Attenuation:

Fiber optic transmission and communication are technologies that are

constantly growing and becoming more modernized and increasingly being
used in the modern day industries. However, dispersion, absorption, and
scattering are the three properties of optical fibers that cause attenuation, or a
marked decrease in transmitted power, and therefore, have limited progress
in areas of high-speed transmission and signal efficiency over long
distances. Dispersion occurs when the light traveling down a fiber optic
cable “spreads out,” becomes longer in wavelength and eventually
dissipates. Two other major mechanisms of attenuation in optical fibers are
absorption and scattering. However, new advances are continually being
made to combat these losses and improve the reliability of fibers.
Attenuation, a reduction in the transmitted power (Hecht, August 2000), has
long been a problem for the fiber optics community. The increase in data
loss over the length of a fiber has somewhat hindered widespread use of
fiber as a means of communication. However, researchers have established
three main sources of this loss: absorption, scattering, and, though it is not
commonly studied in this category, dispersion.

Absorption:

Absorption occurs when the light beam is partially absorbed by

lingering materials, namely water and metal ions, within the core of the fiber
as well as in the cladding (see Figure 1). Though absorption in standard
glass fibers tends to increase between the critical lengths of 700 and 1550
nanometers (nm) (Hecht, August 2000), almost any type of fiber at any
length will have light absorbed by some of the traces of impurities that
inevitably appear in all fibers. As the light signal travels through the fiber,
each impurity absorbs some of the light, weakening the signal; therefore,
longer fibers are more prone to attenuation due to absorption than shorter
ones.

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Scattering:

Scattering, another significant aspect of attenuation, occurs when

atoms or other particles within the fiber spread the light. This process differs
with absorption in that, for the most part, foreign particles on the fiber are
not absorbing the light, but the light signal bounces off the particle rather
than the fiber’s wall and spreads the signal in another direction (Single-
Mode, 2000).
For glass fibers, the foremost type of scattering is Rayleigh scattering,
which somewhat contrasts with the accepted definition of scattering. With
this process, atoms or other particles within the fiber fleetingly absorb the
light signal and instantly re-emit the light in another direction. In this way,
Rayleigh scattering appears very much like absorption, but it absorbs and re-
directs the light so quickly that it is considered scattering (Hecht, August
2000).
Both scattering and absorption are cumulative, in that they keep
building up. Light is absorbed and scattered continuously, so the signal at
the end of the fiber is almost never exactly the same signal as it was at the
beginning. However, for the most part, the signal loss is minimal and does
not greatly hinder the communication.

BENDING LOSS:

Bending the fiber also causes attenuation. Bending loss is classified

according to the bend radius of curvature: microbend loss or macrobend
loss.

Microbends are small microscopic bends of the fiber axis that occur mainly
when a fiber is cabled. Macrobends are bends having a large radius of
curvature relative to the fiber diameter. Microbend and macrobend losses are
very important loss mechanisms. Fiber loss caused by microbending can still
occur even if the fiber is cabled correctly. During installation, if fibers are
bent too sharply, macrobend losses will occur.

Microbend losses are caused by small discontinuities or imperfections in the

fiber. Uneven coating applications and improper cabling procedures increase
microbend loss. External forces are also a source of microbends. An external
force deforms the cabled jacket surrounding the fiber but causes only a small
bend in the fiber. Microbends change the path that propagating modes take.

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Macrobend losses are observed when a fiber bend's radius of curvature is
large compared to the fiber diameter.

These bends become a great source of loss when the radius of curvature is
less than several centimeters. Light propagating at the inner side of the bend
travels a shorter distance than that on the outer side. To maintain the phase
of the light wave, the mode phase velocity must increase. When the fiber
bend is less than some critical radius, the mode phase velocity must increase
to a speed greater than the speed of light. However, it is impossible to
exceed the speed of light. This condition causes some of the light within the
fiber to be converted to high-order modes. These high-order modes are then
lost or radiated out of the fiber.

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 Assignment

Topic: Microwave band spectrum

Submitted to: Submitted By:

Nishatul Majid Mafijul Islam
Dept. of ETE ID: 081015011

Submission Date: 18/10/2010