Conference on Education and Training in Optics & Photonics Marseille, 27th October 2005

An Optical Time Domain Reectometry Set-Up for Laboratory Work at cole Suprieure d'Optique
cole Suprieure dOptique / G. Lucas-Leclin

cole Suprieure d'Optique Centre Universitaire, Btiment 503 91403 Orsay (France) www.institutoptique.fr

Galle LUCAS-LECLIN Thierry AVIGNON Lionel JACUBOWIEZ

ETOP'05/Marseille

Optical Time Domain Reectometry

= very common technique to measure fibers attenuation & localize defects in telecommunications lines
many industrial equipments with outstanding performances BUT not adapted to lab works for students

Our set-up
Objectives : demonstration of a performant technology with state-of-the art components access to all control parameters and optical signals simplicity of use and attractiveness for our students Realization by 3 students during a summer traineeship (A. CADIC) and a scientific lab project (A. HULEUX & F. REYNALDO) from 2002 to 2003 Now a labwork for 2nd-year students

cole Suprieure dOptique / G. Lucas-Leclin

ETOP'05/Marseille

Optical Time Domain Reectometry

Principle
Optical Directionnal Coupler Detection Photodiode + Amplifier oscilloscope

Pulsed Laser Source

Typical OTDR detected signal defect

cole Suprieure dOptique / G. Lucas-Leclin

Fiber under test

Reflection on the front end

Defect

Reflection on the back end t

The time between the pulse emission and its detection gives the position of the defect (z) inside the fiber : t ! t 0 = 2z v g
vg = group velocity in the fiber

t0

Backscattered light

ETOP'05/Marseille

OTDR signals
Backscattered signal
Main contribution to the attenuation in fibers at = 1.55 m : Rayleigh scattering
At t = 2z/vg, we measure :
Pulse duration
0

Optical fiber

light scattering
z

Pbs z = S

()

"d v g# $ Pin ( z =0) $ e %2" z 2

" d # 1 !4

Capture coefficient Diffusion coefficient 2

cole Suprieure dOptique / G. Lucas-Leclin

# NA & S "% ( $ n '

Attenuation of the signal (2 paths)

uv-absorption

Single-mode fibers at = 1.55 m :

Pin(z=0) = 10 mW, = 100 ns

Ray leigh scattering

"d v g # $ 5 % 10&7 2

S 1.5 x10-3 vg 2x108 m .s -1 d 0.14 dB/km

Pbs(z=0) 5 nW

Distance resolution = vg/2 10 m

ETOP'05/Marseille

OTDR signals
Backscattered signal
Main contribution to the attenuation in fibers at = 1.55 m : Rayleigh scattering
At t = 2z/vg, we measure :
Pulse duration
0

Optical fiber

R light scattering
z

Reflected signals

Pbs z = S

()

"d v g# $ Pin ( z =0) $ e %2" z 2

" d # 1 !4

Pr (z ) = R # Pin ( z =0 ) # e "2! z

Capture coefficient Diffusion coefficient 2

cole Suprieure dOptique / G. Lucas-Leclin

# NA & S "% ( $ n '

Attenuation of the signal (2 paths)

Single-mode fibers at = 1.55 m :

Pin(z=0) = 10 mW, = 100 ns

"d v g # $ 5 % 10&7 2

S 1.5 x10-3 vg 2x108 m .s -1 d 0.14 dB/km

Pin(z=0) = 10 mW, R(z=10 km) = 4%

Pbs(z=0) 5 nW

Pr(z=L) 200 W High dynamic desired !

ETOP'05/Marseille

Distance resolution = vg/2 10 m

Experimental set-up
Monitoring Photodiode

Pmax = 20 mW Laser Diode 1.55 m

5%

Optical Directionnal Coupler

High gain amplifier

G x BW = 350 MHz

Lecroy oscilloscope
95% Optical Coupler 400 MHz

Pulse Generator

Angle-clived fib er connector

High speed InGaAs PIN photodiode

rise time = 0.5 ns

= 10 ns to 100 s
cole Suprieure dOptique / G. Lucas-Leclin

Fiber under test

Front panel with all the electrical & optical connections

5 optical inputs/outputs + LD control + Monitoring PD + Amplified photodetected signal

ETOP'05/Marseille

Averaging the backscattered signal

Signal obtained with = 100 ns, Pin = 13 mW, fiber length = 10 km No averaging 0.8 Detected signal (mV) 4 Detected signal (mV) 2 0 -2 -4 0.4 b ack end b ackscattering Averaging over 5,000 pulses front end

cole Suprieure dOptique / G. Lucas-Leclin

-0.4 0 5 10 Fiber distance (km) 15 0 2 4 6 8 10 Fiber distance (km)

Very weak signals to be detected (P < 10 nW) need for averaging over N successive pulses to increase the SNR as N

!
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Inuence of the pulse duration

= 700 ns 72 m resolution

350 ns 36 m
cole Suprieure dOptique / G. Lucas-Leclin

10

15

Fiber distance (km)

Improvement of the backscattered detected signal with an increase of pulse duration at the expense of a reduction of the spatial resolution
ETOP'05/Marseille

OTDR signal & analysis

Signal obtained with = 500 ns, Pin = 13 mW Averaging over 50,000 pulses
10 km long

1st fiber

2nd fiber
5 km

3rd fiber
15 km

1.5

Detected signal (mV)

1.0

Attenuation of the backscattered laser light 0.05 km-1 = 0.2 dB/km Reflexion at the fiber end
(glass/air reflexion)

0.5

cole Suprieure dOptique / G. Lucas-Leclin

0.0

Low reflection at the fiber front end + optical components

10

15

20

25

30

Fiber distance (km)

Angle-cleaved connectors between fibers

(no parasitic reflexions)

~ -1 dB attenuation

Distance resolution = vg/2 50 m

ETOP'05/Marseille

Conclusion
Realization of a simple OTDR set-up at 1.55 m for the characterization of single-mode fibers
Non-destructive technique to control long fibers in transmission lines Measurements of losses and reflections of in-line components at the useful Home-made experiment, however very good sensitivity and resolution Standard telecoms components (laser diode, directional coupler, high speed photodiode)

Great pedagogic interest for undergraduate students

cole Suprieure dOptique / G. Lucas-Leclin

A 4.5 hours lab work Use of very common photonics components + full characterization Familiarization to signal measurements (noise, SNR) & gain/bandwidth Characterization of standard single-mode fibers Easy handling of the set-up, impressive results

ETOP'05/Marseille