What Is a Ray?

Rays have been defined with both corpuscular and wave

theory .
In corpuscular theory , some definitions are (1) the path
of a corpuscle and (2) the path of a photon
In wave theory, some definitions are (1) wavefront
normals , (2) the Poynting vector , (3) a discontinuity in
the electromagnetic field (Luneburg 1964 , 1 Kline &
Kay 1965 2 ) etc..
IN other words
Ray is a wavefront collection moving perpendicular from
soursce.

Refractive Index
The index of refraction of a medium is defined in
geometrical optics as
n =speed of light in vacuum/speed of light in
medium=c/v
A homogeneous medium is one in which n is
everywhere the same . In an inhomogeneous or
heterogeneous medium the index varies with position .
In an isotropic medium n is the same at each point for
light traveling in all directions and with all polarizations ,
so the index is described by a scalar function of position

The Law of Reflection

The Laws of Refraction

1. Incident ray, reflected ray, refracted ray and the normal
of the system lie in the same plane.
2. Incident ray, coming from one medium to the boundary
of another medium, is refracted with a rule derived
from a physicist Willebrord Snellius. He found that there
is a constant relation between the angle of incident ray
and angle of refracted ray. This constant is the
refractive index of second medium relative to the first
medium. He gives the final form of this equation like;

Wheren1is the refractive index of first medium

andn2is the refractive index of second
medium,v1is the speed of light in firs medium
andv2is the speed of light in second medium

TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

Module I (10 hours)

Solution to maxwells equation in a circularly symmetric
step index optical fiber
Single mode and multimode fibers
Concept of V number
Graded index fibers
Polarization maintaining fibers
Attenuation mechanisms in fibers
Dispersion in single mode and multimode fibers
Dispersion shifted and dispersion flattened fibers

Solution to maxwells equation in a circularly symmetric step

index optical fiber

MODE
Mode is the discrete and finite intensity patterns, which
can survive in optical fiber for any arbitrary distance
and it is unique intensity pattern for every value of
incident angle()

Single mode fibers

It is special type optical fiber designed to transmit single mode.
They exhibit the greatest transmission bandwidths and the lowest losses of the
fiber transmission media
They have a superior transmission quality over other fiber types because of the
absence of modal noise
They offer a substantial upgrade capability (i.e. future proofing) for future
wideband width services using either faster optical transmitters and receivers or
advanced transmission techniques
They are compatible with the developing integrated optics technology
The above reasons provide confidence that the installation of single-mode fiber
will provide a transmission medium which will have adequate performance such
that it will not require replacement over its anticipated lifetime of more than20
years.
Widely deployed single-mode fibers employ a step index (or near step index)
profile design and are dispersion optimized for operation in the 1.3 m
wavelength region.

 Construction
Core diameter = 8-12m
0 V < 2.405 : V= V-number
The core-cladding index difference varies between .2%
and 1%

 Mode-field diameter & spot size

The MFD is an important parameter for characterizing
single-mode fiber properties which takes into account the
wavelength-dependent field penetration into the fiber
claddingit is a better
It is a measure of the functional properties of single-mode fiber than the
core diameter

 Hence MFD = 20, where 0 is the nominal half width of

the input excitation
Mode-Field Diameter (MFD) defines the size of the
power distribution.
MFD is defined as the width between 1/e2 of the
maximum power of light field distribution.
MFD is defined as the width between 1/e of the
maximum energy of light field distribution.
If MFD of two fiber are same ,then they are compatible.
spot size (or mode-field radius) 0 is directly related to
the MFD of a single-mode fiber.0 is the nominal half
width of the input excitation

Multimode fibres
It is special type optical fiber designed to transmit two
or more modes.
Multi-mode optical fiber is a type of optical fiber mostly
used for communication over short distances, such as
within a building or on a campus. Typical multimode
links have data rates of 10 Mbit/s to 10 Gbit/s over link
lengths of up to 600 meters (2000 feet) more than
sufficient for the majority of premises applications
Multi mode fibers based on its refractive index profile
again divided in to step index multimode fiber and
graded index multimode fiber.

Specification

Single mode fiber

multimode fiber

Number of modes
transmitted

one

Two ore more

Cost of fiber

Less Expensive

Expensive

construction

Core =6-8m
Cladding=125m
protective coating=250m

Core =50-100m
Cladding=125m
protective coating=250m

Difference in refractive
index of core and cladding

Very small

Very large

Optical source used

Must be highly collimated

Both highly collimated light

sources like laser and less
collimated sources like LED
can be used

Transmission Equipment

More Expensive (laser diode) Basic and Low Cost (LED)

Attenuation

Low

High

Range if Launching angle

small

large

Concept of V number
Each mode has a corresponding frequency, below which the mode cannot
propagate. This frequency of the mode is called its cut-off frequency.
The V-number of an optical fiber is a very important characteristic parameter
which is proportional to the frequency of the propagating light.
In other words, for a particular mode to propagate inside the fiber, the Vnumber of the fiber must be greater than the V-number corresponding to the
cut-off frequency of the mode .
For example, fibers having V-number lower than 2.4, allow only one mode,
HE11 to propagate and no other mode can propagate in this fiber. Therefore
such a fiber is called a single mode fiber. In order to accommodate the higher
order modes, the V-number of the fiber has to be increased. Note that Vnumber of a fiber does not depend on the individual characteristics of the core
or the cladding but depends on the characteristics of the core-cladding
combination as a whole as is obvious from the expression below


Here = Angular frequency of the mode,a= Radius of
the optical fiber, n1= Refractive Index of core,n2=
Refractive Index of Cladding,
= Wavelength of
the light and N.A.= Numerical Aperture of the fiber.
Since the V-number of the optical fiber is proportional
to the frequency, it is also called as the normalized
frequency.
It combines in a very useful manner the information
about three important design variables for the fiber:
namely, the core radius a, the relative refractive index
difference and the operating wavelength .

Graded index fibers

 In step index optical fiber the axial rays reach the

destination than total internal reflected rays. So there is
a chance of attenuation in the signal.in order to avoid
this problem graded index optical fiber structure is
employed.
In the graded index optical fiber design the core
refractive index decreases continuously with increasing
radial distance r from the centre of the fibre but is
generally constant in the cladding.the

Polarization maintaining fibers

Attenuation mechanisms in fibers

Dispersion in single mode and multimode fibers

Dispersion shifted and dispersion flattened fibers