FIBER CONFIGURATIONS STEP INDEX FIBERS • Refractive Index Profile • Ray transmission and Mode density • Power flow in Core and Cladding GRADED INDEX FIBERS • Refractive Index Profile • Ray transmission and mode density SINGLE MODE FIBERS • SM Operation parameters • SM Designs
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FIBER CONFIGURATIONS
STEP INDEX FIBERS
• Refractive Index Profile
• Ray transmission and Mode density
• Power flow in Core and Cladding
GRADED INDEX FIBERS
• Refractive Index Profile
• Ray transmission and mode density
SINGLE MODE FIBERS
• SM Operation parameters
• SM Designs
Step Index Fibers
Fiber with a core of constant refractive index n1 and a cladding
of slightly lower refractive index n2 .
• Refractive index profile makes a step change at the core-cladding interface
The refractive index profile and ray transmission
in step index fibers: (a) multimode step index
fiber. (b) single-mode step index fiber.
Refractive index profile
n1 r<a (core)n(r) =
n2 r a (cladding)
• Multimode Step Index
• Single mode Step Index
Single mode SI fiber has a distinct advantage of low intermodal
dispersion (broadening), as only one mode is transmitted, whereas
with multimode SI fiber considerable dispersion may occur due to
the differing group velocities of the propagating modes.
For lower BW applications MMFs have several advantages over
single mode fibers.
Use of spatially incoherent sources (LEDs), which cannot
be coupled to single mode fibers;
Larger NA, as well as core diameters, facilitating easier
coupling to optical sources;
Lower tolerance requirements on fiber connectors;
This restricts the maximum bandwidth attainable with multimode SI
fibers, when compared with single mode fibers.
Modes in SI Fibers
• MM SI fibers allow the propagation of a finite number of
guided modes along the channel.
Number of guided modes is dependent upon the physical parameters ; a,
of fibers and wavelength of the transmitted light – included in V-number
• The total number of guided modes or mode volume Ms for SI
fiber is related to V-number for the fiber by approximate
expression (G Gloge,1971, Weakly guided fibers)
Ms V2/2
Allows an estimate of number of guided modes propagating in a
particular MM SI fiber.
For example: A MM SI fiber of core diameter 80m, core refractive index 1.48,
relative index difference of 1.5% and operating at 850nm supports 2873 guided
modes.
Power flow in Step-Index Fibers
• Another quantity of interest in fibers is the fractional power
flow in the core and cladding for a given mode.
• Thus EM energy of a guided mode is
carried partly in the core and partly in the
cladding.
• The farther away the mode is from its cutoff
frequency the more concentrated its energy
in the core.
• As cutoff is approached, the field penetrate
further into the cladding region and a
greater percentage of energy travels in the
cladding.Four possible TE and TM fields and the
intensity distribution for the LP11 mode.
The EM field for a given mode does not go to zero at the core-cladding
interface, but changes from oscillating form in the core to an exponential
decay in the cladding (Evanescent Field).
Fractional power flow in the cladding of a
SI fiber as a function of V.
• Under weakly guided mode
approximation;
Gloge et al, has determined the
relative powers in core and
cladding for a particular modes as
P
P1
P
P coreclad
• Plots of fractional powers Pcore/P
and Pclad/p for various LPlm modes
The relative amount of power flowing in the core and cladding
can be obtained by intergating Poynting vector in the axial
direction over the fiber cross-section.
Sz= ½Re(EH*).ez
• Far from the cutoff the average power in the cladding has been
derived for the fibers in which many modes can propagate.
Because of this large number of modes, those few modes
that are appreciably close to cutoff can be ignored to a
reasonable approximation.
The total average cladding power is thus approximated by
21
M3
4
P
P
total
clad
Here M is the total number of modes
entering the fiber
Since M is proportional to V2, the power flow in the cladding is
inversely proportional to V Pclad decreases as V increases.
For V = 1; 70% of power flow in cladding
For V = 2.405; 20% of power flow in cladding.
Graded Index Fiber Structure
• GI fibers do not have a constant refractive index in the core, but a
decreasing core index n(r) with radial distance from a maximum
value of n1 at the axis to a constant value n2 beyond the core
radius ‘a’ in the cladding
Inhomogeneous core fibers
The refractive index profile and ray transmission in a multimode
graded index fiber.
Possible fiber refractive index profiles for
different values of
= ; Step index profile
= 2; Parabolic profile
=1; Triangular profile
Index variation is represented as
where, ‘’ is relative refractive index difference and ‘’ is the profile
parameter which gives the characteristic RI profile of the fiber core.
A helical skew ray path within a graded index fiber
Skew ray Propagation
An expanded ray diagram showing refraction at the
various high to low index interfacial within a graded
index fiber, giving an overall curved ray path.
• Gradual decrease in RI from
the centre of the core creates
many refractions of the rays
effectively from large number
of high to low index interfaces
• Ray is gradually curved with
an ever-increasing angle of
incidence, until conditions of
TIR are met.
Graded Index Fiber Parameters
Local numerical aperture
Axial numerical aperture
• The parameters defined for SI fibers ( NA, , V) may be applied to GI
fibers and give comparison between two.
• However, in GI fibers situation is more complicated because of radial
variation of RI of core from the axis, NA is also function of radial distance.
• Number of bound modes in graded index fiber is
2
V
2)kan(
2M
22
1g
• For parabolic profile core ( =2),
Mg=V2/4 , which is half the number
supported by a SI fiber with sane V
value
Single-Mode Fiber (SMF)
Signal dispersion caused by delay differences between different modes in a MMF may be avoided by designing fibers which allow only one mode to propagate within an optical fiber.
Step-Index type with very small core radius.
Most common design: 8-10 /125m , NA ~ 0.1-0.15, Small (< 1%)
SM propagation of LP01 mode within range 0V<2.405 with cutoff for LP11
mode at Vc=2.405.
n
r
1.4651.460
SM-Graded Index Fibers
• GI fibers may also be designed for single-mode operation.
• Some specialist fiber designs do adopt such non-step index profiles.
• Cutoff value of normalized frequency ‘Vc’ to support a single GI fiber
Vc=2.405(1+2/)½
2 2
3
• Possible to determine fiber parameters for SM operation
• For parabolic profile core, Vc = 2.4 ; increase by a factor of on SI case.
This gives a core diameter increased by similar factor with equivalent core RI
and same .
• Choosing triangular profile ( =1), a factor of can be achieved over
comparable SI fiber and hence larger core diameter SMFs may be produced
utilizing this index profile.
SMF- Cladding
Another problem with SMFs with low and low V values
EM field associated with LP01 mode extends appreciably into the cladding.
For V<1.4, over half the modal power propagates in the cladding.
Exponentially decaying evanescent field may extend significant
distance into the cladding.
Essential that cladding be of suitable thickness, and has low absorption
and scattering loses in order to reduce attenuation of the mode.
Estimates show that the necessary cladding thickness is of the order of
50m to avoid prohibitive losses in SMFs.
Thus, total fiber cross section for SMFs is of a comparable size to
MMFs, which is 125 m.
Single mode W-Fiber
Another approach to SMF design which allows the V value to
be increased above 2.405 is the W-fiber
Refractive index profile for a single-
mode W fiber
RI profile with two cladding regions.
• Two step cladding allows the loss
threshold between the desirable and
undesirable modes to be substantially
increased.
• The fundamental mode is fully supported
with small cladding loss with in the
range kn3< <kn1
• If the undesirable modes which are excited to have values of <kn3, they will
leak through the barrier layer between a1 and a2 into the outer cladding region n3.
Consequently loose power by radiation into the lousy surrounding
• W-design can provide SMFs with larger core diameters; proves useful for easing
joint difficulties – reduced losses at bends.
Importance of SMFs Although SMFs have emerged only since 1983, they have quickly
become the dominant and the most widely used fibers within
Telecom sector. Major reasons for this situation are;
• They currently exhibit the greatest transmission bandwidths and the lowest
losses of the fiber transmission media.
• They have a superior transmission quality over other fiber types because of
the absence of modal noise
• They offer a substantial upgrade capability (i.e. future proofing) for future
wide bandwidth services using either faster optical transmitters and receivers
or advanced transmission techniques (e.g. coherent technology).
• They are compatible with the developing integrated optics technology.
• The above features provide a confidence that the installation of SMFs will
provide a transmission medium which will have adequate performance such
that it will not require replacement over its twenty-plus-year anticipated
lifetime.
Dispersion Optimized SMFs
In the conventional MC fibers, the region external to the core has a constant
uniform refractive index, which is slightly lower than the core region. A mode-
field diameter (MFD) of 10 m is typical for MC fibers with relative refractive
index differences of around 0.3%.
In the DC fibers the cladding region immediately adjacent to the core is of a
lower refractive index than that of an outer cladding region. A typical MFD of a
DC fiber is 9 m with positive and negative relative refractive index
differences of 0.25% and 0.12%.
Most commonly used SMFs employ a SI profile and are dispersion optimized
for operation in the 1300nm wavelength region. These are either of a matched-
cladding (MC) or a depressed-cladding (DC) design.
More recent experimental MC fiber design employs a segmented core. Such a
structure provide conventional single-mode dispersion optimized performance
at wavelengths around 1.3 m but is multimoded with a few modes (two or
three) in shorter wavelengths. Helps to relax the tight tolerances involved
when coupled to LEDs and their connectorization.
Dispersion Optimized Designs
Single-mode fiber step index profiles optimized for operation at a wavelength
of 1.3 m: (a) conventional matched-cladding design; (b) segmented core