constructed

from three parts :

An active medium (laser crystal) : which can be atoms, molecules, ions, electrons

in gas, liquid, solid, plasma medium.

Excitation scheme (pump light) : provides energy to the active medium to turn it

into an amplifier.

Optical resonator (Fabry-Perot cavity) : composed of two mirrors, one is highly

reflective while the other is partially reflective.

Output coupler : the partially reflective mirror play the role of light extractor that will

output light stored in the cavity.

Figure I.2: Setup of an optically pumped laser

I.2.1 operating principle

According to the quantum mechanics, an electron within an atom or lattice can

have only certain values of energy, or energy levels. There are many energy levels that an

electron can occupy, but here we will only consider two. If an electron is in the excited

state with the energy E2 it may spontaneously decay to the ground state, with energy

E1 , releasing the difference in energy between the two states as a photon.This process is

3
 I. Emitters

called spontaneous emission.

Alternatively, if the excited-state atom is perturbed by the electric field of a photon with

frequency , it may release a second photon of the same frequency, in phase with the first

photon. The atom will again decay into the ground state. This process is known as

stimulated emission.

Figure I.3: Stimulated emission

The emitted photon is identical to the stimulating photon with the same frequency,

polarization, and direction of propagation. And there is a fixed phase relationship between

light radiated from different atoms. The photons, as a result, are totally coherent. This

is the critical property that allows optical amplification to take place.

If the higher energy state has a greater population than the lower energy state, then the

light in the system undergoes a net increase in intensity. And this is called population

inversion.

Although with a population inversion we have the ability to amplify a signal via stimulated

emission, the overall single-pass gain is quite small, and most of the excited atoms in the

population emit spontaneously and do not contribute to the overall output. Then the

resonator is applied to make a positive feedback mechanism. In the presence of the

resonator photons produced by spontaneous decay in other directions are off axis so

4
 I. Emitters

that they wont be amplified to compete with stimulated emission on axis. In this way

the resonator works as a wavelength selector that let pass only photons respecting this

formula :

2nL = pλ

where :

L is the distance between the mirrors.

λ is the wavelength of the photon.

n is the refractive index of the active medium.

p is an integer.

The combination of the active medium gain function and the resonator selection process

gives the final output light its spectrum shape.

Figure I.4: Laser gain and cavity loss spectra, longitudinal mode location, and laser output

I.2.2 Temperature effect

The temperature can have negative effect on the important parameters and qual-

ity of a semiconductor laser diode. Center wavelength of a laser diode is directly

proportional to its operating temperature. As temperature can affect the refractive index

and the center wavelength of the laser diode.

5
 I. Emitters

Figure I.5: Longitudinal mode spectra of a DFB laser at several temperatures

Output power curve changes with operating temperature for typical laser diodes, the

decrease in output power corresponds to different wavelengths with increasing operating

temperature.

Figure I.6: Diode temperature vs output power (mW).

6
Multiplexing and Demultiplexing

A simple form of multiplexing or demultiplexing of light can be done using a prism.

A parallel beam of polychromatic light impinges on a prism surface; each component

wavelength is refracted differently. This is the rainbow effect. In the output light, each

wavelength is separated from the next by an angle. A lens then focuses each wavelength

to point where it needs to enter a fiber.

Figure II.1: Multiplex and demultiplex using a prism.

Another technology is based on the principles of diffraction and of optical interference.

When a polychromatic light source impinges on a diffraction grating, each wavelength is

diffracted at a different angle and therefore to a different point in space. Using a lens,

these wavelengths can be focused onto individual fibers.

7
 II. Multiplexing and Demultiplexing

Figure II.2: Multiplex and demultiplex using diffraction grating.

Arrayed Waveguide Gratings (AWG) are also based on diffraction principles. An

AWG device, sometimes called an optical waveguide router or waveguide grating router,

consists of an array of curved-channel waveguides with a fixed difference in the path length

between adjacent channels. The waveguides are connected to cavities at the input and

output. When the light enters the input cavity, it is diffracted and enters the waveguide

array. There the optical length difference of each waveguide introduces phase delays in

the output cavity, where an array of fibers is coupled. The process results in different

wavelengths having maximal interference at different locations, which correspond to the

output ports.

Figure II.3: (a) Focusing the wavelengths on different positions of the focal line with four demultiplexed
wavelengths. (b) The result is called an AWG spectral response.

A different technology uses interference filters in devices called thin film filters or

multilayer interference filters. By positioning filters, consisting of thin films, in the

optical path, wavelengths can be sorted out (demultiplexed). The property of each filter

8
 II. Multiplexing and Demultiplexing

is such that it transmits one wavelength while reflecting others. By cascading these

devices, many wavelengths can be demultiplexed Of these designs, the AWG and thin

Figure II.4: Multiplexing and demultiplexing using Thin Film Filter.

film interference filters are gaining prominence. Filters offer good stability and isolation

between channels at moderate cost, but with a high insertion loss. AWGs are polarization-

dependent (which can be compensated), and they exhibit a flat spectral response and low

insertion loss. A potential drawback is that they are temperature sensitive such that they

may not be practical in all environments. Their big advantage is that they can be designed

to perform multiplexing and demultiplexing operations simultaneously. AWGs are also

better for large channel counts, where the use of cascaded thin film filters is impractical.

II.1 Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing

Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) provides a cost-effective way

to address traffic growth demands without overbuilding infrastructure. CWDM offers 18

channels ranging from 1271 to 1611 nm, spaced at 20 nm apart. The 20 nm spacing

was chosen to allow the effective use of low-cost, uncooled lasers and wide-band filters in

CWDM systems.

9
 II. Multiplexing and Demultiplexing

CWDM systems rely on optical signal regeneration at every node without the

use of optical amplifiers. Since all channels are regenerated at each node, the link power

budget does not depend on the number of channels transported over each span. This

simplifies the network design.

II.2 Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing

Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) refers originally to optical sig-

nals multiplexed within the 1550 nm band so as to leverage the capabilities (and cost) of

erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), which are effective for wavelengths between ap-

proximately 1525–1565 nm (C band), or 1570–1610 nm (L band). This technology offers

up to 160 channels, theoretically boosting fiber capacity up to 160 times. The channels

are spaced at between 30–100 GHz.

II.3 Ultra Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing

Ultra Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (UDWDM) is a multiplexing tech-

nology that is capable of making channels spaced at 1 GHz.

10
Fiber Optic

III.1 Introduction

An optical fiber is waveguide used to guide light through a desired distance. An

optical fiber is made of 3 concentric layers.

Core : This central section, made of silica or doped silica, is the light transmitting region

of the fiber.

Cladding : This is the first layer around the core. It is also made of silica, but not the

same composition as the core. This creates an optical waveguide which confines the light

in the core by total internal reflection at the core-cladding interface.

Coating : The coating is the first non-optical layer around the cladding. The coating

typically consists of one or more layers of polymer that protect the silica structure against

physical or environmental damage. The coating is stripped off when the fiber is fusion

spliced.

Buffer : The buffer is an important feature of the fiber. It is 900 microns and helps pro-

tect the fiber from breaking during installation and termination and is located outside of

the coating.

Strengthening members : These components help protect the core against crushing

forces and excessive tension during installation. The materials can range from Kevlar to

wire strands to gel-filled sleeves.

11
 III. Fiber Optic

Cable jacket : This is the outer layer of any cable. Most fiber optic cables have an

orange jacket, although some types can have black or yellow jackets.

Figure III.1: Fiber optic.

Optical fibers can be made from different materials :

Silica : silica fibers are the material of choice in many optical applications, such as com-

munications (except for very short distances with plastic optical fiber), fiber lasers, fiber

amplifiers, and fiber-optic sensors.

Fluoride glass : Fluoride fibers are used in mid-IR spectroscopy, fiber optic sensors,

thermometry, and imaging. Also, fluoride fibers can be used for guided light-wave trans-

mission in media such as YAG (yttrium aluminum garnet) lasers at 2.9 m, as required

for medical applications.

Chalcogenide glass : Chalcogenide glass can be used to make fibers for far infrared

transmission.

Fibers can have different sizes and can guide light in different ways which make two

different big families Multi-mode fibers and single-mode fibers.

12
 III. Fiber Optic

III.2 Optical fibers types

Multi-mode fiber : multi-mode fiber is optical fiber that is designed to carry

multiple light rays or modes concurrently, each at a slightly different reflection angle

within the optical fiber core. Multi-mode fiber transmission is used for relatively short

distances because the modes tend to disperse over longer lengths (this is called modal

dispersion). Multi-mode fiber is usually 50/125 and 62.5/125 in construction. This means

that the core to cladding diameter ratio is 50 microns to 125 microns and 62.5 microns

to 125 microns.

Figure III.2: Multi-mode fiber optic cable.

Single-mode fibers : is a single stand (most applications use 2 fibers) of glass fiber with

a diameter of 8.3 to 10 microns that has one mode of transmission. Single Mode Fiber

with a relatively narrow diameter, through which only one mode will propagate typically

1310 or 1550nm. Carries higher bandwidth than multi-mode fiber, but requires a light

source with a narrow spectral width. They are usually 9/125 in construction. This means

that the core to cladding diameter ratio is 9 microns to 125 microns.

Figure III.3: Single-mode fiber optic cable.

13
 III. Fiber Optic

Step-index fiber : For an optical fiber, a step-index profile is a refractive index profile

characterized by a uniform refractive index within the core and a sharp decrease in re-

fractive index at the core-cladding interface so that the cladding is of a lower refractive

index. The step-index profile corresponds to a power-law index profile with the profile

parameter approaching infinity. The step-index profile is used in most single-mode fibers

and some multi-mode fibers.

Graded-index fiber : In fiber optics, a graded index is an optical fiber whose core

has a refractive index that decreases with increasing radial distance from the optical axis

of the fiber. Because parts of the core closer to the fiber axis have a higher refractive index

than the parts near the cladding, light rays follow sinusoidal paths down the fiber. The

most common refractive index profile for a graded-index fiber is very nearly parabolic.

The parabolic profile results in continual refocusing of the rays in the core, and minimizes

modal dispersion.

Figure III.4: Graded-index and step-index fibers.

III.3 Attenuation

Light losses power in its way through the fiber. Optical losses of a fiber are

14
 III. Fiber Optic

usually expressed in decibels per kilometer (dB/km). The expression is called the fibers

attenuation coefficient and the expression is.

Input intesity(W )
α = 10 log( Output intesity(W )
)

for a given fiber these losses are wavelength-dependent. For exemple this is silica fiber

loss function :

Figure III.5: Attenuation curve of silica .

This attenuation is due to two phenomenons :

Absorption : Active medium material tend to absorb certain wavelength, also attenua-

tion can be caused by the presence of minute quantity of metallic ions.

Scattering : Scattering losses occur when a wave interacts with a particle in a way that

removes energy in the directional propagating wave and transfers it to other directions.

The light isnt absorbed, just sent in another direction. However, the distinction between

scattering and absorption doesnt matter much because the light is lost from the fiber in

either case.

III.4 Dispersion

Dispersion is the spreading out of a light pulse in time as it propagates down

the fiber. Dispersion in optical fiber includes model dispersion, material dispersion and

waveguide dispersion.

15
 III. Fiber Optic

Model dispersion in multi-mode fibers : Multi-mode fibers can guide many different

Figure III.6: different types of dispersion .

light modes since they have much larger core size. Each mode enters the fiber at a

different angle and thus travels at different paths in the fiber. Since each mode ray

travels a different distance as it propagates, the ray arrive at different times at the fiber

output. So the light pulse spreads out in time which can cause signal overlapping so

seriously that you cannot distinguish them any more. This is generally resolved using

graded-index fibers.

Material dispersion : Material dispersion is a type of chromatic dispersion. Chromatic

dispersion is the pulse spreading that arises because the velocity of light through a fiber

depends on its wavelength.

Waveguide dispersion : Waveguide dispersion is only important in single mode fibers.

It is caused by the fact that some light travels in the fiber cladding compared to most

16
 III. Fiber Optic

light travels in the fiber core. Since fiber cladding has lower refractive index than fiber

core, light ray that travels in the cladding travels faster than that in the core. Waveguide

dispersion is also a type of chromatic dispersion. It is a function of fiber core size, V-

number, wavelength and light source line-width.

17
Photo-detectors

Photodetectors, also called photosensors, are sensors of light or other electromag-

netic radiation. A photo detector has a pn junction that converts light photons into

current. The absorbed photons make electronhole pairs in the depletion region.

Figure IV.1: Functioning principal of a photo-diode.

IV.1 Proprieties

Spectral response : The response of a photo-detector as a function of photon frequency.

Quantum efficiency : The number of carriers (electrons or holes) generated per photon.

Responsivity : The output current divided by total light power falling upon the photo-

detector.

18
 IV. Photo-detectors

Noise-equivalent power : The amount of light power needed to generate a signal

comparable in size to the noise of the device.

Detectivity : The square root of the detector area divided by the noise equivalent power.

Gain : The output current of a photo-detector divided by the current directly produced

by the photons incident on the detectors, i.e., the built-in current gain.

Dark current : The current flowing through a photo-detector even in the absence of

light.

Response time : The time needed for a photo-detector to go from 10% to 90% of final

output.

Noise spectrum : The intrinsic noise voltage or current as a function of frequency. This

can be represented in the form of a noise spectral density.

Nonlinearity : The RF-output is limited by the nonlinearity of the photo-detector.

IV.2 PIN photo-diode

The performance of photo-detectors is primarily determined in terms of its fre-

quency response, sensitivity and noise. One of the photo-detectors, which ensures appro-

priate values for these parameters, is the PIN photo-diode.

The PIN structure, which consists of an ”I” region lightly doped, between the P and N

regions, has advantages over the PN junction and is the basis of more complex photo-

diode structures used in fiber optic telecommunications. It is highly sensitive to light and

it’s response time is much lower than most PN photo-diodes.

19
 IV. Photo-detectors

Figure IV.2: PIN photo-diode.

IV.3 Temperature effect

Three major factors depend on the temperature :

First we have the dark current. The total dark current presented usually in data-sheets

is given by

I(T ) = I0 exp( −qN

kT
)

where N is the activation energy, and I0 is the reverse saturation current.

Figure IV.3: Dark current vs temperature.

Photo-diode sensitivity depends also from temperature

Figure IV.4: Sensitivity vs temperature

20
 IV. Photo-detectors

Add to that due to the change of the I medium characteristics the spectral response of

the PIN photo-diode shifts right when the temperature rises.

21