Unit 14 Fibre Optics

UNIT 14
Light is conducted through optical fibre
from end to end with very less losses,
about which you will learn in this unit.
This image is taken from:
FIBRE OPTICS
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/4/49/Fibreoptic.jpg

Structure
14.1 Introduction 14.4 Dispersion in Optical Fibre
Expected Learning Outcomes Pulse Dispersion
14.2 Optical Fibre Waveguide Material Dispersion
Construction and Working of Optical Fibre 14.5 Advantages of Optical Fibre as
Some Definitions Communication Medium
Types of Optical Fibre 14.6 Summary
14.3 Losses in Optical Fibre 14.7 Terminal Questions
14.8 Solutions and Answers

STUDY GUIDE
So far you learnt about lasers and its applications. One of the important applications is in the field of
communication. In this unit you will be learning about a special kind of medium used for conducting
light with very less losses, which helps in effective optical communication. It is optical fibre, usually
made of glass or plastic and working on the principle of total internal reflection. You will learn the
mechanism of light conduction through the fibre and also get familiar with its types.

You will not require any special mathematical tools to study this unit. A knowledge of elementary
calculus will suffice. Try to solve the SAQs and Terminal Questions given in this unit on your own.

“I was just a precocious kid taking a college physics course

when one day the professor told us that light ‘always travels in a
Narinder Singh
straight line’. But that can’t be true. I thought, it must be bent
sometimes.”- While describing his pioneering work on Optical Kapany
Fibres.”
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Block 4 Lasers and Optical Fibre
14.1 INTRODUCTION
You might have seen colourful illuminated fountains made of tiny plastic or
glass fibres in the showcases or display windows of shops. These are made
up of optical fibres. While looking at these, you might also have noticed that
light seems to travel along curved path. In these optical fibres, most of the
incoming light is contained within the boundaries of the medium (glass or
plastic) due to the phenomenon of total internal reflection. And since the
medium itself has a curved shape, the light travelling through it appears to
travel along a curved path. Due to thin and flexible nature of optical fibre, it can
be used for obtaining images of inaccessible regions e.g. endoscopes used to
image the interior parts of human body. The ability of conducting light over
long distances with very less loss of signal, optical fibres are the backbone of
data transmission for Internet.
The real potential of the optical fibres was revealed only after the discovery of
Padma-vibhushan
Dr. Narinder Singh lasers, which provided a narrow intense source of light. You may recall from
Kapany (1926-2020) Unit 13 of this course that the discovery of lasers – a source of coherent and
was an Indian-American monochromatic light – raised the hope of realizing communication at optical
physicist. After frequencies. Since increase in frequency of the carrier wave enables it to carry
completing his
more information, communication at optical frequencies (~ 1015 Hz) has
graduation from Agra
University, he pursued obvious advantages over communication at radio wave (~ 106 Hz) and
his Ph.D. in Optics in microwave (~ 109 Hz) frequencies. But, early attempts of communication at
London University. He
carried out work on light optical frequencies faced a major problem. When optical radiation travels
transmission through through the Earth’s atmosphere, it is attenuated by dust particles, fog, rain etc.
guided medium, and Thus, a need for an optical waveguide was felt and the answer was the optical
was successful in fibre. Optical fibres are an integral part of optical communication –
capturing good quality transmission of speech, data, picture or other information – by light.
medical images using a
bundle of glass fibres. In Sec.14.2 we explain the construction of optical fibre, mechanism of light
He coined the word transmission through fibre and types of fibres. The losses in signal strength
Optical Fibre for this caused by optical fibre are discussed in Sec.14.3.
transmission medium,
Usually, the data transmission through optical fibre takes place in the form of
and is fondly
remembered as the pulse signals. Dispersion (elongation) of signal pulse on time scale is a major
“father of fibre-optics”. factor limiting the data carrying capacity or bandwidth of the fibre. In Sec. 14.4
you will learn about the causes of dispersion and ways to overcome this
hurdle. In Sec. 14.5 we discuss the advantages of optical fibres in
communication systems.

Expected Learning Outcomes

After studying this unit, you should be able to:
™ explain the light transmission through optical fibre;
™ define critical angle, acceptance angle and numerical aperture;
™ distinguish between different modes of propagation in optical fibres;
™ explain the different types of optical fibres;
™ describe various reasons of signal losses incurred in a fibre;
™ derive expression for pulse dispersion in optical fibres; and

144 ™ list the advantages of optical fibre as a medium of communication.

Unit 14 Fibre Optics
14.2 OPTICAL FIBRE WAVEGUIDE
Let us begin with the discussion about the working of an optical fibre as a
waveguide. It is important to know the construction of optical fibre to
understand the mechanism of light transmission through it.

14.2.1 Construction and Working of Optical Fibre

Generally, the optical fibre consists of two concentric glass (silica) cylinders as
shown in Fig. 14.1. Sometimes, the fibre can also be made of plastic. The
inner cylinder is called the core, while the outer is known as cladding. This
entire structure is covered with a protective plastic cylinder called the sheath. Sheath
The diameter of the core can be in the range of 2-50 Pm and the cladding has Cladding
Core
typical diameter of 125 Pm. The refractive index of the core is larger than that
of cladding layer. Hence there is a refraction of the light, when it crosses the Fig. 14.1: Optical Fibre
interface border between the core and cladding as shown in Fig. 14.2a.

Fig. 14.2: a) Light ray on the boundary of core-cladding interface; b) limiting

case of refraction at critical angle; c) total internal reflection.

The ray approaching the interface is propagating in a dielectric of refractive

index n1 and is at an angle I1 to the normal at the surface of the interface. If
the dielectric on the other sides of the interface index (n2) is less than n1, then
the refraction is such that the ray path in this lower index medium is at an
angle I2 to the normal, where I2 is greater than I1. The angles of incidence I1
and refraction I2 are related to each other and to the refractive indices of the
dielectrics by Snell's law of refraction which states that:

n1 sin I1 = n2 sin I2
sin I1 n2
or (14.1)
sin I2 n1
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Block 4 Lasers and Optical Fibre
You will observe in Fig. 14.2a that a small amount of light is reflected back into
the originating dielectric medium (partial internal reflection). As n1 is greater
than n2, the angle of refraction is always greater than the angle of incidence.
As angle I1 increase, I2 also increases and at certain values of
I1 = Ic (Ic <90), the refracted ray is perpendicular to the normal, i.e. it travels
parallel to the interface as shown in Fig.14.2b. This is the limiting case of
refraction and the angle of incidence is now known as the critical angle, Ic..
From Eq. (14.1) the value of the critical angle is given by:
n2
sin Ic (14.2)
n1

At angle of incidence greater than the critical angle, the light is reflected back
into the originating dielectric medium with high efficiency (around 99.9%).
Hence, it may be observed in Fig. 14.2c that total internal reflection occurs
at the interface between two dielectrics of differing refractive indices when
light is incident on the dielectric of lower index from the dielectric of high index,
and the angle of incidence of the ray exceeds the critical value.
By this mechanism of total internal reflection the light at a sufficiently shallow
angle (I > Ic) propagates down an optical fibre with low loss. Fig. 14.3
illustrates the transmission of light ray in an optical fibre via a series of total
internal reflections at the interface of the silica core and the slightly lower
refractive index silica cladding.

Fig. 14.3: Transmission of light ray in a perfect optical fibre.

The light transmission illustrated in this figure assumes a perfect fibre. Any
discontinuities or imperfections at the core-cladding interface would probably
result in refraction rather than total internal reflection, with a subsequent loss
of the light ray into the cladding.

14.2.2 Some Definitions

a) Acceptance angle
As we discussed in the last subsection, in any optical fibre, only the rays
with a sufficiently shallow grazing angle (i.e. with an angle greater than Ic)
at the core-cladding interface are transmitted by total internal reflection. In
other words, not all rays entering the fibre core will continue to propagate
down its length.
The geometry concerned with launching a light ray into an optical fibre is
shown in Fig. 14.4, which illustrates ray A at the critical angle Ic . This ray
enters the fibre core at an angle Ta to the fibre axis and is refracted at the
air-core interface before transmission to the core-cladding interface at the
146 critical angle. Hence, any ray which is incident into the fibre core at an
Unit 14 Fibre Optics
angle greater than Ta, will not be transmitted to the core-cladding interface
at an angle greater than Ic, and will not be totally internally reflected. This
situation is illustrated in the figure with incident ray B at an angle greater
than Ta. This ray is refracted at the core-cladding interface and eventually
lost by radiations.

Fig. 14.4: Geometry of ray launching in fibre.

Thus for rays to be transmitted by total internal reflection within the fibre
core, they must be incident on the fibre core within an acceptance cone
defined by the conical half angle Ta. Hence Ta is the maximum angle to the
axis at which light may enter the fibre in order to be propagated, and is
often referred to as the acceptance angle for the fibre.
b) Numerical aperture
Using the ray propagation geometry, it is possible to obtain a relationship
between the acceptance angle and the refractive indices of the three
media involved, namely the core, cladding and air. This leads to the
definition of a more generally used term, the numerical aperture (NA) of
the fibre.
Fig. 14.5 shows a light ray incident on the fibre core at an angle T1 to the
fibre axis which is less than the acceptance angle for the fibre Ta. The ray
enters the fibre from a medium (air) of refractive index n0, into the fibre
core with refractive index n1, which is slightly greater than the cladding
refractive index n2. Using Snell's law at the air-core interface we get,
n0 sin T1 = n1 sin T2 (14.3)

Fig. 14.5: The path for ray launched into an optical fibre in air at an input angle
less than the acceptance angle for the fibre.

Considering the right-angle triangle ACB,

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Block 4 Lasers and Optical Fibre
S
I  T2 (14.4)
2
where I is greater than the critical angle at the core-cladding interface.
Hence Eq. (14.3) becomes
n0 sin T1 n1 cos I (14.5)

Using the trigonometrical relationship sin2 I + cos2 I = 1 Eq. (14.5) may be

written as

n0 sin T1 n1 1  sin2 I (14.6)

n0 sin Ta When the limiting case for total internal reflection is considered I equals Ic.
Also in the limiting case T1 becomes the acceptance angle for the fibre Ta.
n1 1  sin2 Ic
Combining these limiting cases into Eq. (14.6) and substituting from
n2 Eq. (14.2), we get,
n1 1  2
n12 n0 sin Ta n12  n22 (14.7)
(from Eq. (14.2)) The quantity represented by Eq. (14.7) is called the numerical aperture (NA).
? n0 sin Ta n12  n22 Hence the NA is defined as:

NA n0 sin Ta n12  n22 (14.8)

Since the NA is often used with fibre in air where n0 is unity, it is simply equal
to sin Ta. The numerical aperture is a very useful measure of the light-
collecting ability of a fibre. It is independent of the fibre core diameter and will
hold for diameters as small as 8 Pm. The ray-treatment of light we have used
so far does not hold good for small diameters, as the geometric optics
approach is invalid. This is because the ray theory model is only a partial
description of the character of light. It describes the direction a plane wave
component takes in the fibre but does not take into account interference
between such components. When interference phenomena are considered it
is found that only rays with certain discrete characteristic propagate in the
fibre core. Thus the fibre will only support a discrete number of guided modes.
You may now like to solve one SAQ.

SAQ 1 - Optical fibre parameters

A silica optical fibre with a core diameter of 30Pm has core refractive index of
1.50 and a cladding refractive index of 1.47. Calculate a) the critical angle at
the core-cladding interface; b) the NA for the fibre; and c) the acceptance
angle in air for the fibre.

After learning about the basic parameters of the optical fibre, let us now
discuss its types.

14.2.3 Types of Optical Fibre

A mode is a stable propagation state in an optical fibre. The number of modes
that can be propagated in a fibre depends on
x Refractive indices of core and cladding;
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Unit 14 Fibre Optics
x core diameter; and
x wavelength of the propagating light.
For given values of refractive indices of core and cladding and the wavelength
of light, the core diameter can be reduced to achieve single mode
transmission. Based on the number of modes that can propagate in a fibre,
the fibres can be classified as
x Single-mode (SM) fibre; and
x Multi-mode (MM) fibre.
There are three types of optical fibres based on the distribution profile of the
refractive index of the core with respect to cladding (shown on the left side)
and propagating modes (shown on the right side) in Fig. 14.6.

Refractive Index Propagating Modes

Profile

Fig. 14.6: Types of optical fibre: a) step index single mode; b) step index
multimode; c) graded index (GRIN) multimode.

a) Step index single mode (SI SM) fibre:

It has uniform refractive indices for both core (n1) and cladding (n2) with
n1> n2. The fibre core is very narrow (typically 2 to 10 Pm) and supports
only a single mode propagation as shown in Fig. 14.6a. This type of fibre
has very broad bandwidth.
b) Step index multimode (SI MM) fibre:
It has uniform refractive indices for both core (n1) and cladding (n2) with
n1> n2 as in the case of single mode fibre, but the core diameter is above
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50 Pm and many number of modes are propagated simultaneously, as
shown in Fig. 14.6b.
c) Graded index multimode (GRIN MM) fibre:
This type of fibre has got a core with refractive index highest at the centre
and gradually decreasing till it is the same as that of the cladding at core-
cladding boundary as shown in Fig. 14.6c.
You may now like to attempt an SAQ.

SAQ 2 - Types of optical fibre

Choose proper options:
a) The number of Modes propagated in a fibre does not depend upon:
i) refractive index of core and cladding
ii) cladding diameter
iii) core diameter
iv) wavelength of light
b) Which of these is not a type of optical fibre?
i) step index multimode fibre
ii) step index single mode fibre
iii) graded index multimode fibre
iv) graded index single mode fibre.

After getting the overview of light propagation in fibre, let us now discuss the
causes of signal loss and distortion in a fibre.

14.3 LOSSES IN OPTICAL FIBRE

When the optical fibre is used for communication applications, it is expected to
transmit the light signal between its two ends without any loss of signal
strength. However, in practice the fibre causes attenuation of the signal due to
fibre losses. The various types of losses in the fibres are depicted in Fig. 14.7.

Intrinsic fibre losses

Fig. 14.7: Losses in Optical fibre.

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Unit 14 Fibre Optics
The causes of these losses are clear from Fig. 14.8.

Fig. 14.8: Causes of losses in optical fibre.

Some salient points to note here are:

x Although in the electromagnetic spectrum optic refers to the frequencies

in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet bands of the spectrum, there is heavy
attenuation in the visible and the ultraviolet portions; and efficient optical
communication takes place in the infrared band of the spectrum, as the
loss is relatively less.

x Even though the infrared band is the chosen band for optical
communication, the complete band is not useful for communication. There
are strong absorption losses in the fibre due to the hydroxyl (OH) ions
dissolved in the glass. The absorption spectrum of silica has distinct sharp
absorption peaks due to these ions. Between these peaks, it is possible to
identify narrow windows, which are not affected by the OH absorption.
Three such windows at 850 nm, 1310 nm and 1550 nm are identified as
the best for optical fibre communication. They are called the first, the
second and the third telecommunication windows respectively. Maximum
number of optical fibre communication circuits work with sources
belonging to one of the three windows.

x The refractive index inside the glass is not uniform due to the
imperfections in the structure introduced during the manufacturing
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Block 4 Lasers and Optical Fibre
process. These result into random molecular locations which scatter the
light passing through the fibre. This type of loss is known as Rayleigh
scattering.

x The attenuation of signal in the fibre is most vital parameter, since it

decides the maximum length over which the optical communication can be
carried out without using a repeater. You know that the attenuation of a
signal in dB (decibel) is defined as
A 10log10 (Pin Pout ) (14.9)

where Pin and Pout are input and output powers of the signal respectively.

You may now like to attempt an SAQ.

SAQ 3 - Losses in optical fibre

Various losses in an optical fibre are:

a) Scattering loss b) Connection loss
c) Micro bending d) Losses due to bends
Choose the proper option from the following:
i) a and b are intrinsic losses and c & d are extrinsic losses.
ii) a and d are intrinsic losses and c & b are extrinsic losses.
iii) a and c are intrinsic losses and b & d are extrinsic losses.
iv) a and c are extrinsic losses and b& d are intrinsic losses.

One of the major factors affecting the signal transmission through the fibre is
dispersion. It has direct effect on the bandwidth (data carrying capacity) of the
fibre. In the following, you will learn about the dispersion effects and their
implications in detail.

14.4 DISPERSION IN OPTICAL FIBRE

When incident light pulses are applied at one end of the optical fibre, the light
pulses emerging from the other end are wider than the incident light pulses as
shown in Fig. 14.9. The light pulse waveform spreads in time during its
propagation through the fibre. This spreading of waveform is called
dispersion. It is expressed in terms of time per unit length.

Fig. 14.9: Widening of pulse due to dispersion in fibre.

Since dispersion causes spreading of a pulse in time scale, it is possible that

the output of pulse A may overlap with a part of pulse B. This is undesirable,
since the data transfer in such case becomes unreliable. The transmission
capacity of the fibre is determined by the number of pulses transmitted per
unit time. For correct information retrieval, the pulses must remain resolvable
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Unit 14 Fibre Optics
i.e. they should not overlap each other. Dispersion is critical as it limits the
bandwidth of information carrying capacity of the fibre.

Dispersion is categorised into two main types:

x Pulse (or Modal) dispersion

x Material (or Chromatic) dispersion

14.4.1 Pulse Dispersion

Step Index Fibre

As shown in Fig. 14.10, in a multimode step index fibre, different modes,

though enter the fibre at the same time instant, the path lengths traversed by
each of them inside the fibre are different. Hence a pulse launched in
different modes arrives at the end of the fibre at different time instances,
thereby stretching the pulse in the time scale. Hence pulse dispersion is also
known as Modal dispersion or multi-path dispersion. The modal dispersion is
prominent in step index multimode fibres.

Fig. 14.10: Pulse (Modal) dispersion.

What effect does the pulse broadening have on the signal transmission
capacity of the fibre? Actually, pulse broadening severely restricts the
transmission capacity of the fibre, because it causes overlapping of
consecutive pulses and they become unresolvable. To avoid this overlap, the
time delay between two consecutive pulses must be increased. Therefore, the
number of pulses that can be transmitted per unit time through the fibre will go
down, that is, the transmission capacity of the fibre will be reduced.
To have a quantitative estimate about the pulse dispersion in case of
propagation through step-index fibre, refer to Fig.14.11.

P S R

M Core n1

Cladding n2 Q

Fig. 14.11: Ray of light passing through step index fibre.

Consider a mode travelling along MPQR sustaining angle T with the axis of
the fibre. The time taken by this ray to travel a distance PR can be easily
calculated by the relation
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Block 4 Lasers and Optical Fibre
PQ  QR
t (14.10)
c n1

where (c n1) is the velocity of light in the core medium of refractive index n1 .

Hence we get,

n1 1
t (PS  SR )
c cos T

n1(PR )
c cos T

So you will notice that the time taken by the ray of light in travelling a distance
through the fibre depends on the angle it makes with the axis of the fibre.
Thus, for a fixed length L of the fibre, minimum time will be taken by a ray
We have which travel along the axis of the fibre (T = 0)
§S ·
Tmax ¨ 2  Ic ¸ n1L
© ¹ tmin (14.11)
c
Using the identity
cos(A-B) = cos A cos B and the maximum time will be taken by the ray for which T is equal to
+ sin A sin B §S ·
we can write ¨ 2  Ic ¸ where Ic is the critical angle at the core-cladding interface.
© ¹
cos Tmax sin Ic
And from Eq. (14.2) you Thus, Tmax cos1 n2 n1 and the maximum time
can easily show that
Tmax cos1 n2 n1 n1L n12L
tmax (14.12)
c(n2 n1) cn2

Thus, if all the input rays travel along the fibre simultaneously, the spread in
time in traversing the distance L will be

't tmax  tmin

n1L
(n1  n2 ) (14.13)
c n2

Now you may like to solve one numerical to get the idea about the pulse
broadening in the practical systems.

SAQ 4 - Pulse dispersion in step-index fibre

If the core and cladding refractive indices for a step-index fibre are 1.47 and
1.46 respectively, what will be the broadening of a pulse after 5 km distance?

After solving this SAQ, you must have realized that the signal transmission
capacity of optical fibres is severely restrained due to pulse dispersion.
Therefore, an efficient optical fibre should have least possible pulse dispersion
so that it can carry larger number of pulses per unit time. Now the question is:
Do we have any method to minimize the pulse broadening in optical fibres?
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Unit 14 Fibre Optics
Yes, there are methods by which we may minimize the pulse broadening. One
of them is to use gradient - index (GRIN) fibre. Now you will learn how GRIN-
fibres help in reducing the pulse broadening.

Graded Index Fibre

You will recall form Sec. 14.2.3 that core of the graded index (GRIN) - fibre
offers gradually decreasing refractive index environment to a light ray as it
moves away from the axis of the fibre. Let us see how this parabolic refractive
index profile of the GRIN – fibre (Refer Fig. 14.6c) helps in reducing the pulse
dispersion. You will observe that since the refractive index of core goes on
reducing towards the periphery, the modes deviating away from the centre of
the core travel at faster speed and hence the pulse travelling in different
modes eventually reaches the end of the fibre at more or less same time,
without causing any significant dispersion effect. Due to this reason, the pulse
broadening is reduced in GRIN-fibre.

The volume of information which may be transmitted through GRIN – fibre is

more or less free from pulse broadening due to above reason. The information
carrying capacity of such fibre is only limited by material dispersion about
which you will learn in the following.

14.4.2 Material Dispersion

So far we discussed about the pulse broadening in optical fibres arising

because of the fact that light rays incident at different angles at the core-
cladding interface take different times to traverse a fixed length of fibre. We
also discussed how to reduce this dispersion by using GRIN-fibre. Now,
supposes that the light beam travelling through the fibre is free from the pulse
broadening due to above mentioned reason. Does it mean that the beam is
completely free from pulse broadening? No, there is yet another source of
pulse broadening known as material dispersion. Material dispersion arises
due to the variation of refractive index with wavelength of light. That is this
dispersion arises due to the dependence of velocity of light in the medium on
its wavelength. You are aware that the light emitted from a source is not a
single wavelength but a wavelength spectrum with a certain width. Therefore,
different wavelengths in a pulse signal will travel with different velocities and
hence will arrive at the end of the fibre at different times and causes
broadening of the pulse. You may note that the material broadening is an
intrinsic physical property of the fibre material and arises due to non-
monochromatic nature of the signal pulse. Since it is caused due to the
variation of wavelength (colour) in the light, this dispersion is also termed as
chromatic dispersion. This type of dispersion is more prominent in single
mode fibre.

After learning about light transmission through optical fibre, let us discuss in
brief the advantages of using optical fibre as a medium of signal transmission.
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Block 4 Lasers and Optical Fibre
14.5 Advantages of Optical Fibre as
Communication Medium
Apart from wide bandwidth required for communication systems, there are
other reasons too which have promoted the use of optical fibres:

a) High information capacity of fibre

Optical Fibres are inherently digital transmission media. Bit rates up to

1 Gbps (109 pulses per second) are already available in our country. .

b) Low attenuation and dispersion

Fibre attenuation is now less than 0.20 dB km1 and can be as low as
0.18 dB km1. In this case, the repeaters for strengthening the signal can
be spaced at longer distances.

c) Space saving

Due to extreme thin dimensions of fibre the coefficient of information

capacity to cable cross section is high; therefore efficient use of the duct
space is made. This is a very significant advantage in the congested city
environments.

d) Low cross-talk signal

The cross-talk between fibres in a well-designed optical fibre cable is very

low and it does not generate any interference to other systems.

e) Immunity to EMI

The fibres have excellent immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI).

Thus the communications on the optical fibres are free from EMI pick ups,
including the external sources such as lightening or sparking etc.

f) Higher security

Since there is no radiation of EM waves involved unlike in the cases of

microwave or the satellite systems, it is very difficult for an intruder to
detect the actual signal being transmitted.

g) Abundance of basic resource

The basic material used in the optical fibre is Silica which is available in
plenty along the sea shores in the country. It is not a depleting resource.

h) Easy maintainability

Except in case of places where the possibility of damage due to man-

made faults is high, the overall maintenance effort involved is less as
compared to the other high capacity systems.
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Unit 14 Fibre Optics
Let us now summarize the points discussed in this unit.

14.6 SUMMARY

Concept Description

Structure of „ Optical fibre used for transmission of light waves consists of two concentric
optical fibre cylinders of glass or plastic. The inner cylinder is core, while the outer one is
cladding.

Light transmission „ The refractive index of core is larger than that of cladding material. This results
through the fibre in to total internal reflection of the light beam.

Critical angle „ Critical angle Ic is defined as

n
Ic sin1 2 , n1 ! n2
n1

where n1 is refractive index of core and n2 is that of cladding. A light ray

experiences total internal reflection for angle more than Ic.

Acceptance angle „ Acceptance angle Ta is the maximum angle at which the light can enter the fibre
and numerical and propagate by total internal reflection.
aperture
Numerical aperture is a measure of the light gathering capacity of the fibre.

NA n0 sin Ta n12  n22

Types of optical „ Depending on the refractive index profile of the core, optical fibres are classified
fibre as

¾ Step index single mode (SI SM);

¾ Step index multimode (SI MM); and

¾ Graded index multimode (GRIN MM).

Attenuation of „ Attenuation of a signal in dB (decibel) is defined as

signal
A 10log10 (Pin Pout )

where Pin and Pout are input and output powers of the signal respectively.

Losses in fibre „ Fibre optic losses are of two types:

¾ Intrinsic losses; and

¾ Extrinsic losses.
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Block 4 Lasers and Optical Fibre

Pulse dispersion „ Pulse dispersion in a step index fibre of length L is

n1L
't (n1  n2 )
c n2

This dispersion can be reduced by using graded index fibre.

Material „ It is caused because the refractive index (and hence the velocity of light) of a
dispersion medium is a function of wavelength of light, and there is inherent frequency
spread in the light source. Light of different frequency (wavelength) travels at
different speed through a refractive medium. It is also known as chromatic
dispersion.

14.7 TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1. Suppose you have two optical fibres A and B. The refractive indices of the
core (n1) and the cladding (n2 ) materials of these fibres are:

(n1)A 1.52 (n2 )A 1.41

(n1)B 1.51 (n2 )B 1.39

Which of the two fibres will have higher light gathering capacity?

2. Velocity of light in the core of a step index fibre is 2.0 u 108 ms1 and
critical angle is 80q. Determine the numerical aperture and acceptance
angle for the fibre in air. Consider velocity of light in air to be 3 u 108 ms1.

3. When a mean optical power launched into 10 km long fibre is 100 PW, the
mean optical power output is 2 PW. Calculate the attenuation per
kilometre for the fibre.

14.8 SOLUTIONS AND ANSWERS

Self-Assessment Questions

1. a) The critical angle Ic at the core-cladding interface can be written from

Eq. (14.2) as:
n 1.47
Ic sin1 2 sin1 78.5q
n1 1.50

b) From Eq. (14.8) the numerical aperture is:

NA n12  n22 1.502  1.472 0.30.

c) Considering Eq. (14.8) the acceptance angle in air (with n0 =1), Ta, is
given by:

Ta sin1 NA sin1 0.30 17.4q

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Unit 14 Fibre Optics
2. a) (ii); b) (iv)

3. (iii)

4. The pulse broadening is given by Eq. (14.13)

n1L
't (n1  n2 )
c n2

It is given that,

L 5 u103 m, n1 1.47, n2 1.46

and taking c 3 u 108 ms 1, we get

1.47 u 5 u103 (m)

't (1.47  1.46)
3 u108 (ms)-1 u1.46
7.35 u103 (m)
(0.01) 0.17 Ps
4.38 u108 (ms-1)

Terminal Questions

1. From Fig. 14.4, Ta is the maximum angle of incidence of the light beam at
air-core interface which gives the measure of light gathering capacity of
the fibre. From Eq. (14.7), the sine of this angle is given as

1
sin Ta n12  n22
n0

where, n0, n1 and n2 are the refractive indices of air, core and cladding
respectively. We know that n0, the refractive index of air = 1.

For the fibre A,

n1 1.52 and n2 1.41

? (sin Ta )A (1.52)2  (1.41)2

0.3223 0.57

Therefore, (Ta )A sin1 [0.57] 34.8$

Now, for the fibre B,

n1 1.51 and n2 1.39

? (sinTa )B (1.51)2  (1.39)2

0.348 0.59
159
Block 4 Lasers and Optical Fibre
1 $
Therefore, (Ta )B sin [0.59] 36.2

Hence, the light gathering capacity of fibre B is greater than fibre A.

2. Refractive index of core

c 3 u 108 ms-1
n1 1.5
v 2 u 108 ms-1

Ic = 80q, hence, the refractive index of cladding

n2 = n1 sin Ic = 1.5 sin 80q = 1.48

2
Numerical aperture = NA = n12  n22 (1.5)2  1.48 0.24 .

1
Acceptance angle Ta = sin (NA) = 14.1q.

Pin 100 u 106 W

3. Signal attenuation = 10log10 10log10 17dB.
Pout 2 u 106 W

Assuming uniform attenuation over the fibre length, per km attenuation is

17 dB
=1.7dB km-1
10km

160
Block 2 Electrostatics

FURTHER READINGS
1. Optics, Eugene Hecht, Fourth Edition, Pearson Education, Indian Reprint
(2004).

2. Optics, Ajoy Ghatak, Seventh Edition (2021), McGraw Hill Education

(India) Pvt. Ltd.

161
Block 2 Electrostatics

TABLE OF PHYSICAL CONSTANTS

Symbol Quantity Value

c Speed of light in vacuum 3.00 u 108 ms1

P0 Permeability of free 1.26 u 106 NA 2

space
H0 Permittivity of free space 8.85 u 1012 C2 N1 m2

1/ 4S H0 8.99 u 109 Nm2 C2

e Charge of the proton 1.60 u 1019 C

e Charge of the electron  1.60 u 1019 C

h Planck’s constant 6.63 u 1034 Js

! h / 2S 1.05 u 1034 Js

me Electron rest mass 9.11 u 1031 kg

 e / me Electron charge to mass  1.76 u 1011 Ckg1

ratio
mp Proton rest mass 1.67 u 1027 kg (1 amu)

mn Neutron rest mass 1.68 u 1027 kg

a0 Bohr radius 5.29 u 1011 m

NA Avogadro constant 6.02 u 1023 mol1

R Universal gas constant 8.31 Jmol1 K 1

kB Boltzmann constant 1.38 u 1023 J K 1

G Universal gravitational 6.67 u 1011 Nm2 kg2

constant

162
Block 2 Electrostatics

LIST OF BLOCKS AND UNITS: BPHCT-137

BLOCK 1: WAVES – AN INTRODUCTION

Unit 1 Wave Motion

Unit 2 Superposition of Waves
Unit 3 Acoustic Wave
Unit 4 Electromagnetic Wave
Unit 5 Polarisation of Light

BLOCK 2: INTERFERENCE

Unit 6 Interference by Division of Wavefront

Unit 7 Interference by Division of Amplitude
Unit 8 Michelson Interferometer

BLOCK 3: DIFFRACTION

Unit 9 Fresnel Diffraction

Unit 10 Fraunhofer Diffraction
Unit 11 Diffraction Grating

BLOCK 4: LASERS AND OPTICAL FIBRE

Unit 12 Physics of Lasers

Unit 13 Properties and Applications of Lasers
Unit 14 Fibre Optics

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Block 2 Electrostatics

SYLLABUS: WAVES AND OPTICS (BPHCT-137) 4 Credits

Waves: Transverse waves on a string, wave formation and propagation, relation between
wavelength and frequency, wave velocity, mathematical description of wave motion; types of
waves – plane waves and spherical waves (qualitative description only), energy carried by
waves, intensity of waves. Superposition principle for waves, travelling and standing waves on
a string, normal modes of a string, group velocity, phase velocity. Acoustic waves, production
of sound waves – forced vibrations and resonance, intensity and loudness of sound, decibels,
intensity levels, musical notes, musical scale, acoustics of buildings. Electromagnetic waves,
wave equation for electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic nature of light, definition and
properties of wave front, Huygens principle. Polarisation, transverse nature of light waves,
production and analysis plane polarised light, Malus’ law, Brewster’s law, double refraction,
Nicol prism, wave plates, circular and elliptical polarisation.

Interference: Division of amplitude and division of wave front, interference by division of wave
front, Young’s double slit experiment, white light fringes, displacement of fringes, Lloyd’s mirror
and Fresnel’s biprism. Interference by division of amplitude, phase change on reflection –
Stokes’ treatment, interference in thin films, parallel films, qualitative description of Fringes of
equal inclination (Haidinger fringes) and fringes of equal thickness (Fizeau fringes),
interference in wedge-shaped films, Newton’s rings – measurement of wavelength and
refractive index. Michelson’s interferometer, qualitative idea of the form of fringes,
determination of wavelength, wavelength difference, refractive index and visibility of fringes.

Diffraction: Fresnel diffraction, Fresnel construction, half-period element, the zone plate,
diffraction pattern of a straight edge, a slit and a wire using half-period zone analysis.
Fraunhofer diffraction, evolution from Fresnel to Fraunhofer diffraction, diffraction from a single
slit - observed pattern, intensity distribution; diffraction from a double slit – observed pattern,
intensity distribution, position of minima and maxima, missing orders. Diffraction grating,
Fraunhofer diffraction from multiple slits, intensity distribution, principal maxima, minima and
secondary maxima, angular half-width of principal maxima.

Lasers and Optical Fibre: Basic principles of lasers, emission and absorption of light,
spontaneous and stimulated emission, Einstein’s relations (general idea only), population
inversion, optical pumping, pumping mechanisms, three and four level pumping schemes,
feedback mechanism, optical resonant cavity. Types of lasers and their applications, solid
state, liquid and gas lasers, Helium-Neon laser, applications of lasers in communication,
medicine, industry and photography. Optical fibre, core and cladding materials and their
refractive indices, propagation of light through optical fibre - total internal reflection, types of
fibres – step index and gradient index fibres, refractive index profiles, optical communication
through fibres, qualitative idea of pulse dispersion and its reduction, material dispersion and
power loss.

164