Folie 1.

1
 Refraction (and reflection)

Folie 1.2
 Refraction (and reflection)

from optical thinner from optical thicker

to optical thicker medium to optical thinner medium

Folie 1.3
 Totalreflection

optical thinner medium (n2)

optical thicker medium (n1)

Special case of refraction

with ideal materials (no attenuation):
• no loss in energy or power
• 100 % reflection
however: attenuation and loss due to material itself
Folie 1.4
 Overview of fiber types
Type Profile Ray propagation

Step-index Reflection
fiber
SI

Graded- Refraction
index fiber
GI

Singlemode Diffraction/
fiber Light-guiding
SM
Folie 1.5
 Construction of optical cable
tension release
(kevlar)
Optical fiber

cable covering

light ray primary coating

cladding secundary coating
fiber axis
core


Folie 1.6
 Totalreflection with light rays:
basic mechanism in step-index fibers

cladding (ncl)
core (nco)
c  

critical angle of totalreflection:

c = arc sin (ncl/nco)

Folie 1.7
 Numerical aperture
of SI-multimode fiber (using ray optics)

c
cladding (ncl)
core (nco)

amax: acceptance angle of meridional rays

 acceptance cone

NA:defintion
describe(used forlight-gathering
the microscope):
ability NA = sin amax = using Snell’s laws

Folie 1.8
 Light propagation in GI-fibers
due to refraction

nN = ncl

nN-1
nN-2
• Total reflection
•
Snell’s law at all
boundaries (refracted
•
away from lot) • n3
• n2
• n1
•
• n(r=0) = n0
Sine-wave, for
layer thickness  “0”
Folie 1.9
 Propagation of meridional rays

SI-fiber GI-fiber
4
4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1

Meridional rays: 4
3
2
1

Folie 1.10
 Acceptance angle and numerical aperture
of multimode-fibres (meridional rays)

SI -fiber : cladding (ncl)

core (nco )
c: propagation angle
a max critical angle

NA = sin amax =  nco² - ncl²

GI - fiber : cladding (ncl)
a max(r)
center (no )
a max(0)

NA(r) = sin amax(r) =  n(r)² - ncl²

Folie 1.11
 Fiber attenuation
Material-properties Fiber-properties
(waveguide)
Absorption Disturbance of geometry
intrinsic absorption (silica) manufacturing
ext. absorption
(impurities) Bending loss
curvature
Scattering external pressure
Rayleigh
Raman, Brillouin Influence of boundary
imperfections (local) between core and cladding
tensile stress
Additional loss
UV-defects due to
ionizing radiation
diffusion effects (H2) mainly local losses
Folie 1.12
 Back scattering method

Rayleigh scattering
 Scattering of incoming light: particles or n-variations
smaller than wavelength of light
no wavelength shift
 Silica as medium is optically inhomogenous:
density variation leads to a spatial variation of
refractive-index
 Dominant mechanism of attenuation in modern silica-
based fibers
 Rayleigh scattering is strongly wavelength-dependent

a s ~1/l4
Folie 1.13
 Pulse spreading in fibers

3 effects for pulse-spreading (dispersion)

• material dispersion (M)
arises due to the variation of propagation velocities
or delays with wavelength (bulk property)
pulse-spreading
• modal dispersion
leads to
arises due to different propagation velocities / delays
of different rays (or modes)reduction of bandwidth/
• waveguide dispersion (W) in data rate of the system
singlemode-fibres
determined by the difference in propagation velocity
between core and cladding
Folie 1.14
 Advantages of optical fibres

1. High carrier-frequency (150 ... 400 THz), wavelength  1 µm

- higher modulation: > 10 GHz possible
2. Low loss/attenuation (< 0.3 dB/km )
- longer transmission links without repeater (> 50km)
3. Small diameter (125 µm)
- less material / lower weight
- light and flexible cable
4. High resistance against electromagnetic waves
- no shielding necessary
5. No interfering radiation to external
- no noticeable cross-talk
6. Electrical insulator
- no problems with earthing / potential differences
Folie 1.15
 Disadvantages of optical fiber systems

Fiber:
1. Small diameter: difficulties with connections
2. Additional conducting line for electric power supplies
in remote terminals (if necessary)
3. Susceptibility of fibre to hydrogen, water and ionizing
radiation
Systems:
4. Poor source efficiency
5. Nonlinearities of sources limit analog use
6. Difficulties with connections
7. High receiver noise

Folie 1.16