Consequences of Stress

Optical Communications Systems

Bending Loss and Reliability in Optical Fibres
Increased Loss in the Fibre

Stress

Increased Probability of Failure

Bending Loss in Fibres

At a bend the propagation conditions alter and light rays which would propagate in a straight fibre are lost in the cladding. Macrobending, for example due to tight bends

Attenuation: Bending Loss

Microbending, due to microscopic fibre deformation, commonly caused by poor cable design
Microbending is commonly caused by poor cable design Macrobending is commonly caused by poor installation or handling

Ray Diagram View of Macrobending

Recall that macrobending is caused typically by poor handling or installation. Ray diagram view used with multimode fibre provides approximate explanation. At a sharp bends light rays which propagate by TIR on straight fibre are lost into the cladding. Result is optical power loss and thus attenuation.

Mode Field View of Macrobending

Mode field view is more accurate but harder to visualise, a must for singlemode In a fibre a wavefront perpendicular to the direction of travel must be maintained At a sharp bend the outer part of the mode field must travel faster than the inner part to maintain the wavefront Thus outer part of mode field may be forced to travel faster than the velocity of light in the material As this is not possible the energy in the outer part of the mode field is lost through radiation
Cladding

At a bend loss occurs where TIR fails

Loss of a portion of the mode field at a sharp bend

Core

Power lost via radiation from cladding

Mode field

Macrobending in Multimode Fibre

Critical radius is the bend radius below which loss increases rapidly Critical radius of curvature Rc for multimode fibre is given approximately by: 2 3 n1

Macrobending in Singlemode Fibre

In a singlemode fibre as the spot size or mode field radius (MFR) increases the loss at a bend increases Qualitatively this is because a greater proportion of the mode field is lost if the MFR is larger Full analysis of loss is complex and beyond the scope of current discussions

Rc =

4 n 12 n 2 2

3/ 2

Low MFR = Lower Loss

Cladding

Larger MFR = Higher Loss

Cladding
Power lost via radiation from cladding

Loss can be reduced by using larger refractive index differences For a given bend radius a larger NA will result in a lower Rc and thus lower loss While Rc is influenced by wavelength it is found that above Rc the loss is not a a strong function of wavelength (multimode fibre only)

Core

Core

More power lost via radiation from cladding

Mode field

Mode field

Quantifying Macrobending in Singlemode Fibre (I)

Macrobending can be characterised in SM fibres by the empirical formula: 3

Quantifying Macrobending in Singlemode Fibre (II)

Influence of Mac# on loss in dB/m at 1320 nm

Loss = exp 8.5 - 519 x Dmm

x Mac#

dB/m

The Mac# (Macrobending Number) is a function of the MFR and the "effective fibre cutoff wavelength ce":

Mac# = 2 x MFR

ce

Quantifying Macrobending in Singlemode Fibre (III)

The higher the operating wavelength above the cutoff wavelength the lower the V-value A lower V-value means a larger MFR So for longer wavelengths the MFR and thus the loss increases Thus the loss due to bending can be expected to increase at 1550 nm relative to 1330 nm Typical Mac#'s in singlemode fibre are 8-9 and >10 in so called weakly guiding fibres

Quantifying Macrobending in Singlemode Fibre (IV)

Influence of wavelength on loss in dB/m for a Mac# of 9

Microbending in Fibres

Bending Loss Tests for Cables

Minimum bend radius for a cable is typically 10 to 20 times the outer diameter of the cable. Common value used in Cabling Standards is 15 times the cable diameter

Microbending in Fibres More critical than macrobending Due to processing rather than mishandling. Loss can occur due to distortion of the core cladding interface, induced by manufacture or poor cable design

Fibre Reliability
Fibre is intrinsically very reliable in a benign environment Few documented failure mechanisms Most failures are caused by poor cable choice, poor installation or accidental damage Intrinsic tensile fibre strength exceeds that of an equivalent steel wire

Fibre Reliability

Theoretical strength is 20 GPa (2,900,000 Psi) Due to surface defects such as cracks strength in practice is much lower, typically 5 GPa (725 kPsi)

Fibre showing surface cracks and flaws (exaggerated)

1kPa = 0.145 Psi

Fibre Proof Testing

Weak fibres are those with large surface defects after production All produced fibres are proof tested after production Typical proof test stress is three times normal service maximum

Crack and Flaw Growth

Failure occurs when under stress a crack grows to some critical dimension Crack growth is depended on the so-called fatigue susceptibility parameter, "n" Larger values of n mean faster crack growth, shorter lifetime Stress accelerates crack growth

Simplified proof test apparatus

Moisture and high temperatures also accelerate crack growth and reduce lifetime

Fibre Failure Examples (I)

Photo shows an end view of a failed fibre Magnification is 2000x Failure caused by small flaw on the fibre surface Two distinct areas visible:

Minimum Time to Failure

Most important parameter for cable designers Assume cable is under a constant stress "s" The time to failure tf is given by:

tf =

As

-n

A is constant and n is the fatigue susceptibility parameter (15 to 50 for glass, typically 20) As stress grows the time to failure drops rapidly Problem: For n = 20 develop an argument to show that a stress "s" applied for 1 second is equivalent to a stress of 0.35s applied for 40 years

Smooth area near flaw were crack propagated quickly but cleanly Jagged area were fibre failed completely

Proof Testing Results

Proof test stress Maximum flaw size Predicted lifetime at maximum service stress Effect of Moisture

Effect of Moisture and Temperature

Moisture does not penetrate silica glass, so it does not affect propagation Presence of water as OH ions on the fibre surface accelerates crack growth This process is called stress corrosion Moisture protection is important in fibre cables

Typical industry test Higher reliability tests

50 kPsi (0.35 GPa) 100 kPsi (0.7 GPa)

2.3 micron

30 Years

0.7 micron

>>100 Years Effect of Temperature

Higher proof test stress means longer lifetime But higher stress means more fibres are rejected, lower yield/higher cost Lifetimes assume no moisture ingress and normal temperatures

At 90 degrees centigrade the fatigue susceptibility parameter is significantly higher than that at 25 degrees Fibre strength decreases by 25% at 90 degrees compared to 25 degrees High tensile strength and zero moisture ingress cables are essential at elevated temperatures