EWING CHRISTIAN PUBLIC SCHOOL

PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

TO STUDY THE OPTICAL

FIBERS & IT’S APPLICATIONS

Name:- Ayush Srivastava

Class :- XII – A1

Roll. No. :- 06

Session:- 2023-24

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 INDEX

Content Page No.

1. Certificate 03
2 Acknowledgments 04
3 AIM 05
4 Important Terms 06-07
5 Optical Fibres 08-09
6 Applications 10-12
7 Principal of Operation 13-18
8 Mechanism of Attenuation 19-21
9 Manufacturing 22-28
10 Electronically Based Project 29
11 Bibliography 30

2010

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 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that this “Physics Investigatory
Project on the topic “ TO STUDY THE OPTICAL
FIBRES & IT’S CLASSIFICATIONS” has been
successfully completed by Ayush Srivastava of class
XII under the guidance of MR. GINTO GEORGE
in particular fulfillment of the curriculum
of Central Board of Secondary Education
{CBSE} leading to the award of annual
examination of the year 2023-24.

Teacher-in-Charge

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere gratitude

to my physics mentor Mr.GINTO GEORGE ,
for his/her vital support, guidance and
encouragement – without which this project
would not have come forth. I would also like
to express my gratitude to the other staffs of the
Department of Physics for their support during
the making of this project.

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 AIM

To Study the Optical Fibres

Cable Principle and its
Applications.

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1. IMPORTANT TERMS
 Optical Fiber: An optical fiber (or fiber) is a glass or
plastic fiber that carries light along its length. Fiber
optics is the overlap of applied science and
engineering concerned with the design and
application of optical fibers. Optical fibers are widely
used in fiber- optic communications, which permits
transmission over longer distances and at higher
bandwidths (data rates) than other forms of
communications.

 Refraction: Refraction is the change in direction of a

wave due to a change in its speed. This is most
commonly observed when a wave passes from one
medium to another. Refraction of light is the most
commonly observed phenomenon, but any type of
wave can refract when it interacts with a medium, for
example when sound waves pass from one medium
into another or when water waves move into water of
a differentdepth

 Reflection: Reflection is the change in direction of

a wave front at an interface between two different
media so that the wave front returns into the
medium from which it originated. Common
examples include the reflection of light, sound and
waterwaves.

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 Scattering: Scattering is a general physical
process where some forms of radiation, such as
light, sound, or moving particles, are forced to
deviate from a straight trajectory by one or
more localized non-uniformities in the medium
through which they pass. In conventional use,
this also includes deviation of reflected
radiation from the angle predicted by the law
ofreflection.

 Attenuation: is the gradual loss in intensity

of any kind of flux through a medium. For
instance, sunlight is attenuated bydark
glasses, and X-rays are attenuated bylead.

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 OPTICAL FIBER CABLE
An optical fiber (or fiber) is a glass or plastic fiber that
carries light along its length. Fiber optics is the overlap
of applied science and engineering concerned with the
design and application of optical fibers. Optical fibers
are widely used in fiber-optic communications, which
permits transmission over longer distances and at
higher bandwidths (data rates) than other forms of
communications. Fibers are used instead of metal
wires because signals travel along them with less loss,
and they are also immune to electromagnetic
interference. Fibers are also used for illumination, and
are wrapped in bundles so they can be used to carry
images, thus allowing viewing in tight spaces.
Specially designed fibers are used for a variety of
other applications, including sensors and fiber lasers.

Light is kept in the core of the optical fiber by total

internal reflection. This causes the fiber to act as a
waveguide. Fibers which support many propagation
paths or transverse modes are called multi-mode
fibers (MMF), while those which can only support a
single mode are called single-mode fibers (SMF).
Multi-mode fibers generally have a larger core
diameter, and are used for short-distance
communication links and for applications where high
power must be transmitted. Single-mode fibers
are used for most communication links longer than 550
meters (1,800 ft).

Joining lengths of optical fiber is more complex than joining

electrical wire or cable. The ends of the fibers must be carefully
cleaved, and then spliced together either mechanically or by
fusing them together with an electric arc. Special connectors
are used to make removable connections.

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 A bundle of optical fibers

A TOSLINK fiber optic audio cable being illuminated at one end

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 APPLICATIONS
Optical fiber communication

Optical fiber can be used as a medium for telecommunication and

networking because it is flexible and can be bundled as cables. It is
especially advantageous for long-distance communications, because
light propagates through the fiber with little attenuation compared to
electrical cables. This allows long distances to be spanned with few
repeaters.
Additionally, the per-channel light signals propagating in the fiber can
be modulated at rates as high as 111 gigabits per second, although
10 or 40 Gb/s is typical in deployed systems. Each fiber can carry
many independent channels, each using a different wavelength of
light (wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM)). The net data rate
(data rate without overhead bytes) per fiber is the per-channel data
rate reduced by the FEC overhead, multiplied by the number of
channels (usually up to eighty in commercial dense WDM systems as
of 2008). The current laboratory fiber optic data rate record, held by
Bell Labs in Villarceaux, France, is multiplexing 155 channels, each
carrying 100 Gbps over a 7000 km fiber.

For short distance applications, such as creating a network within an

office building, fiber-optic cabling can be used to save space in cable
ducts. This is because a single fiber can often carry much more data
than many electrical cables, such as Cat-5 Ethernet cabling. Fiber is
also immune to electrical interference; there is no cross-talk between
signals in different cables and no pickup of environmental noise. Non-
armored fiber cables do not conduct electricity, which makes fiber a
good solution for protecting communications equipment located in
high voltage environments such as power generation facilities, or
metal communication structures prone to lightning strikes.
They can also be used in environments where explosive fumes

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are present, without danger of ignition.
Wiretapping is more difficult compared to electrical connections, and
there are concentric dual core fibers that are said to betap-proof.
Although fibers can be made out of transparent plastic, glass, or a
combination of the two, the fibers used in long-distance
telecommunications applications are always glass, because of the
lower optical attenuation. Both multi-mode and single-mode fibers are
used in communications, with multi-mode fiber used mostly for short
distances, cv cbup to 550 m (600 yards), and single-mode fiber used
for longer distance links. Because of the tighter tolerances required to
couple light into and between single-mode fibers (core diameter about
10 micrometers), single-mode transmitters, receivers, amplifiers and
other components are generally more expensive than multi-mode
components.

Fiber optic sensors

Fibers have many uses in remote sensing. In some applications, the
sensor is itself an optical fiber. In other cases, fiber is used to connect
a non-fiberoptic sensor to a measurement system. Depending on the
application, fiber may be used because of its small size, or the fact
that no electrical power is needed at the remote location, or because
many sensors can be multiplexed along the length of a fiber by using
different wavelengths of light for each sensor, or by sensing the time
delay as light passes along the fiber through each sensor. Time delay
can be determined using a device such as an optical time-
domainreflectometer.

Optical fibers can be used as sensors to measure strain, temperature,

pressure and other quantities by modifying a fiber so that the
quantity to be measured modulates the intensity, phase, polarization,
wavelength or transit time of light in the fiber.

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Sensors that vary the intensity of light are the simplest, since only a
simple source and detector are required. A particularly useful feature
of such fiber optic sensors is that they can, if required, provide
distributed sensing over distances of up to one meter.

Extrinsic fiber optic sensors use an optical fiber cable, normally a

multi- mode one, to transmit modulated light from either a non-fiber
optical sensor, or an electronic sensor connected to an optical
transmitter. A major benefit of extrinsic sensors is their ability to
reach places which are otherwise inaccessible. An example is the
measurement of temperature inside aircraft jet engines by using a
fiber to transmit radiation into a radiation pyrometer located outside
the engine. Extrinsic sensors can also be used in the same way to
measure the internal temperature of electrical transformers, where
the extreme electromagnetic fields present make other measurement
techniques impossible. Extrinsic sensors are used to measure
vibration, rotation, displacement, velocity, acceleration, torque, and
twisting.

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 PRINCIPLE OF
OPERATION
An optical fiber is a cylindrical dielectric waveguide (non
conducting waveguide) that transmits light along its axis,
by the process of total internal reflection. The fiber core
is surrounded by a cladding layer

Index of Refraction
The index of refraction is a way of measuring the speed of
light in a material. Light travels fastest in a vacuum, such as
outer space. The actual speed of light in a vacuum is about
300 million meters (186 thousand miles) per second. Index of
refraction is calculated by dividing the speed of light in a
vacuum by the speed of light in some other medium. The
index of refraction of a vacuum is therefore 1, by definition.
The typical value for the cladding of an optical fiber is 1.46.
The core value is typically 1.48. The larger the index of
refraction, the slower light travels in that medium. From this
information, a good rule of thumb is that signal using optical
fiber for communication will travel at around 200 million
meters per second. Or to put it another way, to travel 1000
kilometers in fiber, the signal will take 5 milliseconds to
propagate. Thusa phone call carried by fiber between Sydney
and New York, a 12000 kilometer distance, means that there
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is an absolute minimum delay of 60 milliseconds (or around
1/16th of a second) between when one caller speaks to when
the other hears. (Of course the fiber in this case will probably
travel a longer route, and there will be additional delays due to
communication equipment switching and the process of
encoding and decoding the voice onto thefiber).

Total Internal Reflection

When light travelling in a dense medium hits a boundary at a
steep angle (larger than the "critical angle" for the boundary),
the light will be completely reflected. This effect is used in
optical fibers to confine light in the core. Light travels along
the fiber bouncing back and forth off of the boundary.
Because the light must strike the boundary with an angle
greater than the critical angle, only light that enters the fiber
within a certain range of angles can travel down the fiber
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 without leaking out. This range of angles is called the
acceptance cone of the fiber. The size of this acceptance cone
is a function of the refractive index difference between the
fiber's core and cladding.

In simpler terms, there is a maximum angle from the fiber

axis at which light may enter the fiber so that it will
propagate, or travel, in the core of the fiber. The sine of this
maximum angle is the numerical aperture (NA) of the fiber.
Fiber with a larger NA requires less precision to splice and
work with than fiber with a smaller NA. Single-mode fiber
has a small NA.

A laser bouncing down an acrylic rod, illustrating the total internal reflection of light in a multi-
mode optical fiber.

Single Mode Fiber

Fiber with a core diameter less than about ten times the
wavelength of the propagating light cannot be modeled using
geometric optics. Instead, it must be analyzed as an
electromagnetic structure, by solution of Maxwell's equations
as reduced to the electromagnetic wave equation.
The electromagnetic analysis may also be required to
understand behaviours such as speckle that occur when
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 coherent light propagates in multi-mode fiber. As an optical
waveguide, the fiber supports one or more confined transverse
modes by which light can propagate along the fiber.
Fiber supporting only one mode is called single-mode or mono-
mode fiber.
The behaviour of larger-core multi-mode fiber can also be
modeled using the wave equation, which shows that such fiber
supports more than one mode of propagation (hence the
name). The results of such modeling of multi-mode fiber
approximately agree with the predictions of geometric optics, if
the fiber core is large enough to support more than a few
modes.

The structure of a typical single-mode fiber.

1. Core: 8 µm diameter
2. Cladding: 125 µmdia.
3. Buffer: 250 µmdia.
4. Jacket: 400 µmdia.
5.

 Multi Mode Fiber

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The propagation of light through a multi-mode optical fiber.
A laser bouncing down an acrylic rod, illustrating the
total internal reflection of light in a multi-mode optical
fiber.

Fiber with large core diameter (greater than 10 micrometers)

may be analyzed by geometrical optics. Such fiber is called
multi-mode fiber, from the electromagnetic analysis (see
below). In a step-index multi-mode fiber, rays of light are
guided along the fiber core by total internal reflection. Rays
that meet the core-cladding boundary at a high angle
(measured relative to a line normal to the boundary), greater
than the critical angle for this boundary, are completely
reflected. The critical angle (minimum angle for total internal
reflection) is determined by the difference in index of refraction
between the core and cladding materials. Rays that meet the
boundary at a low angle are refracted from the core into the
cladding, and do not convey light and hence information along
the fiber. The critical angle determines the acceptance angle of
the fiber, often reported as a numerical aperture. A high
numerical aperture allows light to propagate down the fiber in
rays both close to the axis and at various angles, allowing
efficient coupling of light into the fiber. However, this high
numerical aperture increases the amount of dispersion as rays
at different angles have different path lengths and therefore
take different times to traverse thefiber.

The propagation of light through a multi-mode optical fiber.

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Single-Mode Optical Fiber Cable

Multi-Mode Optical fiber cables

(Multiple Fiber Channe

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19
 MECHANISM OF
ATTENUATION

Attenuation in fiber optics, also known as transmission loss, is

the reduction in intensity of the light beam (or signal) with
respect to distance travelled through a transmission medium.
Attenuation coefficients in fiber optics usually use units of
dB/km through the medium due to the relatively high quality
of transparency of modern optical transmission media. The
medium is typically usually a fiber of silica glass that confines
the incident light beam to the inside. Attenuation is an
important factor limiting the transmission of a digital signal
across large distances. Thus, much research has gone into
both limiting the attenuation and maximizing the
amplification of the optical signal. Empirical research has
shown that attenuation in optical fiber is caused primarily by
both scattering andabsorption.

Light scattering
The propagation of light through the core of an optical fiber is
based on total internal reflection of the lightwave. Rough and
irregular surfaces, even at the molecular level, can cause light
rays to be reflected in random directions. This is called diffuse
reflection or scattering, and it is typically characterized by
wide variety of reflection angles.

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Light scattering depends on the wavelength of the light being
scattered. Thus, limits to spatial scales of visibility arise,
depending on the frequency of the incident light-wave and the
physical dimension (or spatial scale) of the scattering center,
which is typically in the form of some specific
micro-structural feature.

Specular reflection

Diffuse reflection

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Thus, attenuation results from the incoherent scattering of
light at internal surfaces and interfaces. In (poly) crystalline
materials such as metals and ceramics, in addition to pores,
most of the internal surfaces or interfaces are in the form of
grain boundaries that separate tiny regions of crystalline order.
It has recently been shown that when the size of the scattering
centre (or grain boundary) is reduced below the size of the
wavelength of the light being scattered, the scattering no
longer occurs to any significant extent. This phenomenon has
given rise to the production of transparent ceramicmaterials.

Similarly, the scattering of light in optical quality glass fiber

is caused by molecular level irregularities (compositional
fluctuations) in the glass structure. Indeed, one emerging
school of thought is that a glass is simply the limiting case of
a polycrystalline solid. Within this framework, "domains"
exhibiting various degrees of short-range order become the
building blocks of both metals and alloys, as well as glasses
and ceramics. Distributed both between and within these
domains are micro-structural defects which will provide the
most ideal locations for the occurrence of light scattering.
This same phenomenon is seen as one of the limiting factors
in the transparency of IR missiledomes.

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23
 MANUFACTURING
Materials
Glass optical fibers are almost always made from silica, but
some other materials, such as fluorozirconate,
fluoroaluminate, and chalcogenide glasses, are used for
longer-wavelength infrared applications. Like other glasses,
these glasses have a refractive index of about 1.5. Typically
the difference between core and cladding is less than one
percent.

Plastic optical fibers (POF) are commonly step-index

multi-mode fibers with a core diameter of 0.5 millimeters
or larger. POF typically have higher attenuation
coefficients than glass fibers, 1 dB/m or higher, and this
high attenuation limits the range of POF-based systems.

Silica
Silica exhibits fairly good optical transmission over a wide
range of wavelengths. In the near-infrared (near IR) portion
of the spectrum, particularlyaround1.5 m, silica can have
extremely low absorption and scattering losses of the order of
0.2 dB/km. A high transparency in the 1.4- m region is
achieved by maintaining a low concentration of hydroxyl
groups (OH). Alternatively, a high OH concentration is better
for transmission in the ultraviolet (UV)region.

Silica can be drawn into fibers at reasonably high

temperatures, and has a fairly broad glass transformation
range. One other advantage is that fusion splicing and
cleaving of silica fibers is relatively effective.

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 Silica fiber also has high mechanical strength against both
pulling and even bending, provided that the fiber is not too
thick and that the surfaces have been well prepared during
processing. Even simple cleaving (breaking) of the ends of the
fiber can provide nicely flat surfaces with acceptable optical
quality. Silica is also relatively chemically inert. In particular,
it is not hygroscopic (does not absorbwater).

Silica glass can be doped with various materials. One purpose

of doping is to raise the refractive index (e.g. with
Germanium dioxide (GeO2) or Aluminium oxide (Al2O3)) or
to lower it (e.g. with fluorine or Boron trioxide (B2O3)).
Doping is also possible with laser-active ions (for example,
rare earth-doped fibers) in order to obtain active fibers to be
used, for example, in fiber amplifiers or laser applications.
Both the fiber core and cladding are typically doped, so that
the entire assembly (core and cladding) is effectively the same
compound (e.g. an aluminosilicate, germanosilicate,
phosphosilicate or borosilicate glass).

Particularly for active fibers, pure silica is usually not a very

suitable host glass, because it exhibits a low solubility for rare
earth ions. This can lead to quenching effects due to
clustering of dopant ions. Aluminosilicates are much more
effective in this respect

Silica fiber also exhibits a high threshold for optical damage.

This property ensures a low tendency for laser-induced
breakdown. This is important for fiber amplifiers when
utilized for the amplification of short pulses.

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Because of these properties silica fibers are the material of
choice in many optical applications, such as communications
(except for very short distances with plastic optical fiber),
fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers, and fiber-optic sensors. The
large efforts which have been put forth in the development of
various types of silica fibers have further increased the
performance of such fibers over other materials.

Tetrahedral structural unit of silica (SiO2).

The amorphous structure of glassy silica (SiO2).

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PROCESS
Standard optical fibers are made by first constructing a
large-diameter preform, with a carefully controlled
refractive index profile, and then pulling the preform to
form the long, thin optical fiber. The preform is commonly
made by three chemical vapor deposition methods: inside
vapor deposition, outside vapor deposition, and vapor axial
deposition.

With inside vapor deposition, the preform starts as a hollow

glass tube approximately 40 centimeters (16 in) long, which is
placed horizontally and rotated slowly on a lathe. Gases such
as silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) or germanium tetrachloride
(GeCl4) are injected with oxygen in the end of the tube. The
gases are then heated by means of an external hydrogen
burner, bringing the temperature of the gas up to 1900 K
(1600 °C,3000°F), where the tetrachlorides react with oxygen
to produce silica or germania (germanium dioxide) particles.
When the reaction conditions are chosen to allow this reaction
to occur in the gas phase throughout the tube volume, in
contrast to earlier techniques where the reaction occurred only
on the glass surface, this technique is called modified
chemical vapor deposition.

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Coatings
Fiber optic coatings are UV-cured urethane acrylate
composite materials applied to the outside of the fiber during
the drawing process. The coatings protect the very delicate
strands of glass fiber—about the size of a human hair—and
allow it to survive the rigors of manufacturing, proof testing,
cabling and installation.

Today’s glass optical fiber draw processes employ a dual-

layer coating approach. An inner primary coating is designed
to act as a shock absorber to minimize attenuation caused by
microbending. An outer secondary coating protects the
primary coating against mechanical damage and acts as a
barrier to lateral forces.

These fiber optic coating layers are applied during the fiber
draw, at speeds approaching 100 kilometers per hour (60
mph). Fiber optic coatings are applied using one of two
methods: wet-on-dry, in which the fiber passes through a
primary coating application, which is then UV cured, then
through the secondary coating application which is
subsequently cured; and wet-on-wet, in which the fiber
passes through both the primary and secondary coating
applications and then goes to UV curing.

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Fiber optic coatings are applied in concentric layers to
prevent damage to the fiber during the drawing application
and to maximize fiber strength and microbend resistance.
Unevenly coated fiber will experience non- uniform forces
when the coating expands or contracts, and is susceptible to
greater signal attenuation. Under proper drawing and coating
processes, the coatings are concentric around the fiber,
continuous over the length of the application and have
constant thickness.

Fiber optic coatings protect the glass fibers from scratches

that could lead to strength degradation. The combination of
moisture and scratches accelerates the aging and deterioration
of fiber strength. When fiber is subjected to low stresses over
a long period, fiber fatigue can occur. Over time or in extreme
conditions, these factors combine to cause microscopic flaws
in the glass fiber to propagate, which can ultimately result in
fiber failure.

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Illustration of the modified chemical vapour deposition (inside)
process

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 ELECTRONICALLY
BASED PROJECT
To Test Passage of Light through Commercial/Industrial

Optical Fiber Cable (OFC)

Devices Used:
1. Industrial Optical FiberCable(Multi-Mode)
2. LED(3V)
3. PCB CircuitBoard
4. 3VDCRectifier.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 www.google.com/images
 www.wikipedia.org
 www.google.com

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