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Optical Fiber
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Introduction
An optical fiber is a very thin strand of silica glass in geometry quite
like a human hair. In reality it is a very narrow, very long glass
cylinder with special characteristics. When light enters one end of the
fiber it travels (confined within the fiber) until it leaves the fiber at the
other end. Two critical factors stand out:
An optical fiber consists of two parts: the core and the cladding. The
core is a narrow cylindrical strand of glass and the cladding is a
tubular jacket surrounding it. The core has a (slightly) higher
refractive index than the cladding. This means that the boundary
(interface) between the core and the cladding acts as a perfect mirror.
Light traveling along the core is confined by the mirror to stay within
it - even when the fiber bends around a corner.
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BASIC PRINCIPLE
Refraction
The light waves spread out along its beam.
Speed of light depend on the material used called refractive index.
Speed of light in the material = speed of light in the free
space/refractive index
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Refraction
When a light ray encounters a boundary separating two
different media, part of the ray is reflected back into the
first medium and the remainder is bent (or refracted) as it
enters the second material. (Light entering an optical fiber
bends in towards the center of the fiber refraction)
Refraction
LED or
LASER
Source
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Reflection
Light inside an optical fiber bounces off the cladding reflection
Reflection
LED or
LASER
Source
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Critical Angle
If light inside an optical fiber strikes the cladding too steeply,
the light refracts into the cladding - determined by the critical
angle. (There will come a time when, eventually, the angle of
refraction reaches 90o and the light is refracted along the
boundary between the two materials. The angle of incidence
which results in this effect is called the critical angle).
n1Sin X=n2Sin90o
Critical Angle
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Angle of Incidence
Also incident angle
Measured from perpendicular
Exercise: Mark two more incident angles
Incident Angles
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Angle of Reflection
Also reflection angle
Measured from perpendicular
Exercise: Mark the other reflection angle
Reflection Angle
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Reflection
Thus light is perfectly reflected at an interface
between two materials of different refractive
index if:
The light is incident on the interface from
the side of higher refractive index.
The angle is greater than a specific value
called the critical angle.
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Angle of Refraction
Also refraction angle
Measured from perpendicular
Exercise: Mark the other refraction angle
Refraction Angle
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Angle Summary
Three important angles
The reflection angle always equals the incident angle
Refraction Angle
Incident Angles
Reflection Angle
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Index of Refraction
n = c/v
c = velocity of light in a vacuum
v = velocity of light in a specific medium
light bends as it passes from one medium to another with
a different index of refraction
air, n is about 1
glass, n is about 1.4
Light bends
away from
normal - higher
n to lower n
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Snells Law
The angles of the rays are measured with respect to the
normal.
n1sin 1=n2sin 2
Where
n1 and n2 are refractive index of two materials
1and 2 the angle of incident and refraction respectively
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Snells Law
The amount light is bent by refraction is given by Snells Law:
n1sin1 = n2sin2
Light is always refracted into a fiber (although there will be a
certain amount of Fresnel reflection)
Light can either bounce off the cladding (TIR) or refract into the
cladding
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Snells Law
Normal
Refraction
Angle(2)
Lower Refractive index(n2)
Ray of light
Incidence
Angle(1)
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refraction = 72.42
nair = 1
ncore = 1.47
ncladding = 1.45
incident = 30
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nair = 1
ncore = 1.47
ncladding = 1.45
incident = 10
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Critical Angle, c
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NA Derivation
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Critical Angle, c
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Numerical Aperture
The Numerical Aperture is the sine of the largest angle contained
within the cone of acceptance.
NA is related to a number of important fiber characteristics.
It is a measure of the ability of the fiber to gather light at the
input end.
The higher the NA the tighter (smaller radius) we can have
bends in the fiber before loss of light becomes a problem.
The higher the NA the more modes we have, Rays can bounce
at greater angles and therefore there are more of them. This
means that the higher the NA the greater will be the dispersion
of this fiber (in the case of MM fiber).
Thus higher the NA of SM fiber the higher will be the
attenuation of the fiber
Typical NA for single-mode fiber is 0.1. For multimode, NA is between
0.2 and 0.3 (usually closer to 0.2).
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Acceptance Cone
There is an imaginary cone of acceptance with an angle
The light that enters the fiber at angles within the
acceptance cone are guided down the fiber core
Acceptance Angle,
Acceptance Cone
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Acceptance Cone
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Formula Summary
Index of Refraction
Snells Law
Critical Angle
Acceptance Angle
Numerical Aperture
c
n
v
n1 sin 1 n2 sin 2
n2
c sin
n1
1
30
Practice Problems
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core/cladding interface
air/core interface
nair = 1
ncore = 1.46
ncladding = 1.43
incident = 12
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Answers:
r = 8.2
c = 78.4
i = 81.8
light will propagate
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t = Ln/c
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39
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All-plastic fiber
This type has the highest loss during transmission.
Normally used for very short links.
Large core size, therefore light coupling efficiency is high
The core size can be as large as 1mm.
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Other fibers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
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44
45
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n1
n2
r < a (core)
r a (cladding)
46
(a)
(b)
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Figure.2.6
47
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The single mode step index fiber has the distinct advantage of
low intermodal dispersion as only one mode is transmitted.
In multimode step index fiber considerable dispersion may
occur due to the differing group velocities of the propagating
modes.
This is turn restricts the maximum bandwidth attainable with
multimode step index fibers, especially when compared with
single mode fibers.
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The beams travel at distinct propagating angles
ranging from zero to critical value.
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2
1
2
2
2 n12
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it can be shown that the total number of guided modes (or mode volume)
Ms , for the step index fiber is related to the v value for the fiber by
approximate expression:
Ms V2
2
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The graded index profiles which at present produce the best results
for multimode optical propagation have a near parabolic refractive
index profile core with = 2.
A multimode graded index fiber with a parabolic index profile core is
illustrated in fig 2.8. It may be observed that the meridional rays shown
appear to follow curved paths through the fiber core.
Using the concepts of geometric optics, the gradual decrease in
refractive index from the center of the core creates many refractions of
the rays as they are effectively incident on a large number of high to
low index interfaces.
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Figure 2.10 Two types of fiber: (Top) step index fiber; (Bottom)
Graded index fiber
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