OPTICAL COMMUNICATION

By

Shubhanshi Gupta

UNIT 1
Introduction: Block diagram of optical fiber communication system, Advantages of optical fiber communication.
Optical fiber waveguides: structure of optical wave guide, light propagation in optical fiber using ray theory, acceptance angle,
numerical aperture, skew rays, wave theory for optical propagation, modes in a planar and cylindrical guide, mode volume, single
mode fibers, cutoff wavelength, mode field diameter, effective refractive index and group and mode delay factor for single mode
fiber.
Communication may be defined as the transfer of information from one point to another. Within the communication system the
information transfer is frequently achieved by superimposing or modulating the information transfer on to an electromagnetic wave
which acts as a carrier for the information signal. This modulated signal is then transmitted to the required destination where it is
received and the original information signal is obtained by demodulation.
The use of visible light to carry the information is called optical communication and the light travels through a optical fiber cable.
Optical Fiber Communication:
Wavelength 1.7m to 0.8m
Frequency 1014 to 1015 Hz
Attenuation 0.2 dB/km
1.1 Block Diagram of Optical Communication
System: The optical fiber communication
system is similar in basic concepts, the block
diagram is shown:
The block diagram represents the information
source provides an electrical signal to a
transmitter comprising an electrical signal to a
transmitter comprising an electrical signal which
derives an optical source to give modulation of
light wave carrier. The optical sources (LED or
LASER) which provide the optical conversion
used to convey the light travels through fiber
cable in a particular manner. At the receiver end a
optical detector exists, it can be a PIN or APD
photodiode, it converts light energy to electrical
signal. Electrical receiver receives the signal and
converts it into a message format. This is the
working of a optical fiber communication system.
1.1.1 Advantages: Optical fiber communication offers a number of advantages over other communication systems because it has
very low attenuation:
a) Enormous potential bandwidth: The optical fiber communication offers frequency in the range of 10 13 to 1016 Hz which yields a
far greater potential transmission bandwidth. At present, the bandwidth available to fiber system is not fully utilized but
modulation over three hundred kilometer without repeaters is possible.
b) Small size and weight: Fiber cables have very small diameter, just like a hair, rather than when it cover with jackets for
protection still they are very light and small diameter.
c) Electrical Isolation: Optical fibers are fabricated from glass or sometimes a plastic polymer, they are electrical insulators and
they do not exhibit earth loop.
d) Immunity to interface and cross talk: Optical fiber form a dielectric waveguide and are therefore free from electromagnetic
interference (EMI), radio frequency interference (RFI) or switching transients electromagnetic pulses.
e) Signal Security: The light from optical fiber does not radiate significantly and therefore they provide a high degree of signal
security.
f) Low transmission loss: The attenuation in optical fiber cable is very low (around 0.2 dB/km) as compare to other
communication channels.
g) Ruggedness and flexibility: Optical fibers are manufactured with very high tensile strength. The fiber may bent to quite small
radii or twisted without damage.
h) System reliability and ease of maintenance: It reduces the requirement of intermediate repeaters or live amplifiers to boost the
transmitted signal strength. The reliability is high due to predicted life time of 20 years to 30 years.
1.1.2 Disadvantages:

a)

Optical cables can be handle with a skilled hand, the perfect joining of cable is most important otherwise signal lost in between
the cable.
b) The detection of faulty area is very hard because these cable situated under Mud.
c) The whole establishment of optical cables is very expensive.
d) Bending loss occurs, so cable must be properly aligned.
1.2 Optical Fiber Waveguide: The light travels in cable, which have a transparent core with a refractive index 1 surrounded by
transparent cladding of slightly lower refractive index 2. The cladding supports the waveguide structure and reducing the
radiation loss into the surrounding air.
Refractive Index = ratio of speed of light in a vacuum to that in matter (speed )

Typically the value of light in a vacuum of refractive indexes of

=1, for air
=1.33, for water
=1.5, for glass
=2.42, for diamond
1.2.1 Ray theory transmission:
1.2.1.1 Reflection and refraction: When a light ray encounters a boundary
separation of two different media, either the ray reflected back into the first medium; its
called Reflection, or it will bent towards second medium called Refraction.
Refraction affects the refractive index of the medium.
The relationship at the interface is known as Snells Law.
1 sin i = 2 sin r
or, 1 cos i = 2 cos r
(1)
1.2.1.2 Total Internal Reflection: As 1 is greater than 2, the angle of refraction is
always greater than the angle of incidence. Thus when angle of refraction is 900 and refracted
emerges parallel to axis, the angle is called critical angle. The critical angle is given by,

sin c =

At angles of incidence greater than the critical angle the light is reflected back into the originating dielectric medium that is called total
internal Reflection. This is the mechanism by which light at a sufficient shallow angle (less than 90 0 - c) may be considered to
propagate down an optical fiber with low loss.

1.2.1.3 Numerical Aperture and Acceptance Angle: As per the diagram a meridional ray A enters at the critical angle c within
the fiber at the core cladding interface. The ray enters the fiber core at an angle a to the fiber axis and refracted at the air core

interface at critical angle. Hence any ray which are incident into the fiber core at an angle greater than a will be transmitted to the core
cladding interface at an angle less than c and will not be totally reflected, This a is called Acceptance Angle.
Numerical Aperture (NA) is relationship between acceptance angle and refractive indexes. Fig shows a light ray incident on the
fiber core at an angle a to the fiber axis which is less than the acceptance angle for the fiber. The ray enters to the fiber from medium
(air) of refractive index number.
As snells Law,
0 sin a = 1 sin
(1)
Consider the right angle triangle, then
=
where is greater than the critical angle at core cladding interface. Hence,
0 sin a = 1 cos
(3)
0 sin a = 1 (1-sin2 )1/2
When the limiting case for TIR is considered, becomes equal to critical angle,
so
sin c = 2/ 1
so the limiting case will be,
0 sin a = (12 22)1/2
(4)
This equation serves as a basic for the definition of Numerical Apertrure, so

(2)

NA = 0 sin a = (12 22)1/2

The NA may also be given in the terms of relative refractive index difference between core and cladding.
=
Hence,

for <<1

NA = 1 (2)1/2

1.2.1.4 Skew Rays: Skew rays are the rays which does not follow the fiber axis. These rays are not easy to visualize, only the
direction can be predicted in helical path of direction change of 2 at each reflection. is the angle between the projection of the ray in
the two dimension and the radii of the fiber core at the point of reflection.
When the light input to the fiber is non uniform, rays will therefore tend
to have a smoothing effect on the distribution of light as it is transmitted,
giving more information output.
NA in case of skew rays,
NA = 0 sin as cos = (12 22)1/2
1.2.2 Optical Fiber Modes:
Modes: In a planar guide, TE(E2 = 0) and TM(H2 = 0) modes are
obtained within the dielectric cylinder. Thus two integers, l and m are
necessary in order to specify the modes, the single integer (m) required for the planar guide, for
cylindrical waveguide we refer TE lm and TM ln modes.
Modes in Fiber: There are two fiber modes exists. First is
a) Single mode Fiber
b) Multi mode Fiber
The optical fiber is a dielectric waveguide that operates at optical frequencies. The fiber waveguide is normally cylindrical in form.
Single mode fiber sustains only one mode of propagation, whereas multimode fibers contain many hundreds of modes. The diameter
of core of SMF is comparatively very small from MMF.
A disadvantage of MMf is that they suffer from intermodal dispersion but it can be reduced.

SINGLE MODE FIBER

MULTI MODE FIBER

1.2.3 Mode Theory for Circular Waveguide: In optical fibers, the core cladding boundary conditions lead to a coupling between
the electric and magnetic field components. This gives rise to hybrid modes, which means optical waveguide analysis is more complex
than metallic waveguide analysis. Fibers are constructed so that the difference in the core and cladding indexes of refraction is very
small, i.e
The field components are called linearly polarized (LP) modes and labeled as LP jm, where j & m are integers designating mode
solutions.
Figure shows a electric field distribution for several of the lower order guided modes in a symmetrical slab waveguide.

The core of this waveguide is a dielectric slab of index 1 that is sandwiched between two dielectric layers which have refractive
indexes 2 < 1. Fig shows the field patterns of several of the lower order transverse electric (TE) modes.
The order of a mode is equal to the ray congruence or same corresponding to this mode makes with the plane of the waveguide.
The plot shows that the electric fields of the guided modes are not completely confined to the central dielectric slab.
The field varies harmonically in the guiding region of the refractive index 1 and decay exponentially outside of the region. For low
order modes the fields are tightly concentrated near the center of the slab, will little penetration into the cladding region. On the other
hand, for higher order modes the fields are distributed more towards the edges of the guide and penetrate faster into the cladding
region.
Mode Coupling: As the core and cladding modes propagates along the fiber; mode coupling occurs between the cladding and higher
order core modes. This coupling occurs because the electric fields of the guided core modes are not completely confined to the core
but expend partially into the cladding
.
No of modes in a fiber with cut off conditions:
SMF, V=
(12 22)1/2 =
NA; ideally its V2.405
MMF, M =

)2 (12 22) =

Power:
=

P = total optical power

Pclad = avg optical power residing in cladding

1.2.4 Step Index Fiber and Graded Index Fiber:

1.2.4.1 Step Index Fiber: The optical fiber with a core of constant refractive index 1 and a cladding of a slightly lower refractive
index 2 is known as step index fiber. This is because the refractive index profile for this type of fiber makes a step change at the core
cladding interface.
The refractive index profile,

(a)
(b)
The figure shows a multimode step index fiber (a) and a single mode index fiber (b). The core diameter of SMF is around 2 to 10 m.
The modes in step index fiber is,
Ms =
1.2.4.2 Graded Index Fiber: Graded index fiber do not have a constant refractive index in the core but a decreasing core index
(r) with radial distance from a maximum value of 1 at the axis to a constant value 2 beyond the core radius a in the cladding.
The refractive index profile,

where

= relative refractive index difference

= , step index profile

= 1, triangular profile
= 2, parabolic profile
The graded index profile results best near = 2 in multimode optical propagation. The multimode graded index fiber exhibits for
less inter modal dispersion than multimode step index fiber.
= profile parameter;

when

Number of modes for graded index fibers is:

Ng

1.2.4.3 Single Mode Fibers: Single mode fibers have only relatively recently emerged as a viable optical communication medium
they have quickly become the dominant and most widely used fiber type within telecommunications. The advantages of single mode
fibers are:
1. They currently exhibit the greatest transmission bandwidths and lowest losses of the fiber transmission media.
2. They have superior transmission quality over other fiber types because absence of modal noise.
3. They offer a upgrade capability for future wide bandwidth services using faster Transmitter or receiver.
4. They are compatible with the developing integrated optics technology.
1.2.5 Cut off Wavelength:
1/2

c =

(1)

Vc cut off normalized frequency

c cut off wavelength
so dividing this equation with the reference equation, we get
where

(2)
c =

1.2.6 Mode Field diameter and Spot Size: Many losses occur including jointing, micro bend, dispersion and width of radiation
pattern. Therefore, Mode field diameter is a parameter for characterizing single mode fiber properties which takes into account the
wavelength dependent field penetration into the field cladding.

1.2.7 Effective Refractive Index: The rate of change of phase of the fundamental LP01 mode propagating along a straight fiber is
determined by the phase propagation constant . It is directly related to the wavelength of the LP 01 mode 01 by the factor
01 = 2
01 =

(1)

Sometimes it is defined by a phase index or normalized phase change coefficient, eff ,

eff =
(2)
Hence, the wavelength of the fundamental mode 01 is smaller than the vacuum wavelength by the factor 1/ eff , where
01 =
The effective refractive index can be considered as an average over the refractive index of this medium.
1.2.8 Group Delay and Mode Delay factor: The transmit time or group delay g for a light pulse propagating along a unit length of
fiber is the inverse of the group velocity, Vg, hence
(1)
g =
The group index of a uniform plane wave propagation in a homogenous medium has been determined,

Nge =

for single mode fiber

so,

(2)
(3)

g =
The effective group index may be written in terms of effective refractive index,

(4)

1.2.9 Fiber Material and Fabrication Techniques: A optical fiber material, must satisfy three conditions:
a) It must be possible to make long, flexible fiber from the material.
b) The material must be transparent at a particular optical wavelength in order for the fiber to guide light efficiently.
c) Physically compatible materials that have slightly different refractive indexes for the core and cladding..
These requirements can be satisfied by
a) Glass
b) Plastics
c) Photonic Crystal Fibers
1.2.9.1 Glass Fiber: Glass is made by fusing mixtures of metal oxides, sulfides or solenoids. The resulting material is a randomly
connected molecular network rather than a well defined ordered structure as found in crystalline material.
When glass is heated up from room temperature, it remains a hard solid up to several hundred degrees. As the temperature increases
further, the glass gradually begins to soften until at very high temperature it becomes viscous liquid. An extended temperature range in
which the glass becomes fluid enough to free itself fairly quickly of gas bubbles.
The most common fiber material built by glass is silica (SiO2), which has refractive index of 1.458 at 850nm and slightly similar
refractive index materials are B2O3, GeO2 or P2O5 are added to silica.
E.g. 1) GeO2 - SiO2 core, SiO2 cladding
2) P2O5 - SiO2 core, SiO2 cladding
3) SiO2 core, B2O3 - SiO2 cladding
Active Glass Fiber: Some glass material (atomic no 57.71) resulting new optical and magnetic properties. These new properties allow
the material to perform amplification, attenuation and phase retardation on light passing through it. Doping can be carried out for
silica, tellurite and halide glasses.
1.2.9.2 Plastic Optical Fibers: For high speed services and high bandwidth, graded index polymer (plastics) optical fiber [OF]
designed. The core of these fibers is either polymethacrylate or a perfluronated polymer. These polymers are referred to as PMMA
POF and PFPOF. They offer greater optical signal attenuations than a glass fiber. They are tough and durable.
COMPARISON BETWEEN PMMA & PF POLYMER OPTICAL FIBER:
CHARACTERISTICS
Core Diameter
Cladding Diameter
Numerical Aperture
Attenuation
Bandwidth

PMMA POF
0.4 mm
1.0 mm
0.25
150 dB/km at 650 nm
2.5 Gb/s over 200 m

PF POF
0.125 0.30 mm
0.25 0.60 mm
0.20
<40 dB/km at 650 nm
2.5Gb/s over 550 nm

1.2.9.3 Photonic Crystal Fibers: Photonic crystal fibers are basically hollow from center, so it is also called holey fiber
initially. The difference between PCF structure and that of a conventional fiber is that the cladding and air hole in core. The air hole
runs along the entire length of the fiber.
The size and spacing of the holes in the microstructure and the refractive index of its constituent material determine the light guiding
characteristics of PCF. The basic PCFs are index guiding PCF and the photonic band gap fiber.
a) Index Guiding PCF: This fiber has a solid core that is surrounded by a cladding region which contains air holes running
along the length of the fiber. The hole has a diameter d and pitches . The core and cladding material are same but the air gap
has lower refractive index of each cladding. E.g. SiO2 is cladding having 1.45 refractive index but air has refractive index 1.
But practically, core can be made of pure silica. It gives more advantages like low losses, ability to transmit high optical
power levels and many more.

b) Photonic Band gap fiber: The structure of index guiding PCF and photonic band gap fiber are same. The fiber has a hollow
core that is surrounded by a cladding region which contains air holes running along the fiber length.
c) But the functional principle is analogous to the role of a periodic crystalline lattice in a semiconductor, which blocks
electrons from occupying a band gap region. The hollow core acts as a defect in the photonic band gap structure, which
creates a region in which the light can propagate.
1.2.10 Fiber Fabrication: The basic techniques for fabrication of all glass optical waveguide are:
1.2.10.1 Outside Vapor Phase Oxidation: In this method, a layer of SiO2 particles called soot is deposited from a burner into a
rotating graphite or ceramic mandrel. The glass soot adheres to this bait rod and layer by layer porous glass preform is built up. By
property controlling the constituents of the metal halide vapor stream during the deposition process, the glass compositions and
dimensions desired for the core and cladding can be incorporated into the perform. When the deposition process is completed, the
mandrel is removed and the porous tube is then vitrified in a dry atmosphere at a high temperature (above 1400 0) to a clear perform
and it is mounted in a fiber drawing tower and made into a fiber.

1.2.10.2 Vapor Phase Axial Deposition (VAD): It is nearly like OVPO method. In this method, SiO 2 particles are formed in the
same way. As these particles emerge from the torches, they are deposited onto the end of surface of a silica glass rod which acts as a
seed. A porous perform is grown in the axial direction by moving the rod upward. When it moves upward, it is transformed into a
solid, transparent rod perform by zone melting with the carbon ring heater.
Any fiber, step index or graded index, can be made by this VAD method.

Advantages:
1) The preform has no central hole.
2) The preform can be fabricated in continuous lengths which can effect process costs and product yields.
3) The deposition chamber and zone melting ring heater are tightly connected to each other in the same enclosure allows the
clean environment.
1.2.10.3 Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD): The MCVD was widely adopted to produce very low loss graded
index fibers.
The glass vapor particles arising from the reaction of the constituent metal halide gases and oxygen flow through the inside of a
revolving silica tube. As SiO2 particles are deposited, they are sintered to a clear glass layer by a oxy hydrogen torch which travels
back and forth along the tube. When the desired thickness of glass has been deposited, the vapor flow is shut off and the tube is heated
strongly to cause it to collapse into a solid rod perform.
1.2.10.4 Plasma Activated Chemical Vapor Deposition: In PCVD, a non isothermal microwave plasma operating at low
pressure initiates the chemical reaction. With the silica tube held at temperatures in the range of 1000 12000C to reduce mechanical
stresses in the growing glass films, a moving microwave resonator operating at 2.45 GHz generates plasma inside the tube to activate
the chemical reaction. This process deposits clear glass material directly on the tube wall, there is no soot formation.

UNIT-2
Attenuation: Attenuation of a light signal as it propagates along a fiber is an important consideration in
determining the maximum transmission distance between a transmitter and receiver or an in online amplifier. The
basic attenuation in fiber are [1] Absorption [2] Scattering [3] Radiative losses of the optical energy/ fiber bending
losses Signal attenuation is expressed as = 10log10
where, Pi = Input power, Po = Output Power In optical fiber
communication the attenuation is usually expressed in decibels per unit length. dB L = 10log10
where, dB=
Signal attenuation per unit length, L = Length of the fiber. [1] Absorption: Absorption is caused by three different
mechanisms

[1.1] Intrinsic Absorption: Due to infrared and ultraviolet region intrinsic absorption is associated with the basic
fiber material (eg.. pure SiO2) and is the principal physical factor that defines the transparency window of a material
over a specified spectral region. It occurs when the material is in a perfect state with no density variations,
impurities, material inhomogeneties and so on. Intrinsic absorption results from electronic absorption bands in the
ultraviolet region and from atomic vibration bands in the near infrared region. Absorption occurs when a photon
interacts with an electron in the valence band and excites it to higher energy level.
[1.2] Extrinsic Absorption: (Due to impurities and OH molecules) A major source of signal attenuation is extrinsic
absorption from transition metal elements impurities. Some most common metallic impurities, found in glasses, are
Cr3+, C2+, Fe2+, Fe3+ etc. These contain absorption losses around 109 of one part. Certain of these impurities like
chromium and copper causes attenuation in excess of 1dB/Km in near infrared region.

Another major intrinsic loss occurs due to water dissolve in the glass. These hydroxyl groups are bound in to the
glass structure and create vibrations at wavelength 2.7 and 4.2m and generate overtones.When the hydroxyl
group is in silica then overtones and vibrations occur due to SiO2 near 1.24, 1.13 and 0.88 m. [2] Scattering:
Scattering occurs due to the micro irregularities inside the fiber. Scattering results in attenuation as the scattered
light may not continue to satisfy the TIR (total internal reflection) in the fiber core. Scattering loss in glass arises
from microscopic variations in material density, compositional fluctuations and from structural or defects in
homogeneities during fiber manufacture.
[2.1] Linear Scattering Loss: Linear Scattering mechanisms cause the transfer of some or all the optical power
contained wit in one propagating mode to be transferred linearly in to a different mode. This may generate radio
mode or leaky ray. But the frequency of light would not be affected during scattering. [2.1.1] Rayleigh Scattering:
This results from random inhomogeneties that are small in size compared with the wavelength. These
inhomogeneties exist in the form of refractive index fluctuations which are frozen into amorphous glass fiber upon
fiber pulling. Such fluctuations always exist and cannot be avoided.

R = 8 3/3

n8 p2 c k Tf

Where: R = Rayleigh Scattering Coefficient = Optical Wavelength. n= refractive index of medium p= average photo
elastic coefficient c = isothermal compressibility
So the transmission loss = exp (-R L), where L= length of the fiber. Attenuation = 10 log 0 dB /Km [2.2.2] Mic
Scattering: Mic scattering is due to non perfect cylindrical structure of the fiber and imperfection like irregularities
in the core cladding interface diameter fluctuations, strains and bubbles may create linear scattering which termed as
Mic Scattering. These Inhomogeneities can be removed by

2.2 Non linear scattering losses

Optical waveguides do not always behaves as completely linear especially at high optical power levels
scattering causes disproportionate attenuation, due to non linear behaviour. Because of this non linear scattering
the optical power from one mode is transferred in either the forward or backward direction to the same, or other
modes, at different frequencies. The two dominant types of non linear scattering are:
a) Stimulated Brillouin Scattering and
b) Stimulated Raman Scattering.
2.2.1 Stimulated Brillouin Scattering:
Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) may be regarded as the modulation of light through thermal molecular
vibrations within the fiber. The scattered light appears as upper and lower sidebands which are separated from
the incident light by the modulation frequency. The incident photon in this scattering process produces a
phonon of acoustic frequency as well as a scattered photon. This produces an optical frequency shift which
varies with the scattering angle because the frequency of the sound wave varies with acoustic wavelength. The
frequency shift is a maximum in the backward direction, reducing to zero in the forward direction, making SBS
a mainly backward process.
The threshold power PB is given by:

PB = 4.4 103d22dB watts

Where, d and are the fiber core diameter and the operating wavelength
dB is the fiber attenuation in decibels per kilometre and
is the source bandwidth in gigahertz.
2.2.3 Stimulated Raman Scattering:

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is similar to SBS except that a high-frequency optical phonon rather than an
acoustic phonon is generated in the scattering process. Also, SRS can occur in both the forward and backward
directions in an optical fiber, and may have an optical power threshold of up to three orders of magnitude higher
than the Brillouin threshold in a particular fiber.
The threshold optical power for SRS PR in a long single-mode fiber is given by:
PR = 5.9 102d2dB watts

3. Fiber Bending Losses

Optical fiber suffers radiation losses at bends or curves on their paths. This is due to the energy in the
evanescent field at the bend exceeding the velocity of light in the cladding and hence the guidance mechanism
is inhibited, which causes light energy to be radiated from the fiber. The part of the mode which is on the
outside of the bend is required to travel faster than that on the inside so that a wave front perpendicular to the
direction of propagation is maintained. Hence, part of the mode in the cladding needs to travel faster than the
velocity of light in that medium. As this is not possible, the energy associated with this part of the mode is lost
through radiation.

Radiation attenuation coefficient

r = c1 exp (c2R)
Where R is the radius of curvature of the fiber bend and c1, c2 are constants large bending losses tend to occur
in multimode fiber at a critical radius of curvature Rc which may be

The macro bending losses may be reduced by:

(a) Designing fiber with large relative refractive index differences;
(b) Operating at the shortest wavelength possible.

4. DISPERSION
Dispersion of the transmitted optical signal causes distortion for both digital and analog transmission along
optical fiber. Signal dispersion limits the maximum possible bandwidth attainable with a particular optical fiber
to the point where individual symbols can no longer be distinguished. When considering digital modulation,
then dispersion mechanisms within the fiber cause broadening of the transmitted light pulses as they travel
along the channel. The effect is known as intersymbol interference (ISI).
For no overlapping of light pulses down on an optical fiber link the digital bit rate BT must be less than the
reciprocal of the broadened (through dispersion) pulse duration (2).
Hence:
BT1/2
This assumes that the pulse broadening due to dispersion on the channel is which dictates the input pulse
duration which is also .

Types of dispersion
a. Intramodal Dispersion
i. Material dispersion
ii. Waveguide Dispersion
b. Intermodal Dispersion

4.1 Intramodal Dispersion or Chromatic Dispersion

Chromatic or intramodal dispersion may occur in all types of optical fiber and results from the finite spectral
line width of the optical source. Since optical sources do not emit just a single frequency but a band of
frequencies then there may be propagation delay differences between the different spectral components of the
transmitted signal. This causes broadening of each transmitted mode and hence intramodal dispersion. The

delay differences may be caused by the dispersive properties of the waveguide material (material dispersion)
and also guidance effects within the fiber structure (waveguide dispersion).
4.1.1 Material dispersion
Pulse broadening due to material dispersion results from the different group velocities of the various spectral
components launched into the fiber from the optical source. It occurs when the phase velocity of a plane wave
propagating in the dielectric medium varies nonlinearly with wavelength, and a material is said to exhibit
material dispersion when the second differential of the refractive index with respect to wavelength is not zero.
The pulse spread due to material dispersion may be obtained by considering the group delay g in the optical
fiber which is the reciprocal of the group velocity g defined by Eqs:

Where n1 is the refractive index of the core material. The pulse delay m due to material dispersion in a fiber of
length L is therefore:

For a source with rms spectral width and a mean wavelength , the rms pulse broadening
due to material dispersion m may be obtained from the expansion of Eq. (1) in a
Taylor series about where:

As the first term in Eq. usually dominates, especially for sources operating over the 0.8 to 0.9 m wavelength
range, then:

Hence the pulse spread may be evaluated by considering the dependence of m on

Therefore, substituting the expression the rms pulse broadening due to material dispersion is given by:

in terms of a material dispersion parameter M which is defined as:

and which is often expressed in units of ps nm1 km1.

4.1.2 Waveguide Dispersion

The wave guiding of the fiber results from the variation in group velocity with wavelength for a particular
mode. Considering the ray theory approach, it is equivalent to the angle between the ray and the fiber axis
varying with wavelength which subsequently leads to a variation in the transmission times for the rays, and
hence dispersion
1. For a single mode whose propagation constant is , the fiber exhibits waveguide dispersion when d2/d2
0.
2. For multimode fibers, where the majority of modes propagate far from cut-off, are almost free of waveguide
dispersion and it is generally negligible compared with material dispersion (0.1 to 0.2 ns km1).

4.2 INTERMODAL OR MODAL DISPERSION

Propagation delay differences between modes within a multimode fiber results Pulse broadening. As the
different modes which constitute a pulse in a multimode fiber travel along the channel at different group
velocities, the pulse width at the output is dependent upon the transmission times of the slowest and fastest
modes. This dispersion mechanism creates the fundamental difference in the overall dispersion.
1) Multimode step index fibers exhibit a large amount of intermodal dispersion which gives the greatest
pulse broadening.
2) Intermodal dispersion in multimode fibers may be reduced by adoption of an optimum refractive index
profile which is provided by the near-parabolic profile of most graded index fibers. Thus graded index
fibers used with a multimode source give a tremendous bandwidth advantage over multimode step index
fibers.
3) In Single-mode Fibers there is no intermodal dispersion.
4.2.1 Multimode step index fibers
Using the ray theory model, the fastest and slowest modes propagating in the step index fiber may be
represented by the axial ray and the extreme meridional respectively. The delay difference between these two
rays when travelling in the fiber core allows estimation of the pulse broadening resulting from intermodal
dispersion within the fiber. As both rays are travelling at the same velocity within the constant refractive index
fiber core, then the delay difference is directly related to their respective path lengths within the fiber.
Hence the time taken for the axial ray to travel along a fiber of length L gives the minimum delay time TMin and:

The extreme meridional ray exhibits the maximum delay time TMax where:

Using Snells law of refraction at the corecladding interface:

Where, n2 is the refractive index of the cladding. Furthermore, substituting into Eq for cos gives:

The delay difference Ts between the extreme meridional ray and the axial ray may be obtained

Hence rearranging Eq

So after substituting the value of ,

4.2.2 Multimode Graded Index Fibers

Intermodal dispersion in multimode fibers is minimized with the use of graded index fibers. Hence, multimode
graded index fibers show substantial bandwidth improvement over multimode step index fibers. The fiber
shown has a parabolic index profile with a maximum at the core axis the index profile is given by n(r) with =
2 as:

Figure shows several meridional ray paths within the fiber core. The local group velocity is inversely
proportional to the local refractive index and therefore the longer sinusoidal paths are compensated for by
higher speeds in the lower index medium away from the axis. As these various ray paths may be considered to
represent the different modes propagating in the fiber, then the graded profile reduces the disparity in the mode
transit times.

The dramatic improvement in multimode fiber bandwidth achieved with a parabolic or near-parabolic refractive
index profile is highlighted by consideration of the reduced delay difference between the fastest and slowest
modes for this graded index fiber Tg

the rms pulse broadening of a near-parabolic index profile graded index fiber
g is reduced compared with similar broadening for the corresponding step index fiber s

After substituting values from above equations;

4.3 Modal Noise

The intermodal dispersion properties of multimode optical fibers create another phenomenon which affects the
transmitted signals on the optical channel. It is exhibited within the speckle patterns observed in multimode
fiber as fluctuations which have characteristic times longer than the resolution time of the detector, and is
known as modal or speckle noise.
The speckle patterns are formed by the interference of the modes from a coherent source when the
coherence time of the source is greater than the intermodal dispersion time T within the fiber. The coherence
time for a source with uncorrelated source frequency width f is simply 1/f. Hence, modal noise occurs when:

The conditions which give rise to modal noise are therefore specified as:
(a) A coherent source with a narrow spectral width and long coherence length.
(b) Disturbances along the fiber which give differential mode delay or modal and spatial filtering;
(c) Phase correlation between the modes.
Modal noise may be prevented on an optical fiber link through suitable choice of the system components.
However, this may not always be possible and then certain levels of modal noise must be tolerated.

4.4 Overall fiber dispersion

4.4.1 Multimode Fiber

The overall dispersion in multimode fibers comprises both chromatic and intermodal terms. The total rms pulse
broadening T is given by:

Where c is the intramodal or chromatic broadening and n is the intermodal broadening caused by delay
differences between the modes The chromatic term c consists of pulse broadening due to both material and
waveguide dispersion. Waveguide dispersion is generally negligible compared with material dispersion in
multimode fibers, then c m.

4.4.2 Mono Mode Fibers

The pulse broadening in single-mode fibers results almost entirely from chromatic or intra modal dispersion as
only a single-mode is allowed to propagate. Hence the bandwidth is limited by the finite spectral width of the
source. The transit time or specific group delay g for a light pulse propagating along a unit length of singlemode fiber may be given,

Where c is the velocity of light in a vacuum, is the propagation constant for a mode within the fiber core of
refractive index n1 and k is the propagation constant for the mode in a vacuum.

5. Fiber birefringence
Single-mode fibers with nominal circular symmetry about the core axis allow the propagation of two nearly
degenerate modes with orthogonal polarizations. In an optical fiber with an ideal optically circularly symmetric
core both polarization modes propagate with identical velocities. Manufactured optical fibers exhibit some
birefringence resulting from differences in the core geometry resulting from variations in the internal and
external stresses, and fiber bending. The fiber therefore behaves as a birefringent medium due to the difference
in the effective refractive indices, and hence phases velocities, for these two orthogonally polarized modes. The
modes therefore have different propagation constants x and y which are dictated by the anisotropy of the fiber
cross section.
In this case x and y are the propagation constants for the slow mode and the fast mode respectively. When the
fiber cross-section is independent of the fiber length L in the
z direction, then the modal birefringence BF for the fiber is given by

The difference in phase velocities causes the fiber to exhibit a linear retardation (z) which depends on the fiber
length L in the z direction and is given by

Assuming that, Phase coherence of two mode components is maintained. The phase coherence of the two mode
components is achieved when the delay between the two transit times is less than the coherence time of the
source. The coherence time for the source is equal to the reciprocal of the uncorrelated source frequency width
(1/f ). It may be shown that birefringent coherence is maintained over a length of fiber Lbc (i.e. coherence
length) when:

However, when phase coherence is maintained leads to a polarization state which is generally elliptical but
which varies periodically along the fiber. This situation is illustrated in Figure where the incident linear
polarization which is at 45 with respect to the x axis becomes circular polarization at =/2 and linear again at
=. The process continues through another circular polarization at = 3/2 before returning to the initial
linear polarization at = 2. The characteristic length LB for this process corresponding to the propagation
distance for which a 2 phase difference accumulates between the two modes is known as the beat length. It is
given by:

So,
Typical single-mode fibers are found to have beat lengths of a few centimetres and the effect may be observed
directly within a fiber via Rayleigh scattering with use of a suitable visible source (e.g. HeNe laser). It appears
as a series of bright and dark bands with a period.

5.1 Polarization mode dispersion (PMD)

Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) is a form of modal dispersion where two different polarizations of light in
a waveguide, which normally travel at the same speed, travel at different speeds due to random imperfections

and asymmetries, causing random spreading of optical pulses. Unless it is compensated, which is difficult, this
ultimately limits the rate at which data can be transmitted over a fiber.
Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) is a source of pulse broadening which results from fiber birefringence and
it can become a limiting factor for optical fiber communications at high transmission rates.

So the differential group delay is given by;

6. OPTICAL FIBER CONNECTIONS

6.1 Fiber Splicing:
A permanent joint formed between two individual optical fibers in the field or factory is known as a fiber splice.
Fiber splicing is frequently used to establish long-haul optical fiber links where smaller fiber lengths need to be
joined, and there is no requirement for repeated connection and disconnection. Splices may be divided into two
broad categories depending upon the splicing technique
1) Fusion splicing or welding: Fusion splicing is accomplished by applying localized heating (e.g. by a
flame or an electric arc) at the interface between two butted, pre-aligned fiber ends causing them to
soften and fuse.
2) Mechanical splicing: Mechanical splicing, in which the fibers are held in alignment by some mechanical means,
may be achieved by various methods including the use of tubes around the fiber ends (tube splices) or V-grooves
into which the butted fibers are placed.

6.1.1 Fusion splicing

Fusion splicing is the act of joining two optical fibers end-to-end using heat. The goal is to fuse the two fibers
together in such a way that light passing through the fibers is not scattered or reflected back by the splice, and
so that the splice and the region surrounding it are almost as strong as the virgin fiber itself. The source of heat
is usually an electric arc, but can also be a laser, or a gas flame, or a tungsten filament through which current is
passed.

Fusion splicing of single-mode fibers with typical core diameters between 5 and 10 m presents problems of
more critical fiber alignment (i.e. lateral offsets of less than 1 m are required for low-loss joints). However,
splice insertion losses below 0.3 dB may be achieved due to a self-alignment phenomenon which partially
compensates for any lateral offset.

6.1.2 Mechanical splicing

The most common mechanical splicing technique is V-groove method. V-groove splices formed by
sandwiching the butted fiber ends between a V-groove glass substrate and a flat glass retainer plate have also
proved very successful in the laboratory. Splice insertion losses of less than 0.01 dB when coupling single-mode
fibers have been reported using this technique.

6.2 Fiber connectors

Optical fiber connectors are used to join optical fibers where a connect/disconnect capability is required. This is
because they must maintain similar tolerance requirements to splices in order to couple light between fibers
efficiently, but they must accomplish it in a removable fashion.
Hence optical fiber connectors may be considered in three major areas, which are:
(a) the fiber termination, which protects and locates the fiber ends;
(b) the fiber end alignment to provide optimum optical coupling;
(c) The outer shell, which maintains the connection and the fiber alignment, protects the fiber ends from the
environment and provides adequate strength at the joint.
6.2.1 Cylindrical ferrule connectors
The basic ferrule connector which is perhaps the simplest optical fiber connector design, is illustrated in Figure:

The two fibers to be connected are permanently bonded (with epoxy resin) in metal plugs known as ferrules
which have an accurately drilled central hole in their end faces where the stripped (of buffer coating) fiber is
located. Within the connector the two ferrules are placed in an alignment sleeve which, using accurately
machined components, allows the fiber ends to be butt jointed.
6.2.2 Expanded beam connectors
An alternative to connection via direct butt joints between optical fibers is offered by the principle of the
expanded beam. It shows a connector consisting of two lenses for collimating and refocusing the light from one
fiber into the other. The use of this interposed optics makes the achievement of lateral alignment much less
critical than with a butt-jointed fiber connector. Expanded beam connectors are useful for multi-fiber
connection and edge connection for printed circuit boards where lateral and longitudinal alignment are
frequently difficult to achieve.

6.3 Fiber couplers

An optical fiber coupler is a device that distributes light from a main fiber into one or more branch fibers. The
latter case is more normal and such devices are known as multiport fiber couplers. Requirements are increasing

for the use of these devices to divide or combine optical signals for application within optical fiber information
distribution systems including data buses, LANs, computer networks and telecommunication access networks.
Optical fiber couplers are often passive devices in which the power transfer takes place either:
(a) Through the fiber core cross-section by butt jointing the fibers or by using some form of imaging optics
between the fibers (core interaction type); or
(b) Through the fiber surface and normal to its axis by converting the guided core modes to both cladding and
refracted modes which then enable the power-sharing mechanism.
Multiport optical fiber couplers can also be subdivided into the following three main groups
1. Three- and four-port couplers, which are used for signal splitting, distribution and combining.
2. Star couplers, which are generally used for distributing a single input signal to multiple outputs.
3. Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) devices, which are a specialized form of coupler designed to
permit a number of different peak wavelength optical signals to be transmitted in parallel on a single fiber.
Ideal fiber couplers should distribute light among the branch fibers with no scattering loss or the generation of
noise, and they should function with complete insensitivity to factors including the distribution of light between
the fiber modes, as well as the state of polarization of the light.

6.3.1 Three- and four-port couplers

Figure shows the structure of a parallel surface type of GRIN-rod lens three port coupler which comprises two
quarter pitch lenses with a semitransparent mirror in between. Light rays from the input fiber F1 collimate in
the first lens before they are incident on the mirror. A portion of the incident beam is reflected back and is
coupled to fiber F2, while the transmitted light is focused in the second lens and then coupled to fiber F3.

The various loss parameters associated with four-port couplers may be written down with reference to Figure.
Hence, the excess loss which is defined as the ratio of power input to power output is given by:

The insertion loss, however, is generally defined as the loss obtained for a particular port-to-port optical path

6.3.2 Star couplers

In an ideal star coupler the optical power from any input fiber is evenly distributed among the output fibers. The
total loss associated with the star coupler comprises its theoretical splitting loss together with the excess loss.
The splitting loss is related to the number of output ports N following:
Splitting loss (star coupler) = 10 log10 N (dB)
For a single input port and multiple output ports where j = 1, N, then the excess loss is given by:

6.3.3 Wavelength division multiplexing couplers

WDM devices are a specialized coupler type which enables light from two or more optical sources of differing
nominal peak optical wavelength to be launched in parallel into a single optical fiber. Hence such couplers
perform as either wavelength multiplexers or wavelength demultiplexers. The important optical parameters
associated with the WDM coupler are the attenuation of the light over a particular wavelength band, the inter
band isolation and the wavelength band or channel separation.

UNIT-3

Optical sources
The function of an optical transmitter is to convert incoming electrical signals into outgoing optical signals. The
major component of the transmitter is the optical source, which either a semiconductor light-emitting diode
(LED) or laser diode. Semiconductor diode devices have the advantages over other light sources of small size,
high efficiency, high reliability, suitable wavelength ranges, small emission areas matching fiber cores, and the
ability to be directly current modulated.

1. LED sources
Light-emitting diodes are simply forward-biased p-n junctions, which emit light by spontaneous emission.
Spontaneous emission (or electroluminescence) is caused by radiative recombination of electron-hole pairs in
the depletion region. LEDs are temporally and spatially incoherent sources that emit over a broad spectral
bandwidth (20-150 nm) and large angular bandwidth.
Advantages of LED:
1. Simpler fabrication. There are no mirror facets and in some structures no striped geometry.
2. Cost. The simpler construction of the LED leads to much reduced cost which is always likely to be
maintained.
3. Reliability. The LED does not exhibit catastrophic degradation and has proved far less sensitive to gradual
degradation than the injection laser. It is also immune to self-pulsation and modal noise problems.
4. Generally less temperature dependence. The light output against current characteristic is less affected by
temperature than the corresponding characteristic for the injection laser. Furthermore, the LED is not a
threshold device and therefore raising the temperature does not increase the threshold current above the
operating point and hence halt operation.
5. Simpler drive circuitry. This is due to the generally lower drive currents and reduced temperature
dependence which makes temperature compensation circuits unnecessary.
6. Linearity. Ideally, the LED has a linear light output against current characteristic
This can prove advantageous where analog modulation is concerned.
Drawbacks:
(a) Generally lower optical power coupled into a fiber (microwatts);
(b) Usually lower modulation bandwidth;
(c) Harmonic distortion.

1.1 LED power and efficiency

The power generated internally by an LED may be determined by consideration of the excess electrons and
holes in the p- and n-type material respectively. When it is forward biased and carrier injection takes place at
the device contacts. The excess density of electrons n and holes p is equal since the injected carriers are
created and recombined in pairs such that charge neutrality is maintained within the structure. In extrinsic
materials one carrier type will have a much higher concentration than the other and hence in the p-type region,
for example, the hole concentration will be much greater than the electron concentration. Generally, the excess
minority carrier density decays exponentially with time t according to the relation:
n = n(0) exp(t/)
..... (1)

where n(0) is the initial injected excess electron density and represents the total carrier recombination
lifetime.
When there is a constant current flow into the junction diode, an equilibrium condition is established. In this
case, the total rate at which carriers are generated will be the sum of
the externally supplied and the thermal generation rates. Hence a rate equation for carrier recombination in the
LED can be expressed in the form

.......(2)
The condition for equilibrium is obtained by setting the derivative in Eq. (2) to zero. Hence:

....... (3)
Equation (3) therefore gives the steady-state electron density when a constant current is flowing into the
junction region.
It is also apparent from Eq. (2) that in the steady state the total number of carrier recombi-nations per second or
the recombination rate rt will be:

(5)
where rr is the radiative recombination rate per unit volume and rnr is the non-radiative recombination rate per
unit volume. Moreover, when the forward-biased current into the device is i, then from Eq. (7.4) the total
number of recombinations per second Rt becomes:
(6)
The LED internal quantum efficiency* int, which can be defined as the ratio of the radiative recombination
rate to the total recombination rate,

(8)
where Rr is the total number of radiative recombination per second. Rearranging Eq. (8) and substituting from
Eq. (6) gives:
(9)
Since Rr is also equivalent to the total number of photons generated per second each photon has an energy
equal to hf joules, then the optical power generated internally by the LED, Pint, is:

he internally generated power in terms of wavelength rather than frequency gives:

For the exponential decay of excess carriers depicted by Eq. (1) the radiative minority carrier lifetime is r =
n/rr and the non-radiative minority carrier lifetime is nr = n/rnr. Therefore, from Eq. (7.7) the internal
quantum efficiency is:

Furthermore, the total recombination lifetime can be written as = n/rt gives:

Hence,

1.2 The double-heterojunction LED

The principle of operation of the DH LED is illustrated in Figure. The device shown consists of a p-type GaAs
layer sandwiched between a p-type AlGaAs and an n-type bAlGaAs layer. When a forward bias is applied
electrons from the n-type layer are injected through the pn junction into the p-type GaAs layer where they
become minority carriers. These minority carriers diffuse away from the junction recombining with majority
carriers (holes) as they do so. Photons are therefore produced with energy corresponding to the bandgap energy
of the p-type GaAs layer. The injected electrons are inhibited from diffusing into the p-type AlGaAs layer
because of the potential barrier presented by the pp heterojunction, Hence, electro luminescence only occurs in
the GaAs junction layer, providing both good internal quantum efficiency and high-radiance emission.

The DH structure is therefore used to provide the most efficient incoherent sources for application within
optical fiber communications. Nevertheless, these devices generally exhibit the previously discussed constraints
in relation to coupling efficiency to optical fibers.

1.3 LED structures

Types of LED
a. Planar LED
b. Dome LED
c. Surface Emitter LED
d. Edge-Emitter LED
e. Superluminescent LEDs

1.3.1 Planar LED

The planar LED is the simplest of the structures that are available and is fabricated by either liquid- or vaporphase epitaxial processes over the whole surface of a GaAs substrate. This involves a p-type diffusion into the
n-type substrate in order to create the junction. Forward current flow through the junction gives Lambertian
spontaneous emission and the device emits light from all surfaces. However, only a limited amount of light
escapes the structure due to total internal reflection and therefore the radiance is low.

1.3.2 DOME LED

The structure of a typical dome LED is shown in Figure. A hemisphere of n-type GaAs is formed around a
diffused p-type region. The diameter of the dome is chosen to maximize the amount of internal emission
reaching the surface within the critical angle of the GaAsair interface. Hence this device has a higher external
power efficiency than the planar LED. However, the geometry of the structure is such that the dome must be far
larger than the active recombination area, which gives a greater effective emission area and thus reduces the
radiance.

1.3.3 Surface Emitter LED

Surface emitter LED (SLED) has been widely employed within optical fiber communications in which A
method for obtaining high radiance is to restrict the emission to a small active region within the device. These
structures have low thermal impedance in the active region allowing high current densities and giving highradiance emission into the optical fiber. The structure of a high-radiance etched well DH surface emitter* for
the 0.8 to 0.9 m wavelength band is shown in Figure. The internal absorption in this device is very low due to
the larger band-gap-confining layers, and the reflection coefficient at the back crystal face is high giving good
forward radiance. The emission from the active layer is essentially isotropic, although the external emission
distribution may be considered Lambertian with a beam width of 120 due to refraction from a high to a low

refractive index at the GaAsfiber interface. The power coupled Pc into a multimode step index fiber may be
estimated from the relationship:
Pc = (1 r)ARD(NA)2
Where r is the Fresnel reflection coefficient at the fiber surface, A is the smaller of the fiber core cross-section
or the emission area of the source and RD is the radiance of the source.

1.3.4 Edge emitter LED

Edge emitter LED (ELED) has a similar geometry to a conventional contact stripe injection laser

It takes advantage of transparent guiding layers with a very thin active layer (50 to 100 m) in order that the
light produced in the active layer spreads into the transparent guiding layers, reducing self-absorption in the
active layer. The consequent waveguiding narrows the beam divergence to a half-power width of around 30 in
the plane perpendicular to the junction. However, the lack of waveguiding in the plane of the junction gives a
Lambertian output with a half-power width of around 120. The ELED active layer was heavily doped with Zn
to reduce the minority carrier lifetime and thus improve the device modulation bandwidth. In this way a 3 dB
modulation bandwidth of 600 MHz was obtained. Very high coupled optical power levels into single-mode
fiber in excess of 100 W have been obtained with InGaAsP ELEDs at drive currents as low as 50 mA.

1.3.5 Superluminescent LED

Another device geometry which is providing significant benefits over both SLEDs and ELEDs for
communication applications is the Superluminescent diode or SLD. This device offers advantages of:
(a) A high output power;
(b) A directional output beam; and
(c) A narrow spectral line width.
All of which prove useful for coupling significant optical power levels into optical fiber. The super radiant
emission process within the SLD tends to increase the device modulation bandwidth over that of more
conventional LEDs.

A Superluminescent light emitting diode is, similar to a laser diode, based on an electrically driven pnjunction that, when biased in forward direction becomes optically active and generates amplified spontaneous
emission over a wide range of wavelengths. The peak wavelength and the intensity of the SLED depend on the
active material composition and on the injection current level. SLEDs are designed to have high single pass
amplification for the spontaneous emission generated along the waveguide but, unlike laser diodes, insufficient
feedback to achieve lasing action. This is obtained very successfully through the joint action of a tilted
waveguide and anti-reflection coated (ARC) facets.

1.4 LED Characteristics

Optical output power
LED is a very linear device in comparison with the majority of injection lasers and hence it tends to be more
suitable for analog transmission where severe constraints are put on the linearity of the optical source. However,
in practice LEDs do exhibit significant nonlinearities which depend upon the configuration utilized. It is
therefore often necessary to use some form of linearizing circuit technique in order to ensure the linear
performance of the device to allow its use in high-quality analog transmission systems.

(a) Ideal LED characteristics

(b) Surface emitter with a 50 m diameter dot

(c) Edge emitter with a 65 m wide stripe and 100 m length

Contact

Light output temperature dependence for three important LED structures emitting at a wavelength of
1.3 m

1.4.2 Output spectrum

The spectral linewidth of an LED operating at room temperature in the 0.8 to 0.9 m wavelength band is usually
between 25 and 40 nm at the half maximum intensity points. For materials with smaller bandgap energies
operating in the 1.1 to 1.7 m wavelength region the line width tend to increase to around 50 to 160 nm.
Examples of these two output spectra are shown in Figure. The increases in linewidth due to increased doping
levels and the formation of band tail states. This becomes apparent in the differences in the output spectra
between surface- and edge-emitting LEDs where the devices have generally heavily doped and lightly doped.

1.5 Modulation bandwidth

The modulation bandwidth in optical communications may be defined in either electrical or optical terms. When
the associated electrical circuitry in an optical fiber communication system to use the electrical definition where
the electrical signal power has dropped to half its constant value due to the modulated portion of the optical
signal. This corresponds to the electrical 3 dB point or the frequency at which the output electric power is
reduced by 3 dB with respect to the input electric power. Alternatively, if the 3 dB bandwidth of the modulated
optical carrier (optical bandwidth) is considered, we obtain an increased value for the modulation bandwidth.

OPTICAL SOURCE: LASER

In optical Communication three main types of optical light source are available. These are:
(a) Wideband continuous spectra sources (incandescent lamps);
(b) Monochromatic incoherent sources (light-emitting diodes, LEDs);
(c) Monochromatic coherent sources (lasers).
The major requirements for an optical fiber emitter which are outlined below:
1. A size and configuration compatible with launching light into an optical fiber. Ideally, the light output should
be highly directional.
2. Must accurately track the electrical input signal to minimize distortion and noise. Ideally, the source should
be linear.
3. Should emit light at wavelengths where the fiber has low losses and low dispersion and where the detectors
are efficient.

4. Preferably capable of simple signal modulation over a wide bandwidth extending from audio frequencies to
beyond the gigahertz range.
5. Must couple sufficient optical power to overcome attenuation in the fiber plus additional connector losses and
leave adequate power to drive the detector.
6. Should have a very narrow spectral bandwidth in order to minimize dispersion in the fiber.
7. Must be capable of maintaining a stable optical output which is largely unaffected by changes in ambient
conditions (e.g. temperature).
8. It is essential that the source is comparatively cheap and highly reliable in order to compete with
conventional transmission techniques.
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated
emission of electromagnetic radiation. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for "light amplification by
stimulated emission of radiation. A laser differs from other sources of light because it emits light coherently.
Lasers have many important applications. They are used in common consumer devices such as optical disk
drives, laser printers, and barcode scanners. Lasers are used for both fiber-optic and free-space optical
communication.

2.1 Basic Concepts

2.1.1 Absorption and emission of radiation
The interaction of light with matter takes place in discrete packets of energy or quanta, called photons.
Furthermore, the quantum theory suggests that atoms exist only in certain discrete energy states such that
absorption and emission of light causes them to make a transition from one discrete energy state to another. The
frequency of the absorbed or emitted radiation f is related to the difference in energy E between the higher
energy state E2 and the lower energy state E1 by the expression:
E = E2 E1 = hf
Where h = 6.626 1034 J s is Plancks constant. These discrete energy states for the atom may be considered
to correspond to electrons occurring in particular energy levels relative to the nucleus. Hence, different energy
states for the atom correspond to different electron configurations, and a single electron transition between two
energy levels within the atom will provide a change in energy suitable for the absorption or emission of a
photon.

This emission process can occur in two ways:

(a) By spontaneous emission in which the atom returns to the lower energy state in an entirely random manner;
(b) By stimulated emission when a photon having an energy equal to the energy difference between the two
states (E2 E1) interacts with the atom in the upper energy state causing it to return to the lower state with the
creation of a second photon.
It is the stimulated emission process which gives the laser its special properties as an optical source. The photon
produced by stimulated emission is generally of an identical energy to the one which caused it and hence the
light associated with them is of the same frequency. The light associated with the stimulating and stimulated
photon is in phase and has the same polarization. Therefore, in contrast to spontaneous emission, coherent
radiation is obtained.

2.1.2 The Einstein relations

In 1917 Einstein demonstrated that the rates of the three transition processes of absorption, spontaneous
emission and stimulated emission were related mathematically. He achieved this by considering the atomic
system to be in thermal equilibrium such that the rate of the upward transitions must equal the rate of the
downward transitions. The population of the two energy levels of such a system is described by Boltzmann
statistics which give:

where N1 and N2 represent the density of atoms in energy levels E1 and E2, respectively, with g1 and g2 being
the corresponding degeneracies of the levels, K is Boltzmanns constant and T is the absolute temperature.

As the density of atoms in the lower or ground energy state E1 is N1, the rate of upward transition or absorption
is proportional to both N1 and the spectral density f of the radiation energy at the transition frequency f.
Hence, the upward transition rate R12 may be written as:
R12 = N1f B12
where the constant of proportionality B12 is known as the Einstein coefficient of absorption.
For spontaneous emission the average time that an electron exists in the excited state before a transition occurs
is known as the spontaneous lifetime 21. If the density of atoms within the system with energy E2 is N2, then
the spontaneous emission rate is given by the product of N2 and 1/2. This may be written as N2A21 where A21,
the Einstein coefficient of spontaneous emission, is equal to the reciprocal of the spontaneous lifetime.
The rate of stimulated downward transition of an electron from level 2 to level 1 may be obtained in a similar
manner to the rate of stimulated upward transition. Hence the rate of stimulated emission is given by
R21 = N2A21 + N2f B21
For a system in thermal equilibrium, the upward and downward transition rates must be equal and therefore R12
= R21, or:
N1f B12 = N2A21 + N2fB21
It follows that:

Substituting values from equations

Planck showed that the radiation spectral density for a black body radiating within a frequency range f to f + df
is given by

after comparing equations,

&

The ratio of the stimulated emission rate to the spontaneous emission rate is given by:

2.1.3 Population inversion

Under the conditions of thermal equilibrium given by the Boltzmann distribution, the lower energy level E1 of
the two-level atomic system contains more atoms than the upper energy level E2, which is normal for structures
at room temperature. However, to achieve optical amplification it is necessary to create a non-equilibrium
distribution of atoms such that the population of the upper energy level is greater than that of the lower energy
level (i.e. N2 > N1). This condition is known as population inversion.
In order to achieve population inversion it is necessary to excite atoms into the upper energy level E2
and hence obtain a non-equilibrium distribution. This process is achieved using an external energy source and is
referred to as pumping. When the two levels are equally degenerate (or not degenerate), then B12 = B21. Thus
the probabilities of absorption and stimulated emission are equal, providing at best equal populations in the two
levels.
Population inversion may be obtained in systems with three or four energy levels. To achieve population
inversion both systems display a central metastable state in which the atoms spend an unusually long time. It is
from this metastable level that the stimulated emission or lasing takes place.

2.1.4 Optical feedback and laser oscillation

Light amplification in the laser occurs when a photon colliding with an atom in the excited energy state causes
the stimulated emission of a second photon and then both these photons release two more. Continuation of this
process effectively creates avalanche multiplication, and when the electromagnetic waves associated with these
photons are in phase, amplified coherent emission is obtained. To achieve this laser action it is necessary to
contain photons within the laser medium and maintain the conditions for coherence. This is accomplished by
placing or forming mirrors (plane or curved) at either end of the amplifying medium. The optical cavity formed
is more analogous to an oscillator than an amplifier as it provides positive feedback of the photons by reflection
at the mirrors at either end of the cavity. Hence the optical signal is fed back many times while receiving
amplification as it passes through the medium.

Since the structure forms a resonant cavity, when sufficient population inversion exists in the amplifying
medium the radiation builds up and becomes established as standing waves between the mirrors. Thus when the
optical spacing between the mirrors is L, the resonance condition along the axis of the cavity is given by:

where is the emission wavelength, n is the refractive index of the amplifying medium
and q is an integer. Alternatively, discrete emission frequencies f is defined by:

The different frequencies of oscillation within the laser cavity are determined by the various integer values of q
and each constitutes a resonance or mode. These modes are separated by a frequency interval f where:

The mode separation in terms of the free space wavelength, assuming f _ f and as f = c/, is given by:

Hence,

2.1.4 Threshold condition for laser oscillation

The steady-state conditions for laser oscillation are achieved when the gain in the amplifying medium exactly
balances the total losses. Hence, although population inversion between the energy levels providing the laser
transition is necessary for oscillation to be established, it is not alone sufficient for lasing to occur. we assume
the amplifying medium occupies a length L completely filling the region between the two mirrors which have
reflectivities r1 and r2. On each round trip the beam passes through the medium twice. Hence the fractional loss
incurred by the light beam is:
Fractional loss = r1r2 exp(2AL)
It is found that the increase in beam intensity resulting from stimulated emission is exponential
Therefore if the gain coefficient per unit length produced by stimulated emission is C cm1, the fractional
round trip gain is given by:
Fractional gain = exp(2CL)
Hence:
exp(2CL) r1r2 exp(2AL) = 1
and
r1r2 exp[2(C A)L] = 1
The threshold gain per unit length may be obtained by rearranging the above expression to give:

The second term on the right hand side represents the transmission loss through the mirrors.

2.2 The Semiconductor Injection Laser

Stimulated emission by the recombination of the injected carriers is encouraged in the semiconductor injection
laser (also called the injection laser diode (ILD) or simply the injection laser) by the provision of an optical
cavity in the crystal structure in order to provide the feedback of photons. This gives the injection laser several
major advantages over other semiconductor sources (e.g. LEDs) that may be used for optical communications.
These are as follows:
1. High radiance due to the amplifying effect of stimulated emission. Injection lasers will generally supply
milliwatts of optical output power.
2. Narrow linewidth on the order of 1 nm (10 ) or less which is useful in minimizing the effects of material
dispersion.
3. Modulation capabilities which at present extend up into the gigahertz range and will undoubtedly be
improved upon.
4. Relative temporal coherence which is considered essential to allow heterodyne (coherent) detection in highcapacity systems, but at present is primarily of use in single-mode systems.
5. Good spatial coherence which allows the output to be focused by a lens into a spot which has a greater
intensity than the dispersed unfocused emission.

Schematic diagram of a GaAs homojunction injection laser with a FabryProt cavity

The DH injection laser fabricated from lattice-matched IIIV alloys provided both carrier and optical
confinement on both sides of the pn junction, giving the injection laser a greatly enhanced performance. This
enabled these devices with the appropriate heat sinking to be operated in a CW mode at 300 K with obvious
advantages for optical communications
2.2.1 Efficiency
It is the differential external quantum efficiency D which is the ratio of the increase in photon output rate for a
given increase in the number of injected electrons. If Pe is the optical power emitted from the device, I is the
current, e is the charge on an electron and hf is the photon energy, then:

Where Eg is the bandgap energy expressed in eV. It may be noted that D gives a measure of the rate of change
of the optical output power with current and hence defines the slope of the output characteristic. The internal
quantum efficiency of the semiconductor laser i,

It is related to the differential external quantum efficiency by the expression

Where A is the loss coefficient of the laser cavity, L is the length of the laser cavity and r1, r2 is the cleaved
mirror reflectivities.
Another parameter is the total efficiency (external quantum efficiency) T which is efficiency defined as:

As the power emitted Pe changes linearly when the injection current I is greater than the threshold current Ith,
then:

For high injection current (e.g. I = 5Ith) then T D, whereas for lower currents (I 2Ith) the total efficiency is
lower and around 15 to 25%.
The external power efficiency of the device (or device efficiency) ep in converting electrical input to optical
output is given by:

For the total efficiency we find:

2.2.2 Stripe geometry

The DH laser structure provides optical confinement in the vertical direction through the refractive index step at
the heterojunction interfaces, but lasing takes place across the whole width of the device.

Figure shows the broad-area DH laser where the sides of the cavity are simply formed by roughening the edges
of the device in order to reduce unwanted emission in these directions and limit the number of horizontal
transverse modes. However, the broad emission area creates several problems including difficult heat sinking,
lasing from multiple filaments in the relatively wide active area and unsuitable light output geometry for
efficient coupling to the cylindrical fibers.
To overcome these problems while also reducing the required threshold current, laser structures in which the
active region does not extend to the edges of the device were developed. A common technique involved the
introduction of stripe geometry to the structure to provide optical containment in the horizontal plane.

2.2.3 Laser modes

LASER contains a large number of modes which are generated within the laser cavity. Hence the laser emission
will only include the longitudinal modes contained within the spectral width of the gain curve as shown in
figure.

This gives rise to resonant modes which are transverse to the direction of propagation. These transverse
electromagnetic modes are designated in a similar manner to transverse modes in waveguides by TEMlm where
the integers l and m indicate the number of transverse modes. In the case of the TEM00 mode all parts of the
propagating wave front are in phase. This is not so, however, with higher order modes (TEM10, TEM11, etc.)
where phase reversals produce the various mode patterns. Thus the greatest degree of coherence, together with
the highest level of spectral purity, may be obtained from a laser which operates in only the TEM00 mode.
Higher order transverse modes only occur when the width of the cavity is sufficient for them to oscillate.

The correct stripe geometry inhibits the occurrence of the higher order lateral modes by limiting the width of the
optical cavity, leaving only a single lateral mode which gives the output spectrum.

2.2.4 Single-mode operation

For single-mode operation, the optical output from a laser must contain only a single longitudinal and single
transverse mode. Hence the spectral width of the emission from the single-mode device is far smaller than the
broadened transition linewidth. Single transverse mode operation, however, may be obtained by reducing the
aperture of the resonant cavity such that only the TEM00 mode is supported. To obtain single-mode operation it
is then necessary to eliminate all but one of the longitudinal modes. One method of achieving single
longitudinal mode operation is to reduce the length L of the cavity until the frequency separation of the adjacent
modes given by f = c/2nL is larger than the laser transition linewidth or gain curve. Then only the single mode
which falls within the transition linewidth can oscillate within the laser cavity.

2.2.5 External quantum efficiency gth

The external quantum efficiency ext is defined as the number of photons emitted per radiative electron hole
pair recombination above threshold.
ext=
here i is the internal quantum efficiency ( 0.6-0.7 at room tempreture)
Experimentally, ext is calculated from the straight-line portion of the curve for the emitted optical power P versus

drive current I, which gives

ext=

= 0.806

2.3 Laser Diode Rate Equation

The relationship between optical output power and the diode drive current can be determined by examined by
the rate equations that govern the interaction of photons and electrons in the active region. for a p-n junction
with a carrier confinement region of depth d, the rate of equation are given by
=Cn+Rsp-

...(1)

= stimulated emission+ spontaneous emission+ photon loss; which governs the number of photons and

= -

-Cn .....(2)

= injection+ spontaneous recombination+ stimulated emission; which governs the number of electrons n
Where; C= coefficient describing the strength of he optical absorption
Rsp=rate of spontaneous emission into lasing mode
ph= photon life time
s= spontaneous recombination lifetime
on solving equation 1 and 2 for a steady state condition will yield an expression for the output power.
In first equation assuming Rsp is negligible and nothing that d/dt must be positive is small, we have;

Cn-1/ ph0

This shows that n must exceed a threshold value nth in order for to increase. So from eq 1, this threshold
value can be expressed in terms of the threshold current Jth needed to maintain an inversion level n=nth in steady
state when no. Of photons =0

=
This expression defines the current requirement to sustain an excess electron density in the laser when
spontaneous emission is the only decay mechanism,
Now consider the photon and electron rate equations in the steady state condition at the lasing threshold

0=Cnth s+Rsp-s/ph ......(4)

0= - -Cnths ........(5)
After adding these two equations, the no of photons per unit volume

s=

(J-Jth)+ ph Rsp

UNIT 4
SOURCE TO FIBER POWER LAUNCHING:
In implementing an optical fiber link, two of the major system questions are now to launch operation of optical power into a particular
fiber from same type of luminescent source and how to couple optical power from the fiber to other. A measure of the amount of
optical power emitted from a source that can be coupled into a fiber is usually given by the coupling efficiency defined as:
: Power couple into the fiber
: Power emitted from the light source
The launching and coupling efficiency depends on the type of fiber that is attached to the source and on the coupling process.
The optical power that can couple into a fiber depends on the radiance or brightness which is given through a diode drive current.
Radiance is the optical power radiated into a unit solid angle per unit emitting surface areas and is generally specified in terms of
Watts/cm2.
SOURCE OUTPUT PATTERN: The optical power accepting capability of a fiber is represented by a spatial radiation pattern of the
source which is shown in figure:

Here the figure shows a spherical coordinate system characterized by R, and with the polar axis. The radiance may be a function of
both and and can also vary from point to point on the emitting surface.
1). Surface emitter LED can be characterized by this output pattern, which means the source is equally bright when viewed from any
direction. The power delivered at an angle , varies as cos because the projection area of emitting surface varies, so the emission
area pattern follows:
: radiance along the normal to the radiating surface.
2). For edge emitter LED, and laser diodes, more complex emission pattern exists. These devices have different radiance B(,90 0)
and B(,00) in the planes parallel and normal. In general,
where, L and T represents lateral power and transverse power distribution.
For edge emitter, L=1
for laser diode, L=100
POWER COUPLING: The optical power coupling of any fiber can be calculated by the symmetric source of brightness (B), area
and solid acceptance angle

Here, the fiber end face is centered over emitting surface of the source and is positioned as close as possible.
So, the power coupled is:

: upper integration limit of radiation

If the source radius is less than fiber core radius a, then
For SLED,
, so,

; and for sources areas larger than the fiber core area,

= a.

POWER LAUNCHING VERSUS WAVELENGTH: The power launched into a fiber depends upon the brightness of the source,
which is radiance. So a number of modes can propagate in a multimode graded index fiber of core size a and index profile is :
So, the radiated power per mode,

, from a source at a particular wavelength is given by,

: radiance
EQUILIBRIUM NUMERICAL APERTURE: In a optical fiber setup, the losses occurs in the first few tens of meters of a
multimode system. To achieve a low coupling loss, this should be connected to a system fiber that has a identical NA and core
diameter. A certain amount of optical power is lost at the connecting mechanism of the fiber setup.
If the light emitting area of the LED is less than the cross sectional area of the fiber core, the power coupled into the fiber is NAin and
when the optical power measured in long multimode fibers after the launched mode have come to equilibrium, the effect of
equilibrium NA become apparent. At this point optical power in the fiber:

LASER DIODE TO FIBER COUPLING: In edge emitting LED, the angular output distribution of the laser is greater than the fiber
acceptance angle, and since the laser emitting area is much smaller than the fiber core, spherical or cylindrical lenses can also be used

to improve the coupling efficiency between edge cutting laser diodes and optical fibers. This is also known as vertical cavity surface
emitting laser (VCSELs).
PHOTODETECTORS:
1. PIN PHOTODETECTOR:

The most common semiconductor photo detector is the PIN photodiode.

The device structure consists of p and n regions separated by a very lightly doped n type intrinsic region. In normal operation, a large
reverse bias voltage is applied across the device so that the intrinsic region is fully depleted of carriers.
Operation: When an incident photon has energy greater than or equal to the band gap energy of the semiconductor material, the
photon can give up its energy and excite an electron from the VB to CB. The electrons and holes are called photo carriers. The photo
detector is normally designed so that these carriers are intentionally added in the depletion region, where most of the incident light is
absorbed. This gives rise to a current flow in an external circuit, with one electron flowing for every carrier pair generated. This
current is known as the photocurrent.
The charge carriers move a distance LN or LP for electrons and holes. This distance is known as diffusion length and the time taken for
an electron and hole to recombine is known as carrier lifetime ( and ). The lifetime and the diffusion length are related as:

The quantum efficiency is the number of the electron hole carrier pairs generated per incident photon of energy h and is given by:

: Photo current
: Incident optical power
2.

AVALANCHE PHOTODIODE:

Avalanche photodiode (APD) internally multiply the primary signal photocurrent before it enters the input circuitry of the following
amplifier. This increases receiver sensitivity, since the photocurrent is multiplied before encountering the thermal noise associated
with the receiver circuit. In order for carrier multiplication to take place, the photo generated carriers must traverse a region where a
very high electric field is present. In this high field region, a photo generated electron or hole can gain enough energy so that it ionizes
bound electrons in the valance bond upon colliding time. This is known as impact ionization.

The newly created carriers are also accelerated by high electric field, thus known as avalanche effect.
The average number of electron hole pair created by a carrier/unit distance travelled is called ionization rate. The multiplication M for
all carriers generated in the photodiode is defined by:
: Multiplied carrier current
: Primary current
DETECTOR RESPONSE TIME: The response time of a photodiode together with its output circuit depends upon,
a). The transit time of the photo carriers in the depletion region.
b). The diffusion time of the photo carriers generated outside the depletion region.
c). The RC time constant of the photodiode.
The photodiode parameters responsible for these three factors are absorption coefficient , the depletion region width , the
photodiode junction and package capacitances, the amplifier capacitance. The transit time depends on the carrier drift velocity
and
the depletion layer width .
The photodiode response time to an optical input pulse is

: Rise time life time

: fall time life time
Junction capacitances:
Now, photodiode pulse responses under various detector parameters:

TEMPERATURE EFFECT ON AVALANCHE GAIN: The gain mechanism of an avalanche photodiode is very temperature
sensitive because of the dependence of the electron and hole ionization rates. This temperature dependence is particular critical at high
bias voltage, where small changes in temperature can cause large variation in gain.
To maintain a constant gain as the temperature changes, the electric filed in the multiplying region of the p-n junction must also be
changed, which adjusts the applied bias voltage on the photo detector when the temperature changes.
The temperature dependent expression for gain is:

: Breakdown voltage
: varies between 2.5 to 7, as per material
: reverse bias voltage
: multiplies photocurrent
: resistance
So, the breakdown voltage:

OPTICAL RECEIVER OPERATION:

The design of an optical receiver is much more complicated than that of an optical transmitter because the receiver must be able to
detect weak signals, distorted signals and make decisions on what type of data was send based on an amplified and reshaped version
of this distorted signal.
DIGITAL SIGNAL TRANSMISSION:

The transmitted signal is a two level binary data stream consisting of either a 0 or a 1 in a time slot of duration T b. This time slot is
referred to as a bit period. One technique for sending binary data is amplitude shift keying (ASK) or on-off key (OOK). The resultant
signal wave thus consists of a voltage pulse of amplitude V relative to the zero voltage level when a binary 1 occurs and a zero voltage
level space when a binary 0 occurs. Depending on the coding scheme to be used a binary 1 may or may not fill the time slot T b.
The function of the optical transmitter is to convert the electric signal to an optical signal, thus in the optical signal emerging from the
LED or laser transmitter 1 is represented by a pulse of optical power (light) of duration T b, whereas 0 is the absence of any light.
The optical signal that is coupled from the light source to the fiber becomes attenuated and distorted as it propagates along the fiber
waveguide. Upon arriving at the end of the fiber, a receiver converts the optical signal back to an electrical format.
BASIC COMPONENTS OF AN OPTICAL RECEIVER:

As per the diagram, the first element is either a pin or an avalanche photodiode, which produces an electric current that is proportional
to the received power level. Since this electric current is typically very weak, a front end amplifier boosts it to a level that can be used
by the following electronics. After amplification, it is passed through a low pass filter to reduce the noise that is outside of the signal
bandwidth. To minimize the effect of ISI, the filter can reshape the pulses that have become distorted as they travelled through the
fiber. This function is called equalization, because it equalizes or cancels pulse spreading effect. Now a decision circuit samples the
signal level with a certain reference voltage known as the threshold level.
If received signal level is > Threshold level 1 received
If received signal level is < Threshold level 0 received
To accomplish this bit interpretation, the receiver must know where the bit boundaries are. This is done with the assistance of a
periodic waveform called a clock, which has a periodically equal to the bit interval. Thus this function is called clock recovery or
timing recovery.
ERROR SOURCES:

Errors in the detection mechanism can arise from various noises and disturbance associated with the signal distortion system.
The noise sources can be either external to system or internal to the system.
The internal noise is caused by the spontaneous fluctuations of current or voltage in electric circuits. Shot noise arises in electronic
devices because of the discrete nature of current flow in the device . Thermal noise arises from the random motion of electrons in a
conductor.
When using an APD, an additional shot noise arises from the statistical nature of the multiplication process. The noise level increases
with larger avalanche gain M. additional photo detector noises come from the dark current and leakage current.
If the detector is illuminated by an optical signal P(t), then the average number of E-H pair N generated in a time is :
: detector quantum efficiency
: time interval
The actual number of E-H pairs n that are generated from the average according to the poission distribution:
where
is the probability that n electrons are emitted in an interval .
So, the express noise factor due to avalanche multiplication,

where, k : ionization ratio

x : photodiode material range (0 & 1)
DIGITAL RECEIVER PERFORMANCE: In a digital receiver the decision circuit output signal voltage V OUT(t) would always
exceed the threshold voltage when a 1 is present and would be less than the threshold when no pulse was sent. But in actual, deviation
occurs due to various noises, interference and undistinguishable light pulses.
PROBABILITY OF ERROR: There are several ways of measuring the rate of error occurrences in a digital data stream. A simple
approach for this is bit error rate (BER).
where,

: error occurring in a certain time interval

: Pulse transmitted during this interval
B: Bit rate =

In telecommunication, the error rate depends upon the SNR (Range 10 -9 to 10-12). The system error rate requirement and the receiver
noise levels set a lower limit on the optical signal power level that is required at the photo detector.
To compute the BER at the receiver, the probability distribution is required at the equalizer output. The signal is digital so it can be
either 0 or 1.
(1)
0
(2)
where is the level voltage.
If the threshold voltage is th, then the error probability Pe is defined as:
(3)
a & b : probabilities that either a 1 or 0
eg for unbiased data with equal 0 & 1, a=b=0.5

RECEIVER SENSITIVITY: Optical communication system use a BER value to specify the performance requirement for a
particular transmission link application eg SONET/SDH network BER10-10 and Ethernet & fiber channel require BER10 -12. To
achieve a desired BER at a given data rate, a specific minimum average optical power level must arrive at the photo detector. The
value of this minimum power level is called the receiver sensitivity.
The receiver sensitivity is found from the average power contained in a bit period for the specified data rate as:
R: unity gain responsibility
M: gain of photodiode
If there is no optical amplifier in a fiber transmission link, then thermal and shot noise dominate the noise effect in the receiver.
Therefore, assuming there is no optical power in a received zero pulse, the noise variances for 0 and 1 pulse respectively are:

In a photodiode, the noise figure F(M) and electrical bandwidth B e of the receiver is assumed to be half the bit rate, so the thermal
noise current variance is :
After substituting the operating values, RL=200, T=3000K, fn=3dB, T=9.1010-12B1/2, BER=10

QUANTUM LIMIT: In designing an optical system, the fundamental physical bounds must be known for the system performance.
Suppose that we have an ideal photo detector which has unity quantum efficiency and which produces no dark current, no E-H pair
generated in the absence of an optical pulse. Given this condition, it is possible to find the minimum received optical power required
for a specific BER performance in a digital system. This minimum received power level is known as Quantum limit.
Assume that an optical pulse of energy E falls on the photo detector in a time interval , this can only be interpreted by the receiver as
a 0 pulse if no E-H pairs are generated, the probability, n=0.

ANALOG RECEIVERS: The usage of fiber optics transmission link becomes wide with analog links. This range 4 kHz voice
channels to microwave links operating in the multigigahertz region.
The analog technique is used in amplitude modulation, where a time varying electric signal s(t) is used to modulate an optical source
directly about some bias point defined by the bias current IB. The transmitted optical power P(t) is:
(1)
where,
: transmission power
m : modulation index
At the receiver end, the photocurrent generated by the analog optical signal is:

where,

= primary photo current

The mean square signal current at the photocurrent output is:

and the mean square noise current is:

For SNR,

Since the SNR in this case is independent of the circuit noise, it represents the fundamental or quantum limit for analog receivers.

UNIT 5
LINK DESIGN
POINT TO POINT LINKS:

The simplest transmission link is a point line that has a transmitter on one end and a receiver on the other.
This type of link places the least demand on optical fiber technology and thus sets the basis for examining more complex system
architecture. The design of an optical link involves many interrelated variables among the fiber, source and photo detector operating
characteristics, so that the actual link design and analysis may require several iterations before they are completed satisfactorily.
The following key system requirements are needed in analyzing a link:
1. The desired transmission distance
2. The data rate or channel bandwidth
3. The bit error rate (BER)
To fulfill these requirements the designer has a choice of the following components and their associated characteristics:
1. Multimode or single mode optical fiber
a). Core size
b). Core refractive index profile
c). Bandwidth or dispersion
d). Attenuation
e). Numerical aperture or mode field diameter
2. LED or Laser diode optical source
a). Emission wavelength
b). Spectral line width
c). Output power
d). effective radiating area
e). Emission pattern
f). number of emitting mode
3. PIN or Avalanche photodiode
a). Responsivity
b). Operating wavelength
c). speed
d). Sensitivity
LINK POWER BUDGET:

The optical power loss model for a point to point link is shown in figure. The optical power received at the photo detector depends on
the amount of light coupled into the fiber and losses occurring in the fiber and at the connectors and splices. The link loss budget is
derived from the sequential loss contribution of each element in the link.

the link loss budget simply considers the total optical power loss PT that is allowed between the light sources and the photo detector,
and allocates this loss to cable attenuation, connector loss, splice loss, and system margin. Thus if P S is the optical power emerging
from the end of a fiber fly lead attached to the light source or from a source coupled connector, then

where,

: connector loss
: Attenuation in dB/km
L: transmission distance

RISE TIME BUDGET: A rise time budget analysis is a convenient method for determining the dispersion limitation of an optical
fiber link. This is particularly useful for digital systems. In this approach, the total rise time
of the link is the root sum square of the
rise times for each contributor to the pulse rise time degradation:
(1)
The four basic elements that may significantly limit system speed are the transmitter rise time , and group velocity dispersion
(GVD) rise time
of the fiber, the modal dispersion rise time
of the fiber, and the receiver rise time
.
The rise times of transmitters and receivers are generally known to the designer. The transmitter rise time is attributable primarily to
the light source and its drive circuitry. The receiver rise time results from the photodetector response and the 3-dB electrical
bandwidth of the receiver front end. The response of the receiver front end can be modeled by a first-order low pass filter havibg a
step response:
where,
is the 3-dB electrical bandwidth of the receiver and u(t) is the unit step function which is 1 for t 0 and 0 for t<0. The rise
time
of the receiver is usually defined as the time interval between g(t)=0.1 and g(t)=0.9. This is known as the 10- to 90-percent
rise time. Thus, if
is given in megahertz, then the receiver front end rise time in nanoseconds is
(2)
Multimode fibers experience modal distributions at fiber to fiber joints owing to misaligned joints, different core index profiles in
each fiber, and/or different degrees of mode mixing in the individual fibers. Determining the fiber rise times resulting from GVD and
modal dispersion then becomes more complex than for the case of a single uniform fiber.
The fiber rise time
resulting from GVD over a length L can be approximated as:
(3)
where, is the half power spectral width of the source.
The difficulty in predicting the bandwidth of a series of concatenated multimode fibers arises from the observation that the total route
bandwidth can be a function of the order in which fibers are joined.
A variety of empirical expressions for modal dispersion have thus been developed. From practical field experience, it has been found
that the bandwidth
in a link of length L can be expressed to a reasonable approximation by the empirical relation:
(4)
Using equation (4) for the 3-dB optical bandwidth of the fiber link and letting
be the rise time resulting from modal dispersion,
then
(5)
If

is expressed in nanoseconds and

is given in megahertz, then

(6)

Therefore, total system rise time will be:

(7)
POWER PENALITIES:
The optical power falling on the photo detector is a clearly defined function of time within the statistical nature of the quantum
detection process. In reality, a number of signal impairment that is inherent in optical fiber transmission system can degrade the link
performance. When any of these impairment effects are present in a link, there is a reduction in the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of
the system from the ideal case.
The reduction in SNR is known as power penalty for those effects and generally is expressed in decibels. Thus, if SNRideal and SNR
impair are the signal-to-noise ratios for the ideal and impaired cases, then the power penalty PPx for impairment x ig given by
PPx=-10 log

When receiver thermal noise dominates, then the 1 and 0 noise powers are equal and independent of the signal level. In this case,
letting P0=0 and P1=2Pave, the power penalty is:
0
0
MODAL NOISE:
When light from a coherent laser is launched into a multimode fiber, normally a number of propagating modes of the fiber are excited.
As long as these modes retain their relative phase coherence, the radiation pattern seen at the end of the fiber takes on the form of a
speckle pattern. This is the result of constructive and destructive interference between propagating modes at any given place. The
number of speckles in the pattern approximates the number of propagating modes. As the light travels along the fiber, a combination
of mode-dependent losses, changes in phase between modes, and fluctuations in the distribution of energy among the various fiber
modes will change the modal interference and result in a different speckle pattern. Modal or speckle noise occurs when any losses that
are speckle-pattern-dependent are present in a link.
The modal distortion resulting from interference between a single pair of modes will appear as a sinusoidal ripple of frequency,
where,

is the rate of change of optical frequency.

MODE PARTITION NOISE:

Mode-partition noise is associated with intensity fluctuations in the longitudinal modes of a multimode laser diode; that is, the side
modes are not sufficiently suppressed. This is the dominant noise in single-mode fibers when using multimode devices, such as FP
lasers. Intensity fluctuations can occur among the various modes in a multimode laser even when the total optical output is constant, as
exhibited in figure. This power distribution can vary significantly both within a pulse and from pulse to pulse.
Mode partitioned noise becomes more pronounced for higher bit rates. The errors due to mode-partition noise can be reduced and
sometimes eliminated by setting the bias point of the laser above threshold. However, raising the bias power level reduces the
available signal pulse power, thereby reducing the available signal-to-thermal-noise ratio.

CHIRPING:
A laser which oscillates in a single longitudinal mode under CW operation may experience dynamic line broadening when the
injection current is directly modulated. This line broadening is a frequency chirp associated with modulation-induced changes in the
carrier density. Laser chirping can lead to significant dispersion effects for intensity modulated pulses when the laser emission
wavelength is displaced from the zero-dispersion wavelength of the fiber. This is particularly true in systems operating at 1550nm,
where dispersion in G.652 non-dispersion-shifted fibers is much greater than at 1300nm.
REFLECTION NOISE:

When light travels through a fiber link, some optical power gets reflected at refractive index discontinuities such as in splices,
couplers, and filters, or at air glass interfaces in connectors. The reflected signals can degrade both transmitter and receiver
performance. IN high speed systems, this reflected power causes optical feedback which can induce laser instabilities. These
instabilities show up as either intensity noise (output power fluctuations), jitter (pulse distortion), or phase noise in the laser, and they
can change its wavelength, line width, and threshold current. Since they reduce the signal-to-noise ratio, these effects cause two types
of power penalties in receiver sensitivities. First, as shown in figure, multiple reflection points set up an interferometric cavity that
feeds power back into the laser cavity, thereby converting phase noise into intensity noise. A second effect created by multiple paths is
the appearance of spurious signals arriving at the receiver with variable delays, thereby causing intersymbol interference as shown in
figure.
ERROR CONTROL:

In any digital transmission system, errors are likely to occur there is a significant signal-to-noise ration to provide a low bit error rate.
The acceptance of a certain level of errors depends on the network user.
To control errors and to improve the reliability of a communication line, first it is necessary to be able to detect the errors and then
either to correct them or retransmit the information. Error detection methods encode the information stream to have a specific pattern.
If segments in the received data stream violate this pattern, then errors have occurred.
The two basic schemes for error correction are automatic repeat request (ARQ) and forward error correction (FEC). ARQ technique
uses a feedback channel between the receiver and transmitter to adds at least one round trip time of latency, ARQ may not be feasible
for applications in which data must arrive within a certain time in order to be useful. Forward error correction avoids the shortcomings
of ARQ for high bandwidth optical networks requiring low delays. In FEC techniques, redundant information is transmitted along
with the original information. If some of the original data is lost or received in error, the redundant information is used to reconstruct
it.
CONCEPT OF ERROR DETECTION:
An error in a data stream can be categorized as a single-bit error or a burst error. A single-bit error means that only one bit of a data
unit (e.g. a byte, code word, a packet, or a frame) is changed from a 0 to a 1, or vice versa. Single bit errors are not very common in a
typical transmission system, since most bit-corrupting noise effects last longer than a bit period.
A burst error refers to the fact that more than a single bit in a data unit has changed. This type of error happens most often in a typical
transmission system since the duration of a noise burst lasts over several bit periods. A burst error does not necessarily change every
bit in a data segment that contains errors. As shown in fig, the length of an error burst is measured from the first corrupted bit to the
last corrupted bit. Not all the bits in this particular segment were damaged.

LINEAR ERROR DETECTION CODES:

The single parity check code is one of the simplest error detection methods. This code forms a code word from the combination of k
information bits and a single added check bit. If the k information bits contain an odd number of 1 bit, then the check bit is set to 1;
otherwise it is set to 0. This procedure ensures that the code word has an even number of ones, which is called having an even parity.
Hence the check bit is called a parity bit. The single parity check code thus can detect when an odd number of errors have occurred in
a code word. However, if the received code word contains an even number of errors, this method will fail to detect the errors. The
single parity check code is called a linear code because the parity bit b k+1 is calculated as the modulo 2 sum of the k information bits,
that is,
where
are the information bits.
A more general linear code with stronger error detection capabilities is called a binary linear code. This linear code adds n-k check bits
to a group of k information bits, thereby forming a code word consisting of n bits. Such a code is designated by the notation (n,k). One
example is the (7,4) linear hamming code in which the first four bits of a code word are the information bits
and the next
three bits
are the check bits. Among the wide variety of Hamming codes, this particular one can detect all single and double
bit errors, but fails to detect some triple errors.
POLYNOMIAL CODES:

Polynomial codes are used widely for error detection, since these codes are easy to implement using shift register circuits. The term
polynomial code comes from the fact that the information symbols, the code words, and the error vector are represented by
polynomials with binary coefficients. Here if a transmitted code word has n bits, then the error vector is defined by (
),
where =1 if an error has occurred in the j th transmitted bit and =0 otherwise. Since, the encoding process generates check bits by
means of a process called a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), a polynomial code also is known as a CRC code.
The cyclic redundancy check technique is based on a binary division process involving the data portion of a packet and a sequence of
redundant bits. Figure outlines the following basic CRC procedures:
STEP 1. At the sender end a string of n zeroes is added to the data unit on which error detection will be performed. For example,
this data unit may be a packet (a grouping of data plus routing and control bits). The characteristics of the redundant bits are such
that the result (packet plus redundant bits) is exactly divisible by a second predetermined binary number.
STEP 2. The new enlarged data unit is divided by the pre determined divisor using binary division. If the number of bits added to
the data unit is n, then the number of bits in the predetermined divisor is n+1. The remainder which results from this division is
called the CRC remainder or simply the CRC. The number of digits in this remainder is equal to n. For example, if n=3 it may be
binary number 101. Note that the remainder also might be 000, if the two numbers are exactly divisible.
STEP 3: The n zeroes that were added to the data unit in step 1 are replaced by the n-bit CRC. The composite data unit then is
sent through the transmission channel.
STEP 4: When the data unit plus the appended CRC arrives at the destination, the receiver divides this incoming composite unit
by the same divisor that was used to generate the CRC.
STEP 5: If there is no division after this division occurs, then the assumption is that there are no errors in the data unit and it is
accepted by the receiver. A remainder indicates that some bits became corrupted during the transmission process and therefore the
data unit is rejected.
ERROR CORRECTION: Error correction may be done by the use of redundancy in the data stream. With this method, extra bits are
introduced into the raw data stream at the transmitter on a regular and logical basis and are extracted by the receiver. These digits

themselves convey no information but allow the receiver to detect and collect a certain percentage of errors in the information-bearing
bits. The degree of error free transmission that can be achieved depends on the amount of redundancy introduced.
The method of introducing redundant bits into the information stream at the transmitter for error correcting purposes is called forward
error correction (FEC). The most popular error-correcting codes are cyclic codes, such as reed-Solomon (RS) codes. These codes
have redundancy to blocks of k data symbols each of which is s bits long, for example, s=8. The codes are designated by the notation
(n,k) where n equals the number of original information symbols k plus the number of redundant symbols r. For a given symbol size s,
the maximum length of a Reed-Solomon code is n=2S-1.
A Reed Solomon decoder can correct up to t symbol errors, where 2t = n-k.
MULTICHANNEL TRANSMISSION TECHNIQUES:
In any transmission, we need to send multiple analog signals over the same fiber. To do this, one can employ a multiplexing technique
where a number of baseband signals are superimposed electronically on a set of N subcarriers that have different
frequencies
. These modulated subcarriers are then combined electrically through frequency division multiplexing (FDM)
to form a composite signal that directly modulates a single optical source. Methods for achieving this include vestigial-sideband
amplitude modulation (VSB-AM), frequency modulation (FM), and subcarrier multiplexing (SCM).
Of these, AM is simple and cost effective in that it is compatible with the equipment interfaces of a large number of CATV customers,
but its signal is very sensitive to noise and non linear distortion. Although FM requires a larger bandwidth than AM, it provides a
higher signal-to-noise ratio and is less sensitive to source nonlinearities. Microwave SCM operates at higher frequencies than AM or
FM and is an interesting approach for broadband distribution of both analog and digital signals.
MULTICHANNEL AMPLITUDE MODULATION:

Figure depicts the technique for combining N independent messages. An information bearing signal on channel I amplitude modulates
a carrier wave that has a frequency , where i =1, 2.N. An RF power combiner then sums these N amplitude-modulated carriers to
yield a composite frequency-division-multiplexed (FDM) signal which intensity-modulates a laser diode. Following the optical
receiver, a bank of parallel band pass filters separates the combined carriers into individual channels. The individual message signals
are recovered from the carriers by standard RF techniques.
For a large number of FDM carriers with random phases, the carriers add on a power basis. Thus, for N channels the optical
modulation index m is related to the per-channel modulation index by

If each channel modulation index

has the same value

, then,

As a result, when N signals are frequency-multiplexed and used to modulate a signal optical source, the carrier to noise ration of a
single channel is degraded by 10logN. If only a few channels are combined, the signals will add in voltage rather than power, so that
the degradation will have 20logN characteristics.
MULTICHANNEL FREQUENCY MODULATION:

The use of AM-VSB signals for transmitting multiple analog channels is, in principle, straightforward and simple. However, it has a
C/N requirement (or, equivalently, for AM, an S/N requirement) of at least 400 dB for each AM channel, which places very stringent
requirements on laser and receiver linearity. An alternative technique is frequency modulation (FM), wherein each subcarrier is
frequency-modulated by a message signal. This requires a wider bandwidth (30MHz versus 4MHz for AM), but yields a signal-tonoise ratio improvement over the carrier-to-noise ratio.
The S/N at the output of an FM detector is much larger than the C/N at the input of the detector. The improvement is given by:
0
where
is the required bandwidth,
is the peak-to-peak frequency deviation of the modulator, is the highest video frequency,
and w is the weighting factor used to account for the non uniform response of the eye pattern to white noise in the video bandwidth.
SUBCARRIER MULTIPLEXING:

The term subcarrier multiplexing (SCM) is used to describe the capability of multiplexing both multichannel analog and digital
signals within the same system.
Figure shows the basic concept of an SCM system. The input to transmitter consists of a mixture of N independent analog and digital
baseband signals. These signals can carry either voice, data, video, digital audio, high-definition video, or any other analog or digital
information. Each incoming signal
is mixed with a local oscillator (LO) having a frequency . The local oscillator frequencies
employed are in 2-to-8-GHz range and are known as subcarriers. Combining the modulated subcarriers gives a composite frequencydivision-multiplexed signal which is used to drive a laser diode.

At the receiving end, the optical signal is directly detected with a high speed wideband InGaAs pin photo diode and reconverted to a
microwave signal. For amplifying the received microwave signal, one can use a commercially available wideband low-noise amplifier
or a pin-FET receiver.
RF OVER FIBER:
Radio frequency (RF) signals at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies are used in applications such as radars, satellite links,
broadband terrestrial radios, and cable television networks. The sign ranges include the 0.3-to-3-GHz ultra high frequency (UHF)
band, the 3-to-30 GHz super high frequency (SHF) region, and the 30-to-300 GHz extremely high frequency (EHF) range.
Traditionally, these RF systems used wireless or coaxial cable links for transporting the microwave signals from a receiving element
(for example, an antenna) to a signal processing center, which could be located hundreds of meters away. Optical fibers offer certain
disadvantages over coaxial cables, such as a smaller size, lower losses, wider bandwidths, and insensitivity to electromagnetic
interference effects. Compared to coaxial lines, these factors allow easier development of fiber links over greater distances.
Consequently, here has been much interest in developing and deploying high speed optical fiber links for transporting microwave and
millimeter-wave signals in their original analog format.
The methods for transmitting microwave analog signals over an optical fiber link have become known as RF-over-fiber techniques.
OVERVIEW OF WDM:
Simple point to point connections contained a single fiber with one light source at the transmitting end and one photo detector at the
receiving end. Signals from different light sources used separate and uniquely assigned optical fibers. Since the spectral width of a
typical laser source occupies only a narrow slice of optical bandwidth, these simplex systems greatly underutilize the larger bandwidth
capacity of installed point-to-point transmission links. This was achieved with wavelengths that were separated from several tens up to
200 nanometers in order not to impose strict wavelength-tolerance requirements on the different laser sources and the receiving
wavelength separating components at the receiving end.
OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF WDM:

A characteristic of WDM is that the discrete wavelengths from an orthogonal set of carriers which can be separated, routed, and
switched without interfering with each other. This isolation between channels hold as long as the total power intensity is kept
sufficiently low to prevent nonlinear effects such as stimulated Brillouin scattering and four wave mixing processes from degrading
the link performance.
Figure shows the implementation of passive and active components in a typical WDM link containing various types of optical
amplifiers. At the transmitting end there are several independently modulated light sources, each emitting signals at a unique
wavelength. Here, a multiplexer is needed to combine these optical outputs into a continuous spectrum of signals and couple them
onto a single fiber. At the receiving end a demultiplexers is required to separate the optical signals into appropriate detection channels
for signal processing.
Figure shows there are many independent operating regions across the spectrum ranging from the O-band through the L-band in which
narrow-line width optical sources can be used simultaneously. To find the optical bandwidth corresponding to a particular spectral
width in these regions, we use the fundamental relationship,
, which relates the wavelength to the carrier frequency , where
c is the speed of light. Differentiating this we have for
:
Where, the frequency deviation

corresponds to the wavelength deviation

around .

OPTICAL POWER MEASUREMENTS:

Optical power measurement is the most basic function in fiber optic methodology. However, this parameter is not a fixed quantity and
can vary as a function of other parameters such as time, distance along a link, wavelength, phase and polarization.
DEFINITION OF OPTICAL POWER:
To get an understanding optical power, let us look at its physical basis and how it relates to other optical quantities such as energy,
intensity and radiance.

Light particles called photons, have a certain energy associated with them, which changes with wavelength. The relationship
between the energy E of a photon and its wavelength is given by the equation
which is known as Plancks Law.
In terms of wavelength (measured in terms of m), the energy in electron volts is given by expression
0
.
Optical power P measures the rate at which photons arrive at a detector. This, it is a measure of energy transfer per time.
Since, the rate of energy transfer varies with time, the optical power is a function of time. It is measured in watts or joules per
second(J/s).
Radiance (or brightness), is a measure, in watts, of how much optical power radiates into a unit solid angle per unit of
emitting surface.

OPTICAL POWER METERS:

The function of an optical power meters is to measure total power over a selected wavelength band. Some form of optical power
detection is in almost every piece of light wave test equipment. Handheld instruments come in a wide variety of types with different
levels of capabilities. Multi-wavelength optical power meters using several photo detectors are the most common instruments for
measuring optical signal power levels. Usually the meter outputs are given in dBm (where 0dBm=1mw) or (dB
W).
For example, using a Ge photo detector typically allows a measuring range of +18 to -60 dBm in the 780-to-1600-nm wavelength
band, whereas an InGaAs photo detector allows a measuring range of +3 to -73dBm in the 840-to-1650-nm wavelength band. In each
case, the power measurements can be made at a number of calibrated wavelengths. User-selectable threshold settings can let the
instrument show a pass/fail on a built-in display. An RS-232 interface together with application software allows a user to download
measurements and view, export, or print them in either tabular or graphic form.