ATTENUATION IN OPTICAL FIBRE Primary sources of fibre attenuation: - Absorption - Scattering ABSORPTION 1. 2. 3. 4.

Intrinsic absorption by the silicon dioxide fibre material Absorption by core dopants Extrinsic absorption into impurities - metal ions and water Absorption into structural defects in the glass

Mechanisms 3 & 4 have been completely eliminated by modern high quality manufacturing processes SCATTERING Rayleigh scattering 1/ 4 ABSORPTION MECHANISM 1 AND RAYLEIGH SCATTERING ARE THE FUNDAMENTAL LOSS MECHANISMS WHICH CANNOT BE REMOVED OR REDUCED

ADDITIONAL CHANNEL LOSSES

CABLE LOSSES - BEND LOSS CONNECTOR LOSS SPLICE LOSS LOSS AT TERMINATIONS

+3 -7
Power (dBm )

Launched power Joints, penalties and margins

= 0.65 dB/km

-43 10.79 dB

Receiver sensitivity Receiver noise 55 km L

Graphical illustration of attenuation limited link length.

PULSE SPREADING / DISPERSION

SINGLE MODE FIBRE Laser or LED output is not a single wavelength but comprises a distribution of wavelengths (i.e. the source spectrum) The pulse of light in the fibre consists of a distribution of wavelength components The propagation velocity of light in the fibre is wavelength dependent The various wavelength components traverse the fibre with different time delays i.e. the time of flight to the fibre output is different for the various wavelength components of the pulse PULSE SPREADING A launched impulse spreads to assume a temporal distribution the distribution of the source which is typically Gaussian Magnitude of pulse spreading varies directly with the source linewidth () and length (L)

 = D. L.
1

where

1 (in ps) is the rms pulse width to which an impulse spreads after length L in km is the rms linewidth in nm and D is the dispersion coefficient of the fibre in units of ps/km.nm. D is usually measured and provided by the fibre manufacturers.

If the input pulse is approximately Gaussian with a finite rms width, 0, then the total rms width of the output pulse, t, after length L can be estimated from:

t =

( 2 + 2) o
1

It is readily seen from equation 2.4 that, if 1 is 5 times greater than 0, then the error in neglecting 0 is <2%, decreasing to <1% for 7 times and <0.5% for 10 times. In many practical circumstances the input pulse is a near impulse. Hence, 0 is small relative to 1 and can be ignored.

Due to attenuation, the power output (Pout) at the end of 1km of optical fibre drops to some fraction (k) of the input power (Pin) ie. Pout = k.Pin (k less than 1). Clearly, after 2km, Pout = k2.Pin, and, after Lkm, Pout = kL.Pin. Hence, the ratio of the power out of Lkm of optical fibre to the power in is given by

Pout = kL Pin

Taking the log of both sides and multiplying by 10 gives the power loss in dB as

Power loss(dB) = 10 log10 = 10 log10 k L = L.10 log10 k. = .L

P out Pin

where a (= 10 log k)is the attenuation coefficient of the fibre in dB/km

Example. What is the upper limit on the repeater spacing (ie the attenuation limited link length) for the following system. Launched power = 2mW ie +3dBm Fibre attenuation = 0.65dB/km Total joint loss = 2dB Power penalties = 2dB System margin = 6dB Receiver sensitivity = 50nW ie -43dBm Calculation: Total tolerable tolerable loss

= 3 -(-43dB) = 46dB Joints, penalties & system margin = 10dB Hence the total tolerable fibre loss = 36dB and the attenuation limited distance= 36/0.65 = 55km

a)

b)

Power

(FWHM) (rms)

Power

(FWHM) (rms)

Wavelength

Time

Gaussian distributions of a) power versus wavelength for an optical source and b) power versus time in a pulse propagating in an optical fibre.

1.540 1.520 1.500

Index of refraction

1.480 1.460 1.440 1.420 1.400 0.2 0.4 0.6 1.0 Wavelength (m) 2.0 4.0

Wavelength dependence of refractive index in silica

200

Material dispersion [ps/(nmkm)]

150

100

50

-50 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 Wavelength (m) 1.6

Wavelength dependence of the material dispersion coefficient in silica fibre

TOTAL DISPERSION To a first approximation the effects of material dispersion and waveguide dispersion on the extent of pulse spreading are additive

30 20
Dispersion [ps/(nmkm)]

d=4.5m Waveguide dispersion d=11m

10 0 -10 -20 -30 -40 1.2 Material dispersion 1.4

Total dispersion

d=4.5m

d=11m

1.6 Wavelength (m)

1.8

2.0

Material, waveguide and total dispersion in single mode fibre as a function of wavelength. Waveguide and total dispersion are presented for two different core diameters (d=4.5m & 11m)

The presence of waveguide dispersion shifts the zero dispersion wavelength to longer wavelengths enabling it to be controlled by selection of the core diameter In this way the fibre designers can achieve D values of <2ps/km.nm in DISPERSION SHIFTED single mode fibre at 1300nm and 1550nm

INTRAMODAL DISPERSION MECHANISMS MATERIAL DISPERSION n varies with propagation velocity varies with D varies with the second derivative of n() D (mat) is +ve for < 1270nm, 0 at 1270nm and -ve for > 1270nm D +ve Long s travel faster and D -ve shorter s travel faster

WAVEGUIDE DISPERSION Different wavelength components propagate at slightly different angles Energy propagating at shallower angles arrives at the output first Waveguide dispersion is always +ve and is not strongly wavelength dependent Depends strongly on the core diameter MULTI-MODE FIBRE DISPERSION

The pulse from the transmitter is divided up in energy between the various fibre modes Each mode carries a small fraction of the total pulse energy Each mode has a different propagation angle and energy in different modes travel different zig zag path lengths Energy in each mode arrives at the output of a given length of fibre at different times PULSE SPREADING

For a launched impulse the pulse width at the output (2) is given by: 2 = Dmm x L Dmm for step index fibre is in the range 10-30ns/km (seldom used for serious applications) Dmm for graded index fibre is 100 -300ps/km When both inter- and intra-modal dispersion mechanisms are significant, the total width (t) to which an impulse spreads is given by:

t = (12 + 22)1/2 and if the input pulse width is significant we get: t = (02 + 12 + 22)1/2

T L=0 T = Bit Period = 1/Bit Rate L=L1 Increasing Distance L=L2

Pulse spreading in optical fibres

Eventually pulses spread into adjacent bit periods leading to errors at the receiver Limits L for a given bit rate Limit the bit rate for a given link length DETERMINES THE BR.L PRODUCT BR.L PRODUCTS BR.L = C (a constant)

Taking the log of both sides: Log L = Log C/BR

200

100
km ec. it/s Gb 10

Repeater spacing (km)

50
.km sec bit/ 1G

30 20
m c.k it/se Mb 100

10

5 3 2

1 106

107 Bit rate (s-1 )

10 8

109

Link length versus bit rate for three values of BR L product.

MM Graded index fibre - Index grading used to equalise mode propagation velocity and minimise inter-modal dispersion to about 100-300ps/km: BR.L = 1 - 5Gbit/s.km SM fibre - At wavelengths beyond 1270nm waveguide dispersion is used to offset material dispersion at the wavelength of operation giving D < 2ps/km.nm with FPC laser - BR.L = 10-50Gbit/s.km with DFB laser - BR.L = >2000Gbit/s.km THE CHANNEL - SUMMARY

The channel (ie the fibre) intoduces signal degradation in the form of ATTENUATION and DISPERSION / PULSE SPREADING ATTENUATION determines the maximum possible link length PULSE SPREADING determines the BR.L product for a fixed bit rate it defines the upper limit on the link length up to the maximum determined by attenuation and for a fixed length it defines the upper limit on the bit rate

PULSE SPREADING IN MULTIMODE STEP INDEX FIBRE

Time taken for pulse to a length L along the fibre axis = Ln2/c Time taken for a pulse travelling at the critical angle = Ln2/c.sin c = Ln22/n1c Hence the difference in propagation times and the upper limit on intermodal pulse spreading is given by:
2 n2 L = n2 n1 c

n2 L = n n1 c
where n = n2 - n1 L ie. = DL