Laboratory Activity: Fiber Optics and Optical Power

Measurements
J. A. D. Bautista
A. A. M. Castillo

Abstract— This laboratory report will discuss the characteristics

of optical fibers, specifically, the single-mode fiber (S MF) and the
multi-mode fiber (MMF). The report will go into the power
measurements of both types of fibers and will also observe the
power outputs for the mechanical splicing combinations using
the two fibers. Furthermore, the characteristics of a 50/50 fiber
coupler is also observed and discussed.
Fig. 1. Optical Fiber Structure

I. CONCEPT AND THEORY

There are basically two types of fibers: stepped index and
In 1854 a British physicist by the name o f John Tyndall graded index. Graded index fibers has a h igh index of
discovered that light could be bent around a corner through a refract ion at the center of the fiber and exh ibits a gradual
curved spout of running water. In this experiment he permitted decrease of the index as one moves away from the center. On
water to spout from a tube, the light on reaching the limit ing the other hand, step-index fibers have an abrupt and distinct
surface of air and water was totally reflected and seemed to be difference between the fiber core and cladding. The graded
washed downwards by the descending liquid [1] . Tyndall index fiber and the step index fiber are illustrated in Fig. 2 and
discovered the idea of total internal reflection (TIR) and it is Fig. 3, respectively.
fro m this concept where optical fiber co mmun ication is built
on.
Like any other fo rm o f co mmun ication, fiber optic
communicat ion is co mposed of three elements, a light source
which acts as the sender of informat ion, a fiber media which
acts as the transmission mediu m, and a light detector for the
receiving end [2]. Most light sources emit light with Fig. 2. Multi-mode Graded index fiber.
wavelengths of 1300n m and 1550n m since these are the points
when the least attenuation is experienced, as will be discussed
in depth later.
For this activity, the focus is on the transmission mediu m
known as the optical fiber.

Optical Fibers
Fig 3. Multi-mode Stepped index fiber.
Optical fibers are the actual media that guides the ligh t [2].
The fibers can either be made of glass or plastic, but glass The stepped index fiber is further classified into two types:
fibers are more preferred because they exh ibit less attenuation. the single mode and the multi-mode fiber. The mu lti-mode
The typical fiber structure is usually made up of a core center stepped index fiber has, mult iple paths for the light to travel,
where the light actually propagates in; a cladding of lower as shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 while the single mode fiber only
index of refract ion that allows the light to undergo TIR and allows a single light ray to propagate as shown in Fig. 4 [2].
propagate down the fiber; and the buffer coating which serves
as protection for the other parts of the fiber. A typical
structure for an optical fiber is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4. Single Mode Fiber


Refractive Index and Total Internal Reflection
Optical fiber communication relies on the concept of Total
Internal Reflection (TIR) for light to properly propagate down
the media to its destination. TIR is achieved when light goes
from a medium of higher refractive index to a lower refractive
index and the angle of the reflected beam exceeds 90 degrees
from the normal of the interfaces. This property is governed
by Snell’s law given below, and Fig. 5. illustrates the concept
of TIR.
where n 1 and n 2 are refractive indexes of material 1 and
material 2, while θ 1 and θ 2 are angles of the incident ray and
the reflected ray, respectively, with respect to the normal of
the interface.
Fig. 5. T otal Internal Reflection inside the Optical Fiber.
Optical Power in Watts and dBM
In optical co mmunicat ion, optical power measures the rate
at which photons arrive at a detector, it is a measure of energy
transfer per time and has a unit of Watts [5]. The power level
is too wide to be exp ressed on a linear scale. Thus, the
logarith mic scale known as decibel (dB) is used to express in
optical co mmunicat ions [4]. The decibel does not give a
magnitude of power, but it is a rat io of the output power to the
input power, both in Watts, as expressed by,
dB = 10log(Pout /Pin ) (1)
The power level related to 1mW is noted as dBm and the
power level related to 1µW is noted as dBµ. The dBm and
dBµ equations are given as follows,
dBm = 10log(P/1mW) (2)
dBµ = 10log(P/1µW) (3)
Attenuation
The material most used in optical fibers is silica (SiO2) [3].
Silica fiber exh ibit d ifferent attenuation rates given different
wavelengths for the source input. A graph of the spectral
attenuation of silica fiber is shown in Fig. 7. As shown in the
graph, three “windows” are identified as ideal wavelengths for
light sources. Nowadays, the 1300n m and 1550n m windows
are co mmonly in use. These are the points where the
attenuation of silica is at a local minima [3]. The most
significant factors contributing to the attenuation are Rayleigh
scattering and material absorption.
Material absorption occurs as a result of the imperfect ion
and impurities in the fiber. The most common impurity is the
hydroxyl (OH-) mo lecule, which remains as a residue fro m
manufacturing of the fiber [4]. The absorbed light particles are
lost to the impurities thus causing a loss in power.
Rayleigh scattering is the result of elastic collisions between
the light wave and the silica mo lecules in the fiber [4].When
th elastic collisions occer, the light scattered in all directions.
If the scattered light continues to propagate down the fiber, no
attenuation occurs but there is also the chance that the
scattered light is unable to continue down the fiber.
Splicing
Two optical fiber splicing methods are available for
permanent jo ining of two optical fibers. The optic cable fusion
splicing with an insertion loss of less than 0.1db is
imple mented using a special equip ment called fusion splicer.
The other type is mechanical splicing with an insertion loss of
less than 0.5d B. Mechanical splicing uses a small mechanical
splice, that precisely aligns two bare fibers and secures them
mechanically [7]. Mechanical splicing is the splicing method
mentioned in this activity.
Fiber coupler
A fiber coupler is an optical fiber device with one or more
input fibers and one or several output fibers. Light fro m an
input fiber can appear at one or more outputs, with the power
distribution potentially depending on the Wavelength and
polarization [6].
II. M ET HODOLOGY
The activity calls for following safety guides for eye safety
as well as proper handling of fiber optic cable. A paraphrased
list of the guidelines is given below.
Eye Safety
 Do not directly shine visib le and infrared radiation
into your eyes.
 Turn off power source during manipulat ion and
concatenation of optical fiber.
 No bare fiber will be handled in this lab to
eliminate danger of serious eye injury due to
microscopic glass particles.

Proper fiber handling
 maintain optical quality and cleanliness of the
fiber endfaces and instrument connector interfaces.
 Wash hands in soap before the activity.
 Use a lint-free tissue and residue free isopropanol
for cleaning optical surfaces .
 Allow 15 seconds for surfaces to dry before
mating.
 Always cap fiber end, bulkheads and mating
sleeves to percent contamination of optically clean
surfaces.
For the first part of the activity, the value of the optical
output power measured at the opposite end of the SM optical
fiber is read in dBm and it is converted to mW by isolating P
in (2). The equation for dBm to mW is given by,
(4)
Computations from dBm to mW in Table I is as follows,
(5)
= 0.160mW
= 0.133mW

List of Materials and Equipment A comparison of the values of the output power of the SMF
alone to when it was coupled with the MMF via the mating
 single mode  2x2 fier coupler sleeve, gives the observation that the addition of the MMF
fiber  semiconductor also added further attenuation or loss in power. The loss in
 multimode fiber grade isopropyl power can be computed by simply, subtracting the dBm value
 optical power alcohol of the SMF alone from the power of the SM-MMF power loss,
meter  lint-free tissue given by,
 optical source  bulkhead caps
 FC connector  fiber connector (6)
( )
 FC bulkhead caps
 infrared sensor
 fiber mating
sleeves
This additional loss could have been brought about by
To observe the different optical power behavior with the connector losses (caused by the mating sleeve). But the more
probable cause would be the fact that because there is a longer
SM and MM fiber several measurements are taken. In Part I of
fiber, the light travels a longer d istance, thus, being more
the activity, the SM fiber is coupled with a 1.3 micron light,
then measurements of the optical power at the opposite end of prone to Rayleigh scattering or absorption losses.
the fiber are taken. Next, the SM fiber is coupled w ith a
mat ing sleeve into a MM fiber, then optical power is T ABLE III
measured at the end of the MM fiber. A similar procedure is VALUES FOR P ART II OF THE ACTIVITY
done in Part II of the activity for the MM fiber, except that Fiber Type Power in dBm Power in mW
this time, it is the SM fiber that is coupled with the MM fiber, Multi-mode 0.170mW
and the power output is measured fro m the end of the SM
-7.69
fiber.
MMF-SMF splice -10.16 0.096mW
For the Part III of the activity, a 50/50 also called a 3 d B
fiber coupler is used and output power is measured fro m the Part II of the activ ity is essentially similar to the procedures
remain ing three ends. The characteristics and parameters of done for Part I, except that this time the MMF was used and a
the fiber coupler is then analyzed based on the observed data. MMF-SMF splice was created. Measure power values for Part
. II of the activity is shown in Table II. Co mputations using (4)
for converting dBm to mW for Part II are as follows,
III. RESULT S AND DISCUSSION

T ABLE I = 0.170mW
VALUES FOR P ART I OF THE ACTIVITY

Fiber Type Power in dBm Power (mW) = 0.096mW

Single Mode -7.94 0.160mW
SMF-MMF splice -8.75 0.133mW
 For the additional loss of the MMF-SMF splice, the loss can Thus the experimental ratio is 46/ 54 (Port 3/ Port 4),
be calculated using (6) as in Part I, instead of 50/50.

( )
IV. A NSWERS T O QUEST IONS

The additional 2.47dB loss can again be attributed to loss
caused by the mating sleeve or the Rayleigh scattering and
absorption because of the added length of the fiber,
T ABLE IIIII
VALUES FOR P ART III OF THE ACTIVITY
1. What is the core diameter of SMF-28 optical fiber?
SMF-28 is manufactured to the most demanding
specifications in the industry and is widely used in the
transmission of voice, data and/or video. It has a core
diameter o f 8.2u m a nu merical aperture of 0.14 and a
refractive difference of 0.36% [9].

Port Power in Power in Power in 2. What is the conventional color of singlemode fiber?
dBm mW µW
Port 2 -23.26 0.004 4 The fiber's jacket color is at times used to differentiate
Port 3 -9.97 0.101 101 mu lti-mode fibers (orange) fro m single-mode (yellow)
Port 4 -11.48 0.071 71 fibers [10].

3. Assuming 100% coupling efficiency of power into the

For the values in Part III, the measure power are converted
into mw and µW using a version (2) and (3). Co mputations optical power meter, how much optical power is lost in
are as follows, the SMF-MMF mechanical splice?

Port 2 As shown in (6), a loss of 0.81 dB is added when the

SMF-MMF splice was made. This translates to an
= 0.004mW additional 18% loss.

= 4µW 4. Assuming 100% coupling efficiency of power intothe

optical power meter, how much optical power is lost in
Port 3 the MMF-SMF mechanical splice?
= 0.101mW
Similar to question 3, the additional loss of the MMF-
SMF splice was already co mputed in the discussion
= 101µW and the results are about -2.47 d B wh ich translates to
an additional 43% loss.
Port 4
= 0.071mW 5. The measured output powers at 3 and 4 are consistent
with what launched input power(at port 1)?
= 71µW No, they do not add up, the sum of Port 3 and Port o f
are less than the input power. This is because of the
loss incurred by the ray as it p ropagated down the fiber
coupler.
Based on the values of the power fro m Port 3 and Port 4, it
can be seen that the theoretical coupling ratio of 50/50 is not 6. Given your data, what is the coupling ratio of the
followed, instead, the experimental coupling rat io is computed device?
by,
As computed in the discussion, the experimental
coupling ratio is 46/54 (Port 3/ Port 4), instead of
( ) 50/50.

7. Assuming a 4% reflection off the glass-air interface at

port 3 and 4, estimate the power that should be
( ) measured at port 2 (state in both dBm and mW or µW).
Explain why how this is consistent with your measured
value, and if there is no discrepancy, hypothesize
 reasons for such by identifying possible other sources [9] http://www.photonics.byu.edu/FiberOpticConnectors
of loss in path. .parts/images/smf28.pdf

The computation for the experimental power at port 2 [10] www.tech-faq.com/multi-mode-fiber.ht m

given a 4% reflection is given by,
Power at Port 2 = (Power at Port 3(µW) + Power at
Port 4(µW)) x 0.04

Fro m the formu la the experimental power for Port 2 is

6.88 µW or .006mW o r -22.22 dB, which are values
greater than the experimental value meaning loss is
also experienced by the reflected beam that enters port
2.

V. CONCLUSION

Optical fibers are essential for optical co mmunicat ion. It is

important to understand the characteristics of the fiber
especially with how power is los t as light propagates down the
fiber. With an understanding of the attenuation characteristics
of the fiber, an efficient commun ication system can be
realized.

VI. REFERENCES

[1] Allan, W. B., Fiber Optics: Theory and Practice,

(Plenum Press, NewYork, 1973).

[2] http://www.openoptogenetics.org/images/f/fb/Funda
mentals_of_Fiber_Optics.pdf.

[3] http://lib.tkk.fi/Diss/2006/isbn9512282658/ isbn9512

282658.pdf.

[4] http://books.google.com/books?id=5LMp7y xfeDA C

&pg=PA53&dq=optical+power&h l=en&ei=u weCTe
SDNc3Ccdb
IAD&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&
ved=0
DUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=optical%20power&f
=false

[5] http://books.google.com/books?id=hw1PFAr2L0s C&

pg=PA237&dq=optical+power+definition&hl=en&ei
=7weCTd3xCIO3cL65xaM D&sa=X&oi=book_resul
t&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDYQ6A EwA Q#v=
onepage&q=optical%20power%20definition&f=false

[6] http://www.timbercon.com/Fiber-Opt ic-Coupler.ht ml

[7] http://www.fiberoptics4sale.co m/Merchant2/fiber -

optic-splicing-tutorial.php

[8] http://www.scribd.co m/doc/3942245/ Optical-fiber-

Structures