LASERS

❖ Laser is an optical device that amplifies light. It produces a

thin, intense beam of light based on the stimulated emission
of electromagnetic radiation.
❖ LASER is the acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation.

Characteristics of a laser beam

a) High Monochromaticity
The property of exhibiting single wavelength by a light is
called “Monochromaticity”. i.e., when it is passed through a
prism, a single line will be appeared in the spectrum.
b) High Directionality
Laser light is emitted as a relatively narrow beam in a specific
direction. Ordinary light, such as from a light bulb, is emitted
in many directions away from the source.
c) High Intensity
Due to its directionality, many beams of light incident on a
small area. Therefore, intensity of light is very high.
d) High Coherence
The property of exhibiting zero or constant phase difference
between two or more waves is called “Coherence”.
➢ Coherence is of two types
✓ Spatial or space coherence
✓ Temporal or time coherence
 • Spatial coherence
If there exists zero or constant phase difference between two
points on a wave front, then the wave is said to have spatial
coherence. It is time independent.
• Temporal coherence
If there exists zero or constant phase difference between two
light fields at two instants of time at the same point, then the
wave is said to have temporal coherence. It is time dependent.

Einstein’s Coefficients
To understand the working principle of the laser, we must
study the quantum process that take place in a material
medium when it is exposed to light radiation. We know that
light is absorbed (or) emitted by atoms or molecules during
their transition from one energy state to another.

Consider an atom that has only two energy levels E1 and E2.
When the atom is exposed to (light) photons of energy
E2- E1=hυ, where h is Planck’s constant and υ frequency of
the incident radiation. Three distinct processes take place.
(i) Stimulated Absorption
(ii) Spontaneous emission
(iii) Stimulated emission

Stimulated Absorption:
❖ An atom in the ground state with energy E1 absorbs a
photon of energy hυ and goes to the excited state
(Higher state) with energy E2 as shown in fig.
 ❖ This provided the photon energy hυ is equal to the
energy difference (E2-E1). This process is called
Stimulated Absorption or simply Absorption.

E2 E2
E = E2 – E1 = hυ

E1 E1
Before Absorption After Absorption

❖ Number of Stimulated Absorptions ∞ N1 ρ(υ)

= N1 B12 ρ(υ), where B12 =Einstein’s co-efficient of
stimulated absorption of radiation and ρ is the
number density of photons.

Spontaneous emission:
➢ The atoms in the excited state returns to the ground state
by emitting a photon of energy E = (E2 - E1) = hυ,
spontaneously without any external triggering as shown
in fig. This process is known as Spontaneous emission.
Such an emission is random and is independent of
incident radiation.
 E2 E2

E = (E2 – E1) = hυ
E1 E1

Before After

Spontaneous emission

If N1 and N2 are the numbers of atoms in the ground state

(E1) and the excited state (E2) respectively, then
Number of spontaneous emissions ∞ N2 = N2 A21, where A21
Einstein’s co-efficient of spontaneous emission of radiation.

Stimulated emission
✓ The atom in the excited state can also return to the
ground state by external triggering thereby emitting a
photon of energy equal to the energy of the incident
photon, known as stimulated emission.
✓ This results in two photons of same energy, phase
difference and of same directionality as shown in Fig.
E2 E2

hυ
Stimulated photon
Incident photon hυ

E1 E1 Incident photon

Stimulated emission
 ❖ Number of Stimulated Emissions ∞ N2 ρ(υ)
= N2 B21 ρ(υ), where B21 =Einstein’s co-efficient of
stimulated emission of radiation.
Spontaneous Emission Stimulated Emission
1) Incoherent radiation 1) coherent radiation
2) Less Intensity 2) high intensity
3) Poly chromatic 3) mono chromatic
4) One photon released 4) two photons released
5) Less directionality 5) high directionality
6) More angular spread during 6) less angular spread during
propagation Propagation
Ex:-Light from sodium Ex: - light from a laser source
Mercury vapour lamp ruby laser,
He-He gas laser gas
Laser

Population inversion:
❖ The population inversion is the state at which the
number of atoms in the excited state is more than that
in the ground state. This is achieved by the process of
pumping.
Active Medium:
❖ A medium in which population inversion can be
achieved is known as active medium.
Pumping Action:
❖ The process to achieve population inversion in the
medium i.e. raising a greater number of atoms to
excited state by artificial means.
Methods for pumping:
The most commonly used pumping mechanisms are
 ✓ Optical pumping (excitation by photons)
✓ Electrical discharge method (excitation by electrons)
✓ Direct conversion
✓ Inelastic atom-atom collision
✓ Chemical process
Basic Components of a laser system
A basic laser system has three major components. They are
i) Active Medium: It is a basic material in which atomic
transitions take place and leading to laser action. This
material may be solid, liquid, gas, dye or
semiconductor.
ii) Pumping system: It is a device with which population
inversion in the active medium can be achieved.
iii) Optical resonator: An Optical resonator (or) a
resonance cavity is a feedback system, which consist
of an active medium kept in between a 100% mirror
and partial mirror.
Here, the intensity of light produced in the active
medium is raised by making the light to bounce back
and forth between the mirrors. Finally, the laser beam
comes out through the partial mirror.
Principle of Laser
The step by step process that takes place in laser action is as
follows:

Step 1: Atoms in ground state are pumped to excited state

E2 by photons of energy hυ’ = E2 – E0 where
υ’ - frequency of the incident radiation
E2 – energy of the excited state
E1 – energy of the ground state

Step 2: Rapid transition of metastable state E1 by

spontaneous emission of photons of energy hυ” = E2 – E1
where
υ” - frequency of the emitted radiation
E2 – energy of the excited state
E1 – energy of the metastable state*

*Metastable state:
Normally, the mean life of excited atoms before the
spontaneous emission is about 10-8 s. However, for some
excited states, this mean life is 105 times longer. Such long-
lived states are called metastable states where population
inversion is attained.

Step 3: By this way metastable states are occupied in many

atoms.
 Step4: Induced emission occurs when photon of energy hυ =
E1 – E0 are incident with the secondary photons stimulating
further transitions to produce avalanche of coherent beam.

An illustration for principle of laser is shown in fig.

Excited state
E2
E2 E2

E1 hv”
E1 E1 E1
hv’ Metastable
state
hv
hv

E0 E0 E0 E0
Ground state
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4

Types of lasers:
Based on type of active medium, laser system are broadly
classified into the following categories
▪ Solid state laser (e.g. Ruby laser, Nd. – YAG
laser).
▪ Gas lasers (e.g. He-Ne laser, CO2 laser).
▪ Semiconductor lasers (e.g. GaAs laser).
Ruby Laser:
✓ First laser to be operated successfully.
✓ Lasing medium: Ruby rod is a matrix of Aluminum oxide
doped with chromium ions.
✓ Energy levels of the chromium ions take part in lasing action.
✓ A three-level laser system.
✓ Ruby crystal is about 0.60 cm in diameter and 4 cm in length
✓ Both ends of the ruby rod is polished and silvered; one end is
fully coated with silver and the other partially silvered.
✓ Xenon flash lamp across the Ruby rod is used for optical
pumping.
Working:
➢ Ruby is pumped optically by an intense flash lamp. This
causes Chromium ions to be excited by absorption of radiation
around 0.55 µm and 0.40µm.
E2

E1

➢ Chromium ions are excited to levels E1 and E2

➢ Excited ions decay non-radiatively to the metastable level
with a lifetime of ~ 3ms
➢ Laser emission occurs between level M and ground state G at
an output wavelength of 694.3 nm.
➢ One of the important practical lasers
➢ Has long lifetime and narrow linewidth*
*Linewidth – width of the optical spectrum or width of the

power Spectral density

➢ Output lies in the visible region – where photographic
emulsions and Photodetectors are much more sensitive than
they are in infrared region
➢ Find applications in holography and laser ranging
➢ Flash lamp operation – leads to a pulsed output of the laser
➢ Between flashes, lasing action stops
➢ Laser spiking:
o Output is highly irregular function of time.
 o Intensity has random amplitude fluctuations of varying
duration
He-Ne Laser
▪ A helium–neon laser or He-Ne laser, is a type of gas laser
whose gain medium consists of a mixture of helium and neon
(10:1) inside of a small-bore capillary tube, usually excited
by a DC electrical discharge.
▪ The best-known and most widely used He-Ne laser operates
at a wavelength of 632.8 nm in the red part of the visible
spectrum.
▪ The gas mixture is mostly helium, so that helium atoms can
be excited. The excited helium atoms collide with neon atoms,
exciting some of them to the state that radiates 632.8 nm.
▪ The energy or pump source of the laser is provided by a high
voltage electrical discharge passed through the gas between
electrodes (anode and cathode) within the tube.
▪ A DC current of 3 to 20 mA is typically required for
continuous wave (CW) operation.
▪ The optical cavity of the laser usually consists of two concave
mirrors or one plane and one concave mirror, one having very
high (typically 99.9%) reflectance and the output coupler
mirror allowing approximately 1% transmission.
Schematic diagram of a Helium–Neon laser
➢ The mechanism producing population inversion and light
amplification in a He-Ne laser originates with inelastic
collision of energetic electrons with ground state helium
atoms in the gas mixture.
➢ As shown in the energy level diagram, these collisions excite
helium atoms from the ground state to higher energy excited
levels 23S1 and 21S0 long-lived metastable states.
➢ Because of a near coincidence between the energy levels of
the two He metastable states, and the 3s2 and 2s2 (Paschen
notation) levels of neon, collisions between these helium
metastable atoms and ground state neon atoms results in a
selective and efficient transfer of excitation energy from the
helium to neon and population inversion is attained.
 ➢ Any spontaneously emitted photon between these levels can
trigger the stimulated emission process at 632.8 nm
wavelength.
Advantages:
1. He-Ne laser emits continuous laser radiations.
2. Gas lasers emit more monochromatic and high directional
laser radiations when compared to solid state lasers.
3. He-Ne laser has very good coherence property.
Disadvantages:
1. It is relatively low power device means its output power is
low.
2. It requires high voltage.

Semiconductor Diode Laser:

Laser diode is a specially fabricated p-n junction device that
emits coherent radiations when it is forward biased.
Principle
When a p – n junction is formed across p and n type
semiconductor, then it results in the formation of a depletion
region across the junction.
When the junction is forward biased, the width of the
depletion region decreases allowing more number of electrons
from n type to cross the junction and recombine with hole in
p type.
Thus, recombination of electron hole pairs across the junction
emits the radiation.
E = hv = Eg
V = Eg/h

But V = c/λ c/λ=Eg/h

λ = hc/Eg
where h is Planck's constant, c is the velocity
of light and Eg is the band gap energy.

Working:
• When the p-n junction is forward- biased with large
applied voltage, the electrons and holes are injected into
junction region.
• The region around the junction contains many electrons
in the conduction band and large number of holes in the
valence band.
• If the population density is high, population inversion is
achieved.
 • The electrons and holes are recombined with each other
and this recombination produce radiation in the form of
light.
• When the forward-biased voltage is increased, more and
more light photons are emitted, and the light production
instantly becomes stronger.
• These photons will trigger a chain of stimulated
recombination resulting in the release of photons in
phase.
• The photons moving at the plane of the junction travels
back and forth by reflection between two sides placed
parallel and opposite to each other and grow in strength.
After gaining enough strength, it gives out the laser
beam of wavelength 8300Å - 8500Å.
Advantages:
• It is easy to manufacture the diode.
• The cost is low
Disadvantages:
• It produces low power output.
• The output wave is pulsed and will be continuous only for
some time.
• The beam has large divergence.
• They have high threshold current density.

Applications of Lasers:
1. Lasers in scientific research
Lasers are used to clean delicate pieces of art, develop
hidden finger prints.
 Laser are used in the fields of 3D photography called
holography.
Using lasers, the internal structure of micro-organisms
and cells are studied very accurately.
Lasers are used to produce certain chemical reactions.
2. Laser in Medicine
The heating action of a laser beam used to remove
diseased body tissue.
Lasers are used for elimination of moles and tumors,
which are developing in the skin tissue.
Argon and CO2 lasers are used in the treatment liver and
lungs.
Laser beam is used to correct the retinal detachment by
eye specialist.
3. Lasers in Communication
More amounts of data can be sent due to the large
bandwidth of semiconductor lasers.
More channels can be simultaneously transmitted.
Signals cannot be tapped.
Atmospheric pollutants concentration, ozone
concentration and water vapour concentration can be
measured.
4. Lasers in Industry
To blast holes in diamonds and hard steel.
To cut, drill, welding and remove metal from surfaces.
To measure distance to making maps by surveyors.
For cutting and drilling of metals and non-metals such
a ceramics plastics glass.
5. Lasers in photography
Lasers can be used to get 3D photographs.
It is possible to make hologram with the help of lasers
by using interference.
 Holography
❖ HOLOGRAPHY is the technique of recording an image in
which a light wave is a carrier of information and recording
is done in terms of wave parameters like amplitude and
phase.
Principle of Hologram Construction
When two highly coherent parallel light beams are incident
on a photographic plate, one reflected from the object and
the other incident directly, then an interference fringe
pattern is recorded on a photographic plate due to
interference.
This holds the 3D pictorial details of the object and the image
of the object can be reconstructed by diffracting the light
beam passing through the photographic plate.

Difference between photography and holography

Sl.No Photography Holography
1 The light reflected from the Hologram is constructed by
object made to incident on means of interference of
the photographic film. light between the reference
beam and object beam.
2 It produces 2-D image It produces 3-D image
3 There is no need of It requires monochromatic,
monochromatic, coherent coherent light source
source
4 If the negative is broken The entire image can be
into several pieces, it’s not reconstructed from the
possible to construct broken pieces.
original image

Construction of a HOLOGRAM:
The Object beam which is the coherent beam of light from a
3-D object is incident on the photographic plate.
The Reference beam, which is a coherent laser beam, is
incident directly on the photographic plate.
Due to interference, fringes are recorded on the plate.
The photographic plate is developed.
If the Reference beam is incident on the photographic plate
in the same direction as it was earlier, the 3-D view of the
object appears even though there is no object beam.
This is because of the diffraction of light by the interference
fringes on the photographic plate.
Recording and Reconstruction of the image:
Recording of the image of the object:
Recording is done either by wave front division technique or
amplitude division technique.
Wave front division technique:
➢ In this technique an expanded laser beam is obtained from
the source. This is incident on the mirror and object
simultaneously (as shown in fig.).
➢ The mirror and object are so placed that, the mirror and the
object reflect a part of the beam (wave front division).
➢ The reflected beams from mirror (reference beam) and from
the object (object beam) are made to incident on the
photographic plate as shown in the figure. Due to which
interference fringes are formed on the photographic plate.
➢ The photographic plate is developed.
Amplitude division technique:
➢ In this Technique a Beam splitter is used to split the incident
expanded laser beam into two parts (Amplitude division).
➢ One part is incident on the mirror and reflected onto the
photographic plate (reference beam).
 ➢ The other part is incident on the object and reflected on to the
photographic plate (object beam).
➢ Due to superposition interference fringes are formed on the
photographic plate.
➢ The photographic plate is developed. Interference fringes are
seen on the developed photographic plate.
Reconstruction of the image:
The original laser beam is directed at the hologram in the
same direction as the reference beam to reconstruct the
image.
The reference beam undergoes diffraction in the hologram.
Secondary wavelets originate due to diffraction. These
secondary wavelets interfere constructively in certain
direction and generate both a real and a virtual image of the
corresponding point of the object on the transmission side of
the hologram.
The image can be photographed by keeping a photographic
plate in the plane of the image formation of the convergent
beam.
Applications of holography:
1. Holographic Microscopy
2. Holographic Diffraction Grating
3. Holographic Interferometry
4. Ultrasonic Holography
5. Size and Geometry of particle
 FIBER OPTICS
➢ Optical fiber is a wave guide used for optical communication.
➢ It is made of transparent dielectric materials (Glass or
Plastic) whose function is to guide the light wave.
➢ An optical fiber consists of an inner cylindrical portion of
glass, called core. The function of core is to carry the light
from one end to another end by the principle of total internal
reflection.
➢ The core is surrounded by another cylindrical covering called
cladding.
➢ The refractive index of core is greater than the refractive
index of cladding.
➢ Cladding helps to keep the light within the core. The
propagation of light inside the optical fiber is shown in Fig.

Basic principle of Optical fiber:

✓ The mechanism of light propagation along fibers can be
understood using the principle of geometrical optics. The
transmission of light in optical fiber is based on the
phenomenon of total internal reflection.
Let n1 and n2 be the refractive indices of core and cladding
respectively such that n1>n2. Let i be the angle of incidence of the
light ray with the axis and r the angle of refraction. If θ be the
angle at which the ray is incident on the fiber boundary, then
θ = (90 – r).
If θ > θc, then the ray is totally internally reflected.
Critical angle, θc = Sin–1 (n2/n1)
Acceptance angle (θa):
The maximum angle with which a ray of light can enter
through one end of the fiber and still be total internally
reflected is called acceptance angle of the fiber.
Acceptance angle, θa = Sin–1 √(n12 - n22)
Thus, the light which travels within a cone defined by the
acceptance angle is trapped and guided. This is the
fundamental property of light propagation in a fiber. This
cone is referred to as acceptance cone.
Numerical Aperture (NA):
❖ The sine of the acceptance angle of the fiber is known as
numerical aperture. It denotes the light gathering capability
of the optical fiber.
❖ NA = Sin (θa) / n0
NA = √(n12 - n22) / n0
If the medium surrounding the fiber is air, then n0 = 1, therefore
NA = √(n12 - n22)
Construction of optical fiber:
The optical fiber mainly consists of the following parts.
a. Core
b. Cladding
c. Silicon coating
d. Buffer jacket
 e. Strength material
f. Outer jacket
A typical glass fiber consists of a central core of thickness
50μm surrounded by cladding.
Cladding is made up of glass of slightly lower refractive index
than core’s refractive index. The overall diameter is 125μm to
200μm.
Silicon coating is provided between buffer jacket and cladding
to improve the quality of transmission of light.
Buffer jacket over the optical fiber is made of plastic and it
protects the fiber from moisture.
In order to provide necessary toughness and tensile strength,
a layer of strength material is arranged surrounding the
buffer jacket.
Finally, the fiber cable is covered by black polyurethane outer
jacket. Because of this arrangement fiber cable will not be
damaged during hard pulling, bending, stretching or rolling,
though the fiber is of brittle glass.
Types of Optical fibers:
❖ Types of optical fibers based on number of modes.
i. Single mode fiber – One mode
ii. Multi-mode fiber – many modes
▪ Single mode fiber: In a fiber, if only one mode is transmitted
through optical fiber, then it is called Single mode fiber.
▪ Multi-mode fiber: If more than one mode is transmitted
through optical fibers, then it is called multimode fiber.
❖ Types of optical fibers based on refractive index profile.
i. Step index fiber
ii. Graded – index fiber
 ▪ Step index fiber: If the refractive index difference in the core
and cladding is varied step by step, then the fiber is called
step index fiber.

▪ Graded index fiber: If the refractive index difference in the

core and cladding is gradually varied in a number of small
decreasing index steps, then the fiber is called Graded index
fiber.

Differences between step index fiber and Graded index fiber:

Sl.No. Step Index Fiber Graded Index Fiber

1. The refractive indices are Due to non-uniform refractive
obtained in single step and indices, the difference in refractive
hence called as step index index is obtained gradually from the
fiber. centre towards interface and hence
called graded index fiber.
2. The light ray propagation is The light propagation is in the form
in the form of meridional of skew rays and it will not cross
rays and it passes through the fiber axis.
the fiber axis.
3. The path of light propagation The path of light propagation is
is in Zig-Zag manner Helical (i.e) Spiral manner
4. Step index fiber has lower Graded index fiber has higher
bandwidth. (multimode) bandwidth. (multimode)
5. Distortion is more in Distortion is less/no due to self-
multimode step index fiber. focusing effect.

Fiber Optic Communication System:

❖ The optical fiber communication system is to transfer
information from source to a distant user. A fundamental
digital fiber optical communication system is shown in fig.
Fiber optic communication system consists of three important
components. They are
✓ Optical transmitter
✓ Fiber repeater
✓ Optical receiver
 Source Source Channel Modulator
Coder Coder

Transmitter

Repeater

Destination Source Channel Demodulator

Decoder Decoder

Receiver

Optical transmitter:
❖ An optical transmitter converts an analogue or digital signal
into optical form.
❖ It consists of an encoder, light source and modulator.
❖ The input analogue signal is converted into a digital signal by
means of an encoder.
❖ The converted digital signal is fed to the source.
❖ The source can be a LED or a semiconductor laser diode.
❖ The optical carrier wave from the source is modulated based
on intensity, amplitude or frequency with the help of a
modulator.
❖ This optical signal is coupled to the optical fiber by means of
couplers.
❖ The optical signal through fiber is properly connected to a
repeater with the help of a connector.
Fiber repeater:
✓ The optical signal while travelling through very long distances
can suffer transmission losses and fiber losses like dispersion.
✓ As a result, we get a weak optical signal at the output end of
the fiber.
✓ To minimize the losses, we use repeaters at regular intervals
between the fibers.
✓ The repeater consists of an amplifier and regenerator.
✓ The amplifier amplifies the weak optical signal. It is
reconstructed to original optical signal with the help of
regenerator and it is transmitted through the optical fiber.
✓ At the last stage, it is received by optical receiver.
Optical receiver
▪ The receiver unit consists of a photodetector, amplifier,
demodulator and decoder.
▪ The photodetector consists of PIN photo diode or avalanche
photo diode.
▪ The electric current generated is then amplified and
demodulated to obtain a digital signal.
▪ This signal is then decoded, and the transmitted signal is
outputted.
Advantages of optical fiber communication
1. Extremely wide band width
2. Smaller size, lighter weight cables
3. Lack of cross talk between parallel fibers
4. Capability of delivering signals at low cost
5. Much safer than copper cables
6. Longer life span
 7. High temperature resistance
8. Optical fibers are more reliable and easier to maintain.
Applications of Optical Fibers:
As the popularity of optical fibers continue to grow, so does their
applications and practical uses. Fiber optic cables became more
and more popular in a variety of industries and applications.
1) Communications / Data Storage
Fiber optics are resistant to electronic noise. This made
significant advances in the field of communications.
The use of light as its source of data transmission has
improved the sound quality in voice communications.
It is also being used for transmitting and receiving purposes.
2) Military
Optical systems offer more security.
Optical fiber is not sensitive to electrical interference;
therefore, fiber optics is suitable for military application and
communications, where signal quality and security of data
transmission are important.
It was also applied in more varied areas such as hydrophones
for seismic and SONAR, aircrafts, submarines and other
underwater applications.
3) Medical
Fiber optic are used as light guides, imaging tools and as
lasers for surgeries.
Another popular use of fiber-optic cable is in endoscope,
which is a diagnostic instrument that enables users to see
through small holes in the body.
Fiber optics is also used in bronchoscopes and laparoscopes.
4) Mechanical or Industrial
Industrial endoscopes also called fiberscope, which enables
the user to observe areas that are difficult to reach or see
under normal circumstances, such as jet engine interiors,
inspecting mechanical welds in pipes and engines, inspecting
space shuttles and rockets.
Inspection of sewer lines and pipes.
5) Networking
Fiber optic is used to connect servers and users in a variety
of network settings.
It increases the speed, quality and accuracy of data
transmission.
Computer and Internet technology has improved due to the
enhanced transmission of digital signals through optical
fibers.
6) Industrial/Commercial
Fiber optics are used for imaging in areas which are difficult
to reach.
It is also used in wiring where electromagnetic interference is
a problem.
It gets used often as sensory devices to make temperature,
pressure and other measurements.
7) Spectroscopy
Optical fiber bundles are used to transmit light from a
spectrometer to a substance which cannot be placed inside
the spectrometer itself, in order to analyse its composition.
By using optical fibers, a spectrometer can be used to study
objects that are too large to fit inside, or gasses, or reactions
which occur in pressure vessels.
Fiber Optic Sensors:
❖ Fiber optic sensors are very sensitive devices used to measure
physical quantities like temperature, pressure, displacement
etc. very accurately with the help of optic fibers.
❖ There are 2 type of sensors: Active sensors and passive
sensors.
❖ In passive sensors (extrinsic sensors) modulation takes place
outside the fiber.
❖ In active sensors (intrinsic sensors) modulation takes place
inside the fiber.
❖ This modulation is based on the variation of intensity, phase,
polarization, wavelength etc. Depending on that we can
classify optic sensors into different types.
Intensity Modulated Sensors
➢ Based on the variation of intensity of light either inside or
outside the fiber.
Pressure Sensor
• Optic fiber is mounted between a pair of plates containing
a parallel groove.
• In the absence of pressure, the fiber will be straight, and
all the light is transmitted through the fiber producing
maximum output in the detector.
• When pressure is applied on the plates, they are pushed
closer and fiber gets bent with large number of
microbendings.
• Hence part of the light will be leaked from these bendings
and output intensity gets decreased.
 • By monitoring the reduction of output intensity power from
the detector the pressure can be estimated.

Phase Modulated Sensors

❖ The most sensitive fiber optic sensing method is optical phase
modulation.
❖ The total phase of the light that propagates along the fiber
depends on the physical length, geometrical thickness and
refractive index of the fiber.
❖ The physical length of the fiber can be altered by thermal
expansion and through the application of pressure and
longitudinal strain.
❖ The refractive index of the fiber varies with temperature,
pressure and strain.
❖ The change occurred is detected using optical fiber
interferometric techniques which converts the phase
modulation to intensity modulation.
*****