||Jai Sri Gurudev ||

Sri Adichunchanagiri Shikshana Trust®

SJB INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Accredited by NBA & NAAC with ‘A’ Grade
No. 67, BGS Health & Education City, Dr. Vishnuvardhan Road
Kengeri, Bangalore – 560 060

Department of Electronics & Communication

Engineering
Optical and Wireless Communication [21EC72]

MODULE – 1
Notes (as per VTU Syllabus)

VII SEMESTER – B. E

Academic Year: 2024 – 2025 (EVEN)

Course Coordinator : Anushree R

Designation : Assistant Professor

 Optical and Wireless Communication /21EC72

VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, BELAGAVI

B.E: Electronics & Communication Engineering
/B.E: Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering
NEP, Outcome Based Education (OBE) and Choice
Based Credit System (CBCS)
(Effective from the academic year 2021 – 22)

VII Semester
Optical & Wireless Communication
Course Code 21EC72 CIE Marks 50
Teaching Hours/Week (L:T:P:S) 2:0:0:1 SEE Marks 50
Total Hours of Pedagogy 30 Total Marks 100
Credits 2 Exam Hours 3
Non-MCQ pattern of CIE and SEE
Course objectives:
This course will enable students to:
 Learn the basic principle of optical fiber communication with different modes of light propagation.
 Understand the transmission characteristics and losses in optical fiber.
 Study of optical components and its applications in optical communication networks.
 Understand the concepts of propagation over wireless channels from a physics standpoint
 Understand the multiple access techniques used in cellular communications standards.
 Application of Communication theory both Physical and networking to understand GSM systems that handle
mobile telephony.
Teaching-Learning Process (General Instructions)
The sample strategies, which the teacher can use to accelerate the attainment of the various course outcomes are
listed in the following:
1. Lecture method (L) does not mean only the traditional lecture method, but a different type of
teaching method may be adopted to develop the outcomes.
2. Show Video/animation films to explain the functioning of various techniques.
3. Encourage collaborative (Group) Learning in the class
4. Ask at least three HOTS (Higher-order Thinking) questions in the class, which promotes critical
thinking
5. Adopt Problem Based Learning (PBL), which fosters students’ Analytical skills, develop thinking skills
such as the ability to evaluate, generalize, and analyze information rather than simply recall it.
6. Topics will be introduced in multiple representations.
7. Show the different ways to solve the same problem and encourage the students to come up with their
own creative ways to solve them.
8. Discuss how every concept can be applied to the real world - and when that's possible, it helps
improve the students' understanding.
Module-1
Optical Fiber Structures: Optical Fiber Modes and Configurations, Mode theory for circular
waveguides, Single mode fibers, Fiber materials.
Attenuation and Dispersion: Attenuation, Absorption, Scattering Losses, Bending loss, Signal
Dispersion: Modal delay, Group delay, Material dispersion.
[Text1 : 3.1, 3.2, 2.3[2.3.1 to 2.3.4], 2.4[2.4.1, 2.4.2],2.5, 2.7].
Teaching-Learning Chalk and talk method, Power point presentation
Process RBT Level: L1, L2, L3
Module-2
Optical Sources and detectors: Light Emitting Diode: LED Structures, Light source materials, Quantum
efficiency and LED power, Laser Diodes: Modes and threshold conditions, Rate equations, External quantum
efficiency, Resonant frequencies, Photodetectors: The pin Photodetector, Avalanche
Photodiodes.
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 Optical and Wireless Communication /21EC72

WDM Concepts: Overview of WDM, Isolators and Circulators, Fiber grating filters, Dielectric thin-film
filters, Diffraction Gratings.
[Text1: 4.2 ,4.3, 6.1, 10.1, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.7]
Teaching-Learning Chalk and talk method, Power point presentation
Process RBT Level: L1, L2, L3
Module-3
Mobile Communication Engineering: Wireless Network generations, Basic propagation Mechanisms,
Mobile radio Channel.
Principles of Cellular Communications: Cellular terminology, Cell structure and Cluster, Frequency reuse
concept, Cluster size and system capacity, Frequency Reuse Distance, Cochannel Interference and signal
quality.
[ Text2: 1.4, 2.4, 2.5, 4.1 to 4.4, 4.6, 4.7]
Teaching-Learning Chalk and talk method, Power point presentation
Process RBT Level: L1, L2, L3
Module-4
Multiple Access Techniques: FDMA, TDMA, CDMA, SDMA, Hybrid Multiple Access Techniques,
Multicarrier Multiple Access Schemes.
A Basic Cellular System: A basic cellular system connected to PSTN, Parts of basic cellular system,
Operation of a cellular system.
[Text2: 8.2, 8.3, 8.4.5, 8.5, 8.6, 8.10, 9.2.2, 9.2.3, 9.3]
Teaching-Learning Chalk and talk method, Power point presentation
Process RBT Level: L1, L2, L3
Module-5
Global System for Mobile (GSM): GSM Network Architecture, GSM signalling protocol architecture,
Identifiers used in GSM system, GSM Channels, Frame structure for GSM, GSM Call procedures, GSM
hand-off Procedures, GSM Services and features.
[Text2: 11.1, 11.2,11.3,11.4, 11.5, 11.8, 11.9. 11.10]
Teaching-Learning Chalk and talk method, Power point presentation
Process RBT Level: L1, L2, L3
Course outcomes (Course Skill Set)
At the end of the course the student will be able to:
1. Classification and characterization of optical fibers with different modes of signal propagation.
2. Describe the constructional features and the characteristics of optical fiber and optical devices used for
signal transmission and reception.
3. Understand the essential concepts and principles of mobile radio channel and cellular
communication.
4. Describe various multiple access techniques used in wireless communication systems.
5. Describe the GSM architecture and procedures to establish call set up, call progress handling and call
tear down in a GSM cellular network.
Assessment Details (both CIE and SEE)
The weightage of Continuous Internal Evaluation (CIE) is 50% and for Semester End Exam (SEE) is 50%. The
minimum passing mark for the CIE is 40% of the maximum marks (20 marks out of 50). A student shall be
deemed to have satisfied the academic requirements and earned the credits allotted to each subject/ course if the
student secures not less than 35% (18 Marks out of 50) in the semester-end examination (SEE), and a minimum
of 40% (40 marks out of 100) in the sum total of the CIE (Continuous Internal Evaluation) and SEE (Semester
End Examination) taken together
Continuous Internal Evaluation (CIE):
CIE will be the same as other core theory courses.

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CIE methods /question paper is designed to attain the different levels of Bloom’s taxonomy as per the
outcome defined for the course.
Semester End Examination (SEE):
For non-MCQ pattern of CIE and SEE
Continuous Internal Evaluation (CIE):
At the beginning of the semester, the instructor/faculty teaching the course has to announce the methods of
CIE for the course.
Three Unit Tests each of 20 Marks (duration 01 hour)
1. First test at the end of 5th week of the semester
2. Second test at the end of the 10th week of the semester
3. Third test at the end of the 15th week of the semester
Two assignments each of 10 Marks
4. First assignment at the end of 4th week of the semester
5. Second assignment at the end of 9th week of the semester
Group discussion/Seminar/quiz any one of three suitably planned to attain the COs and POs for 20 Marks
(duration 01 hours)
6. At the end of the 13th week of the semester
The sum of three tests, two assignments, and quiz/seminar/group discussion will be out of 100 marks and
will be scaled down to 50 marks
(to have less stressed CIE, the portion of the syllabus should not be common /repeated for any of the
methods of the CIE. Each method of CIE should have a different syllabus portion of the course).
CIE methods /question paper is designed to attain the different levels of Bloom’s taxonomy as per the
outcome defined for the course.
Semester End Examination:
Theory SEE will be conducted by University as per the scheduled timetable, with common question papers
for the subject (duration 03 hours)
1. The question paper will have ten questions. Each question is set for 20 marks.
2. There will be 2 questions from each module. Each of the two questions under a module (with a
maximum of 3 sub-questions), should have a mix of topics under that module.
The students have to answer 5 full questions, selecting one full question from each module. Marks scored
out of 100 shall be reduced proportionally to 50 marks
Suggested Learning Resources:
Text Books
1. Gerd Keiser, Optical Fiber Communication, 5th Edition, McGraw Hill Education (India) Private
Limited, 2016. ISBN:1-25-900687-5.
2. T L Singal, Wireless Communications, McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited, 2016,
ISBN:0- 07-068178-3.
Reference Books
1. John M Senior, Optical Fiber Communications, Principles and Practice, 3rd Edition, Pearson
Education, 2010, ISBN:978-81-317-3266-3
2. Theodore Rappaport, Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall
Communications Engineering and Emerging Technologies Series, 2002, ISBN 0-13-042232-0.
3. Gary Mullet, Introduction to Wireless Telecommunications Systems and Networks, First Edition,
Cengage Learning India Pvt Ltd., 2006, ISBN - 13: 978-81-315-0559-5.

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 Optical and Wireless Communication /21EC72

Module- 1
Optical Fiber Structures and Attenuation and Dispersion
An optical fiber is a dielectric waveguide that operates at optical frequencies. This fiber
waveguide is normally cylindrical in form. It confines electromagnetic energy in the form of
light to within its surfaces and guides the light in a direction parallel to its axis. The propagation
of light along a waveguide can be described in terms of a set of guided electromagnetic waves
called the modes of the waveguide. These guided modes are referred to as the bound or
trapped modes of the waveguide. Each guided mode is a pattern of electric and magnetic field
distributions that is repeated along the fiber at equal intervals. Only a certain discrete number of
modes are capable of propagating along the guide.
3 the most widely accepted structure is the single solid dielectric cylinder of radius a and index
of refraction n1 shown in Figure below. This cylinder is known as the core of the fiber. The core
is surrounded by a solid dielectric cladding, which has a refractive index n2 that is less than n1.
Although, in principle, cladding is not necessary for light to propagate along the core of the
fiber, it serves several purposes. The cladding reduces scattering loss that results from dielectric
discontinuities at the core surface, it adds mechanical strength to the fiber, and it protects the
core from absorbing surface contaminants with which it could come in contact.

Figure: Schematic of a conventional silica fi ber structure. A circular solid core of refractive index n1 is surrounded
by a cladding having a refractive index n2 < n1. An elastic plastic buffer encapsulates the fiber.

Variations in the material composition of the core give rise to the two commonly used fiber
types shown in Figure below. In the first case, the refractive index of the core is uniform
throughout and undergoes an abrupt change (or step) at the cladding boundary. This is called a
step-index fiber. In the second case, the core refractive index is made to vary as a function of the
radial distance from the center of the fiber. This type is a graded-index fiber.
Both the step- and the graded-index fibers can be further divided into single-mode and
multimode classes.

Figure: Comparison of conventional single-mode and multimode step-index and graded index optical fiber.

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A single-mode fiber sustains only one mode of propagation, whereas multimode fibers contain
many hundreds of modes. A few typical sizes of single- and multimode fibers are given in
Figure above. A disadvantage of multimode fibers is that they suffer from intermodal
dispersion. Each of the modes that can propagate in a multimode fiber travels at a slightly
different velocity. This means that the modes in a given optical pulse arrive at the fiber end at
slightly different times, thus causing the pulse to spread out in time as it travels along the fiber.
This effect, which is known as intermodal dispersion or intermodal distortion, can be reduced by
using a graded-index profile in a fiber core. This allows graded-index fibers to have much larger
bandwidths (data rate transmission capabilities) then step-index fibers. Even higher bandwidths
are possible in single-mode fibers, where intermodal dispersion effects are not present.
Rays and Modes: The electromagnetic light fi eld that is guided along an optical fiber can be
represented by a superposition of bound or trapped modes. Each of these guided modes consists
of a set of simple electromagnetic field configurations. For monochromatic light fields of radian
frequency w, a mode traveling in the positive z direction (i.e., along the fiber axis) has a time
and z dependence given by

The factor β is the z component of the wave propagation constant k = 2p/l and is the main
parameter of interest in describing fiber modes. For guided modes, β can assume only certain
discrete values, which are determined from the requirement that the mode field must satisfy
Maxwell’s equations and the electric and magnetic field boundary conditions at the core-
cladding interface.
Another method for theoretically studying the propagation characteristics of light in an optical
fiber is the geometrical optics or ray-tracing approach. This method provides a good
approximation to the light acceptance and guiding properties of optical fibers when the ratio of
the fiber radius to the wavelength is large. This is known as the small-wavelength limit. A
guided mode traveling in the z direction (along the fiber axis) can be decomposed into a family
of superimposed plane waves that collectively form a standing wave pattern in the direction
transverse to the fiber axis. That is, the phases of the plane waves are such that the envelope of
the collective set of waves remains stationary. Since with any plane wave we can associate a
light ray that is perpendicular to the phase front of the wave, the family of plane waves
corresponding to a particular mode forms a set of rays called a ray congruence. Each ray of this
particular set travels in the fiber at the same angle relative to the fiber axis. since only a certain
number M of discrete guided modes exist in a fiber, the possible angles of the ray congruences
corre sponding to these modes are also limited to the same number M. Although a simple ray
picture appears to allow rays at any angle greater than the critical angle to propagate in a fiber,
the allowable quantized propagation angles result when the phase condition for standing waves
is introduced into the ray picture.
Step-Index Fiber Structure: In practical step-index fi bers the core of radius a has a refractive
index n1, which is typically equal to

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The parameter is called the core-cladding index difference or simply the index difference.
Values of n2 are chosen such that D is nominally 0.01. Typical values range from 1 to 3 percent
for multimode fibers and from 0.2 to 1.0 percent for single-mode fibers. Since the core
refractive index is larger than the cladding index, electromagnetic energy at optical frequencies
is made to propagate along the fiber waveguide through internal reflection at the core-cladding
interface.
Ray Optics Representation: The two types of rays that can propagate in a fiber are meridional
rays and skew rays. Meridional rays are confined to the meridian planes of the fiber, which are
the planes that contain the axis of symmetry of the fiber (the core axis). Since a given
meridional ray lies in a single plane, its path is easy to track as it travels along the fiber.
Meridional rays can be divided into two general classes: bound rays that are trapped in the core
and propagate along the fiber axis according to the laws of geometrical optics, and unbound rays
that are refracted out of the fiber core.
Skew rays are not confined to a single plane, but instead tend to follow a helical-type path along
the fiber as shown in Figure below These rays are more difficult to track as they travel along the
fiber because they do not lie in a single plane.

Figure: Ray optics representation of skew rays traveling in a step-index optical fiber core

A greater power loss arises when skew rays are included in the analyses because many of the
skew rays that geometric optics predicts to be trapped in the fiber are actually leaky rays.These
leaky rays are only partially confined to the core of the circular optical fiber and attenuate as the
light travels along the optical waveguide. This partial reflection of leaky rays cannot be
described by pure ray theory alone. Instead, the analysis of radiation loss arising from these
types of rays must be described by mode theory.
The meridional ray is shown in Figure below for a step-index fiber. The light ray enters the fiber
core from a medium of refractive index n at an angle ɵ0 with respect to the fiber axis and strikes
the core-cladding interface at a normal angle f. If it strikes this interface at such an angle that it
is totally internally reflected, then the meridional ray follows a zigzag path along the fiber core,
passing through the axis of the guide after each reflection.
From Snell’s law, the minimum or critical angle ᶲc that supports total internal reflection for the
meridional ray is given by

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Mode Theory for Circular Waveguides: mode theory in circular optical fibers, let us
qualitatively examine the appearance of modal fields in the planar dielectric slab waveguide
shown in Figure below. The core of this waveguide is a dielectric slab of index n1 that is
sandwiched between two dielectric layers that have refractive indices n2 < n1. These
surrounding layers are called the cladding.
Figure below shows the field patterns of several of the lower-order transverse electric (TE)
modes (which are solutions of Maxwell’s equations for the slab waveguide7–10). The order of a
mode is equal to the number of fi eld zeros across the guide. The order of the mode is also
related to the angle that the ray congruence corresponding to this mode makes with the plane of
the waveguide (or the axis of a fiber); that is, the steeper the angle, the higher the order of the
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 Optical and Wireless Communication /21EC72

mode. The plots show that the electric fields of the guided modes are not completely confined to
the central dielectric slab (i.e., they do not go to zero at the guide-cladding interface), but,
instead, they extend partially into the cladding. The fi elds vary harmonically in the guiding
region of refractive index n1 and decay exponentially outside of this region. For low-order
modes the fi elds are tightly concentrated near the center of the slab (or the axis of an optical
fiber), with little penetration into the cladding region. On the other hand, for higher-order modes
the fields are distributed more toward the edges of the guide and penetrate farther into the
cladding region.

Figure: Electric field distributions for several of the lower-order guided modes in a symmetrical-slab waveguide

Solving Maxwell’s equations shows that, in addition to supporting a finite number of guided
modes, the optical fiber waveguide has an infinite continuum of radiation modes that are not
trapped in the core and guided by the fiber but are still solutions of the same boundary-value
problem. The radiation field basically results from the optical power that is outside the fiber
acceptance angle being refracted out of the core. Because of the finite radius of the cladding,
some of this radiation gets trapped in the cladding, thereby causing cladding modes to appear.
As the core and cladding modes propagate along the fiber, mode coupling occurs between the
cladding modes and the higher-order core modes. This coupling occurs because the electric
fields of the guided core modes are not completely confined to the core but extend partially into
the cladding (see Fig. 2.19) and likewise for the cladding modes. A diffusion of power back and
forth between the core and cladding modes thus occurs; this generally results in a loss of power
from the core modes.
Guided modes in the fiber occur when the values for β satisfy the condition n2k < β < n1k. At
the limit of propagation when β = n2k, a mode is no longer properly guided and is called being
cut off. Thus un guided or radiation modes appear for frequencies below the cutoff point where
β < n2k. However, wave propagation can still occur below cutoff for those modes where some
of the energy loss due to radiation is blocked by an angular momentum barrier that exists near
the core-cladding interface. These propagation states behave as partially confined guided modes
rather than radiation modes and are called leaky modes. These leaky modes can travel
considerable distances along a fiber but lose power through leakage or tunneling into the
cladding as they propagate.

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Summary of Key Modal Concepts An important parameter connected with the cutoff
condition is the V number defined by

This parameter is a dimensionless number that determines how many modes a fiber can support.
Except for the lowest-order HE11 mode, each mode can exist only for values of V that exceed a
certain limiting value (with each mode having a different V limit). The modes are cut off when
β = n2k. This occurs when V £ 2.405. The HE11 mode has no cutoff and ceases to exist only
when the core diameter is zero. This is the principle on which single-mode fibers are based.

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Since the field of a guided mode extends partly into the cladding, as shown in Figure above, a
final quantity of interest for a step-index fiber is the fractional power flow in the core and
cladding for a given mode. As the V number approaches cutoff for any particular mode, more of
the power of that mode is in the cladding. At the cutoff point, the mode becomes radiative with
all the optical power of the mode residing in the cladding. Far from cutoff—that is, for large
values of V—the fraction of the average optical power residing in the cladding can be estimated
by where P is the total optical power in the fiber. The details for the power distribution between
the core and the cladding of various LPjm modes are given in Sec. 2.4.9. Note that since M is
proportional to V2, the power flow in the cladding decreases as V increases. However, this
increases the number of modes in the fiber, which is not desirable for a high-bandwidth
capability.

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Single-Mode Fibers:
Construction: Single-mode fibers are constructed by letting the dimensions of the core
diameter be a few wavelengths (usually 8–12) and by having small index differences between
the core and the cladding. with V = 2.4, it can be seen that single-mode propagation is possible
for fairly large variations in values of the physical core size a and the core-cladding index
differences D. However, in practical designs of single-mode fibers,27 the core-cladding index
difference varies between 0.2 and 1.0 percent, and the core diameter should be chosen to be just
below the cutoff of the first higher-order mode; that is, for V slightly less than 2.4.
Mode-Field Diameter: For multimode fibers the core diameter and numerical aperture are key
parameters for describing the signal transmission properties. In single-mode fibers the geometric
distribution of light in the propagating mode is what is needed when predicting the performance
characteristics of these fibers. Thus, a fundamental parameter of a single-mode fiber is the
mode-fi eld diameter (MFD). This parameter can be determined from the mode-fi eld
distribution of the fundamental fiber mode and is a function of the optical source wavelength,
the core radius, and the refractive index profile of the fiber. The mode-fi eld diameter is
analogous to the core diameter in multimode fi bers, except that in single-mode fi bers not all
the light that propagates through the fi ber is carried in the core Figure below illustrates this
effect.
The MFD is an important parameter for single-mode fiber because it is used to predict fiber
properties such as splice loss, bending loss, cutoff wavelength, and waveguide dispersion.
A standard technique to find the MFD is to measure the far-field intensity distribution E2 (r) and
then calculate the MFD using the Petermann II equation

where 2w0 (called the spot size) is the full width of the far-fi eld distribution. For calculation
simplicity the exact fi eld distribution can be fitted to a Gaussian function
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Figure: Distribution of light in a single-mode fiber above its cutoff wavelength. For a Gaussian distribution the
MFD is given by the 1/e2 width of the optical power

where r is the radius and E0 is the fi eld at zero radius, as shown in Figure above. Then the
MFD is given by the 1/e2 width of the optical power.
Propagation Modes in Single-Mode Fibers: ordinary single-mode fiber there are actually two
independent, degenerate propagation modes. These modes are very similar, but their
polarization planes are orthogonal. These may be chosen arbitrarily as the horizontal (H) and the
vertical (V) polarizations as shown in Figure below.

Figure: Two polarizations of the fundamental HE11 mode in a single-mode fiber

Suppose we arbitrarily choose one of the modes to have its transverse electric field polarized
along the x direction and the other independent, orthogonal mode to be polarized in the y
direction as shown in Figure above.
The modes propagate with different phase velocities, and the difference between their effective
refractive indices is called the fiber birefringence

Equivalently, we may define the birefringence as

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where k0 = 2π/λ is the free-space propagation constant. If light is injected into the fiber so that
both modes are excited, then one will be delayed in phase relative to the other as they propagate.
When this phase difference is an integral multiple of 2 π, the two modes will beat at this point
and the input polarization state will be reproduced. The length over which this beating occurs is
the fiber beat length.

Fiber Materials: In selecting materials for optical fibers, a number of requirements must be
satisfied. For example:
1. It must be possible to make long, thin, flexible fibers from the material.
2. The material must be transparent at a particular optical wavelength in order for the fiber to
guide light efficiently.
3. Physically compatible materials that have slightly different refractive indices for the core and
cladding must be available.
Materials that satisfy these requirements are glasses and plastics.
Glass Fibers: Glass is made by fusing mixtures of metal oxides, sulfides, or selenides. When
glass is heated up from room temperature, it remains a hard solid up to several hundred degrees
centigrade. As the temperature increases further, the glass gradually begins to soften until at
very high temperatures it becomes a viscous liquid. The expression “melting temperature” is
commonly used in glass manufacture. This term refers only to an extended temperature range in
which the glass becomes fluid enough to free itself fairly quickly of gas bubbles.
The largest category of optically transparent glasses from which optical fibers are made consists
of the oxide glasses. Of these, the most common is silica (SiO2), which has a refractive index
ranging from 1.458 at 850 to 1.444 at 1550 nm.
To produce two similar materials that have slightly different indices of refraction for the core
and cladding, either fluorine or various oxides (referred to as dopants), such as B2O3, GeO2, or
P2O5, are added to the silica. As shown in Figure below, the addition of GeO2 or P2O5 increases
the refractive index, whereas doping the silica with fluorine or B2O3 decreases it. Since the
cladding must have a lower index than the core, examples of fiber compositions are

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Figure: Variation in refractive index as a function of doping concentration in silica glass

The principal raw material for silica is high-purity sand. Glass composed of pure silica is
referred to as either silica glass, fused silica, or vitreous silica. Some of its desirable properties
are a resistance to deformation at temperatures as high as 1000°C, a high resistance to breakage
from thermal shock because of its low thermal expansion, good chemical durability, and high
transparency in both the visible and infrared regions of interest to fiber optic communication
systems. Its high melting temperature is a disadvantage if the glass is prepared from a molten
state.
Active Glass Fibers: Incorporating rare-earth elements (atomic numbers 57–71) into a
normally passive glass gives the result ing material new optical and magnetic properties. These
new properties allow the material to perform amplifi cation, attenuation, and phase retardation
on the light passing through it. Doping (i.e., adding impurities) can be carried out for silica,
tellurite, and halide glasses. Two commonly used doping materials for fiber lasers are erbium
and neodymium. The ionic concen trations of the rare-earth elements are low (on the order of
0.005–0.05 mole percent) to avoid clustering effects. To make use of the absorption and
fluorescence spectra of these materials, one can use an optical source that emits at an absorption
wavelength of the doping material to excite electrons to higher energy levels in the rare-earth
dopants. When these excited electrons are stimulated by a signal photon to drop to lower energy
levels, the transition process results in the emission of light in a narrow optical spectrum at the
fluorescence wavelength.
Plastic Optical Fibers: The growing demand for delivering high-speed services directly to the
workstation has led fiber developers to create high-bandwidth graded-index polymer (plastic)
optical fibers (POF) for use in a customer premises. The core of these fibers is either
polymethylmethacrylate or a perfluorinated polymer. These fibers are hence referred to as
PMMA POF and PF POF, respectively. Although they exhibit considerably greater optical
signal attenuations than glass fibers, they are tough and durable.
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Standard optical connectors can be used on plastic fibers having core sizes that are compatible
with the core diameters of standard multimode glass telecom fibers. Thus coupling between
similar sized plastic and glass fibers is straightforward. In addition, for the plastic fibers
inexpensive plastic injection-molding technologies can be used to fabricate connectors, splices,
and transceivers.
Table below gives the Sample characteristics of PMMA and PF polymer optical fibers

Attenuation: Attenuation of a light signal as it propagates along a fiber is an important

consideration in the design of an optical communication system; the degree of attenuation plays
a major role in determining the maximum transmission distance between a transmitter and a
receiver or an in-line amplifier. The basic attenuation mechanisms in a fiber are absorption,
scattering, and radiative losses of the optical energy.
Attenuation Units:
As light travels along a fiber, its power decreases exponentially with distance. If P(0) is the
optical power in a fiber at the origin (at z = 0), then the power P(z) at a distance z farther down
the fiber is

is the fiber attenuation coefficient given in units of, for example, km-1 . Note that the units for
2zap can also be designated by nepers.
For simplicity in calculating optical signal attenuation in a fiber, the common procedure is to
express the attenuation coefficient in units of decibels per kilometer, denoted by dB/km.
Designating this parameter by ά, we have

This parameter is generally referred to as the fiber loss or the fiber attenuation.

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Absorption: Absorption is caused by three different mechanisms:

1. Absorption by atomic defects in the glass composition.
2. Extrinsic absorption by impurity atoms in the glass material.
3. Intrinsic absorption by the basic constituent atoms of the fiber material.
Atomic defects are imperfections in the atomic structure of the fiber mate rial. Examples of
these defects include missing molecules, high-density clusters of atom groups, or oxygen
defects in the glass structure. Usually, absorption losses arising from these defects are negligible
compared with intrinsic and impurity absorption effects.
Radiation doses may be accumulated over several years. Radiation damages a material by
changing its internal structure. The damage effects depend on the energy of the ionizing
particles or rays (e.g., electrons, neutrons, or gamma rays), the radiation flux (dose rate), and the
fluence (particles per square centimeter). The total dose a material receives is expressed in units
of rad(Si), which is a measure of radiation absorbed in bulk silicon. This unit is defined as

The basic response of fiber to ionizing radiation is an increase in attenuation owing to the
creation of atomic defects, or attenuation centers, that absorb optical energy. The higher the
radiation level, the larger the attenuation, as Fig. 3.1a illustrates. However, the attenuation
centers will relax or anneal out with time, as shown in Fig. 3.1b. The degree of the radiation
effects depends on the dopant materials used in the fiber.

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The peaks and valleys in the attenuation curves resulted in the designation of the various
transmission windows shown in Fig. 3.2. By reducing the residual OH content of fibers to below
1 ppb, standard commercially available single-mode fibers have nominal attenuations of 0.4
dB/km at 1310 nm (in the O-band) and less than 0.25 dB/km at 1550 nm (in the C-band).
Further elimination of water ions diminishes the absorption peak around 1440 nm and thus
opens up the E-band for data transmission, as indicated by the dashed line in Fig. 3.2. Optical
fibers that can be used in the E-band are known by names such as low-water-peak or full-
spectrum fibers.
Intrinsic absorption sets the fundamental lower limit on absorption for any particular material; it
is defined as the absorption that occurs when the material is in a perfect state with no density
variations, impurities, or material inhomogeneities.
Intrinsic absorption results from electronic absorption bands in the ultraviolet region and from
atomic vibration bands in the near-infrared region. The electronic absorption bands are
associated with the band gaps of the amorphous glass materials. Absorption occurs when a
photon interacts with an electron in the valence band and excites it to a higher energy level. The
ultraviolet edge of the electron absorption bands of both amorphous and crystal line materials
follow the empirical relationship

which is known as Urbach’s rule. Here, C and E0 are empirical constants and E is the photon
energy.
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The magnitude and characteristic exponential decay of the ultraviolet absorption are shown in
Fig. 3.3. Since E is inversely proportional to the wavelength l, ultraviolet absorption decays
exponentially with increasing wavelength. In particular, the ultraviolet loss contribution in
dB/km at any wave length (given in mm) can be expressed empirically (derived from
observation or experiment) as a function of the mole fraction x of GeO2 as

As shown in Fig. 3.3, the ultraviolet loss is small compared with scattering loss in the near-
infrared region

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Scattering Losses
Scattering losses in glass arise from microscopic variations in the material density, from
compositional fluctuations, and from structural inhomogeneities or defects occurring during
fiber manufacture. Such a structure naturally contains regions in which the molecular density is
either higher or lower than the average density in the glass. In addition, since glass is made up
of several oxides, such as SiO2, GeO2, and P2O5 compositional fluctuations can occur. These
two effects give rise to refractive-index variations that occur within the glass over distances that
are small compared with the wavelength. These index variations cause a Rayleigh-type
scattering of the light. Rayleigh scattering in glass is the same phenomenon that scatters light
from the sun in the atmosphere, thereby giving rise to a blue sky.
For single-component glass the scattering loss at a wavelength l (given in mm) resulting from
density fluctuations can be approximated by

Here, n is the refractive index, kB is Boltzmann’s constant, bT is the isothermal compressibility

of the material, and the fictive temperature Tf is the temperature at which the density
fluctuations are frozen into the glass as it solidifies (after having been drawn into a fiber).
Alternatively, the relation

where p is the photoelastic coefficient.

For multicomponent glasses the scattering at a wavelength l (measured in mm) is given by

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Bending Losses
Radiative losses occur whenever an optical fiber undergoes a bend of finite radius of curvature.
Fibers can be subject to two types of curvatures: (a) macroscopic bends having radii that are
large compared with the fiber diameter, such as those that occur when a fiber cable turns a
corner, and (b) random microscopic bends of the fiber axis that can arise when the fibers are
incorporated into cables.
Large-curvature radiation losses, which are known as macro bending losses or simply bending
loss. As the radius of curvature decreases, the loss increases exponentially until at a certain
critical radius the curvature loss becomes observable. If the bend radius is made a bit smaller
once this threshold point has been reached, the losses suddenly become extremely large. When a
fiber is bent, the field tail on the far side of the center of curvature must move faster to keep up
with the field in the core, as is shown in Fig. 3.7 for the lowest-order fiber mode. At a certain
critical distance xc from the center of the fiber, the fi eld tail would have to move faster than the
speed of light to keep up with the core field. Since this is not possible, the optical energy in the
field tail beyond xc radiates away.

The amount of optical radiation from a bent fiber depends on the field strength at xc and on the
radius of curvature R. Since higher-order modes are bound less tightly to the fiber core than
lower order modes, the higher-order modes will radiate out of the fiber first. Thus the total
number of modes that can be supported by a curved fiber is less than in a straight fiber. The
following expression18 has been derived for the effective number of modes Meff that are guided
by a curved multimode fiber of radius a.

where a defines the graded-index profile, D is the core-cladding index difference, n2 is the
cladding refractive index, k = 2p/l is the wave propagation constant, and

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Another form of radiation loss in optical waveguide results from mode coupling caused by
random micro bends of the optical fiber. Microbends are repetitive small-scale fluctuations in
the radius of curvature of the fiber axis, as is illustrated in Fig. 3.8. They are caused either by
nonuniformities in the manufacturing of the fiber or by nonuniform lateral pressures created
during the cabling of the fiber. The latter effect is often referred to as cabling or packaging
losses. An increase in attenuation results from microbending because the fi ber curvature causes
repetitive coupling of energy between the guided modes and the leaky or nonguided modes in
the fiber. One method of minimizing microbending losses is by extruding a compressible jacket
over the fi ber. When external forces are applied to this configuration, the jacket will be
deformed but the fiber will

tend to stay relatively straight. For a multimode graded-index fiber having a core radius a, outer
radius b (excluding the jacket), and index difference D, the microbending loss άM of a jacketed
fiber is reduced from that of an unjacketed fiber by a factor

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Here, Ej and Ef are the Young’s moduli of the jacket and fiber, respectively. The Young’s
modulus of common jacket materials ranges from 20 to 500 MPa. The Young’s modulus of
fused silica glass is about 65 GPa.
Core and Cladding Losses
Since the core and cladding have different indices of refraction and therefore differ in
composition, the core and cladding generally have different attenuation coefficients, denoted a1
and a2, respectively. If the influence of modal coupling is ignored,32 the loss for a mode of
order (n, m) for a step-index waveguide is

where the fractional powers Pcore/P and Pclad/P are shown in Fig. 2.27 for several low-order
modes. Using Eq. (2.71), this can be written as

The total loss of the waveguide can be found by summing over all modes weighted by the
fractional power in that mode. For the case of a graded-index fiber the situation is much more
complicated. In this case, both the attenuation coefficients and the modal power tend to be
functions of the radial coordinate. At a distance r from the core axis the loss is

Signal Dispersion in Fibers

As shown in Fig. 3.9, an optical signal weakens from attenuation mechanisms and broadens due
to dispersion effects as it travels along a fiber. Eventually these two factors will cause
neighboring pulses to overlap. After a certain amount of overlap occurs, the receiver can no
longer distinguish the individual adjacent pulses and errors arise when interpreting the received
signal.
Signal dispersion is a consequence of factors such as intermodal delay (also called intermodal
dispersion), intramodal dispersion, polarization-mode dispersion, and higher-order dispersion
effects. These distortions can be explained by examining the behavior of the group velocities of
the guided modes, where the group velocity is the speed at which energy in a particular mode
travels along the fiber.
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Intermodal delay (or simply modal delay) appears only in multimode fibers. Modal delay is a
result of each mode having a different value of the group velocity at a single frequency. From
this effect one can derive an intuitive picture of the information carrying capacity of a
multimode fiber.
Intramodal dispersion or chromatic dispersion is pulse spreading that takes place within a
single mode. This spreading arises from the finite spectral emission width of an optical source.
The phenomenon also is known as group velocity dispersion, since the dispersion is a result of
the group velocity being a function of the wavelength. Because intramodal dispersion depends
on the wavelength, its effect on signal distortion increases with the spectral width of the light
source. The spectral width is the band of wavelengths over which the source emits light.
The two main causes of intramodal dispersion are as follows:
Material dispersion arises due to the variations of the refractive index of the core
material as a function of wavelength. Material dispersion also is referred to as chromatic
dispersion, since this is the same effect by which a prism spreads out a spectrum. This
refractive index property causes a wavelength dependence of the group velocity of a
given mode; that is, pulse spreading occurs even when different wavelengths follow the
same path.
Waveguide dispersion causes pulse spreading because only part of the optical power
propagation along a fiber is confined to the core. Within a single propagating mode, the
cross-sectional distribution of light in the optical fiber varies for different wavelengths.
Shorter wavelengths are more completely confined to the fiber core, whereas a larger
portion of the optical power at longer wavelengths propagates in the cladding, as shown
in Fig. 3.11.

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Polarization-mode dispersion results from the fact that light-signal energy at a given
wavelength in a single-mode fiber actually occupies two orthogonal polarization states or modes
At the start of the fiber the two polarization states are aligned. However, since fiber material is
not perfectly uniform throughout its length, each polarization mode will encounter a slightly
different refractive index. Consequently each mode will travel at a slightly different velocity.
Modal Delay
Intermodal dispersion or modal delay appears only in multimode fibers. This signal-distorting
mechanism is a result of each mode having a different value of the group velocity at a single
frequency.
consider the meridional ray picture given in Fig. 2.17 for a multimode step-index fiber. The
steeper the angle of propagation of the ray congruence, the higher is te mode number and,
consequently, the slower the axial group velocity. This variation in the group velocities of the
different modes results in a group delay spread, which is the intermodal dispersion. This
dispersion mechanism is eliminated by single-mode operation but is important in multimode
fibers. The maximum pulse broadening arising from the modal delay is the difference between the
travel time Tmax of the longest ray congruence paths (the highest-order mode) and the travel time
Tmin of the shortest ray congruence paths (the fundamental mode). This broadening is simply
obtained from ray tracing and for a fiber of length L is given by

The root-mean-square (rms) value of the time delay is a useful parameter for assessing the effect

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of modal delay in a multimode fiber. If it is assumed that the light rays are uniformly distributed
over the acceptance angles of the fiber, then the rms impulse response ss due to intermodal
dispersion in a step index multimode fiber can be estimated from the expression

Here L is the fiber length and NA is the numerical aperture.

absolute modal delay at the output of a graded-index fi ber that has a parabolic (a = 2) core index
profile

Factors Contributing to Dispersion

The wave propagation constant b is a function of the wavelength, or, equivalently, of the
angular frequency w. Since b is a slowly varying function of this angular frequency, one can see
where various dispersion effects arise by expanding b in a Taylor series about a central
frequency w0.
Expanding b to third order in a Taylor series yields

Assume β1x and β1y are the propagation constants of the polarization components along the x-
axis and y-axis, respectively, of a particular mode.

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The different group velocities of the frequency components of a pulse cause it to broaden as it
travels along a fiber. This spreading of the group velocities is known as chromatic dispersion or
group velocity dispersion (GVD). The factor β2 is called the GVD parameter and the dispersion
D is related to β2through the expression

the factor β3 is known as the third-order dispersion. This term is important around the
wavelength at which b2 equals zero. The third-order dispersion can be related to the dispersion
D and the dispersion slope S0 = ∂D/∂l (the variation in the dispersion D with wavelength) by
transforming the derivative with respect to w into a derivative with respect to l. Thus we have

Group Delay
First consider an electrical signal that modulates an optical source. assume that the modulated
optical signal excites all modes equally at the input of the fiber. Each waveguide mode thus
carries an equal amount of energy through the fiber. Furthermore, each mode contains all the
spectral components in the wavelength band over which the source emits. In addition, assume
that each of these spectral components is modulated in the same way. As the signal propagates
along the fiber, each spectral component can be assumed to travel independently and to undergo
a time delay or group delay per unit length τg /L in the direction of the propagation given by

In terms of the angular frequency w, this is written as

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is designated as the dispersion.

Material Dispersion
Material dispersion occurs because the index of refraction varies as a function of the optical
wavelength. Let us consider a plane wave propagating in an infinitely extended dielectric
medium that has a refractive index n(λ) equal to that of the fiber core. The propagation constant
b is thus given as

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