OPTICAL SOURCES

Thursday, April 8, 2010 1

 POINTS OF DISCUSSION
•NEED OF OPTICAL SOURCES
•REQUIREMENTS or EXPECTATIONS FROM
OPTICAL SOURCES
•TYPES
•LED-
PRINCIPLE OF WORKING,
CHARACTERISTICS, MODULATION,
STABILITY,
RADIATION PATTERN

Thursday, April 8, 2010 2

 POINTS OF DISCUSSION
•LASER DIODES

•PRINCIPLE OF WORKING,
•CHARACTERISTICS,
•MODULATION,
•STABILITY,
•RADIATION PATTERN
•COMPARISION

Thursday, April 8, 2010 3

 NEED OF OPTICAL SOURCES

WHY WE NEED TRANSMISSION MEDIA?

X X
G G
E- E-
1 2

OPTICAL OPTICAL
SOURCE DETECTOR

Thursday, April 8, 2010 4

 OPTICAL TRANSMITTER

MUX
OPTICAL
ELECTRONIC
PROCESSING SOURCE

OPTICAL TRANSMITTER

Thursday, April 8, 2010 5

 OPTICAL TRANSMITTER

MUX
OPTICAL
ELECTRONIC SOURCE
PROCESSING

OPTICAL TRANSMITTER

PROCESSING IS DONE ELECTRONICALLY TO

PREPARE THE SIGNAL FOR TRAVELLING SAFE
THROUGH THE FIBER

Thursday, April 8, 2010 6

 FUNCTIONS OF OPTICAL TRANSMITTER

MUX
OPTICAL
ELECTRONIC
SOURCE
PROCESSING

•SEPARATION OF CLOCK & DATA

•LINE CODING - CONVERSION INTO
OPTICAL LINE CODING
•SCRAMBLING
•COMBINING ORDERWIRE ,SUPERVISORY
PROTECTION SWITCHING SIGNALS WITH
THE MAIN SIGNAL
Thursday, April 8, 2010 7
 REQUIREMENTS or EXPECTATIONS
FROM OPTICAL SOURCES
•PRIMARY CHARACTERISTIC
WAVELENGTH
•It must operate at a wavelength which gives :
-LOW ATTENUATION,
-LOW DISPERSION
in the fibres.
THREE WINDOWS- 850 , 1300 , 1550

Thursday, April 8, 2010 8

 WINDOWS

Thursday, April 8, 2010 9

 REQUIREMENTS or EXPECTATIONS FROM
OPTICAL SOURCES

•RELIABILITY -
- LONG LIFE
- GOOD TEMPERATURE STABILITY
- GOOD REPRODUCIBILITY OF OUTPUT
CHARATERISTICS
AREA OF EMISSION - SMALL (SAME AS THE FIBRE
CORE SIZE)
EMISSION ANGLE - SMALL
LIGHT WAVELENGTH - TO SUIT FIBRE AND
DETECTOR
FAST RESPONSE TO INPUT MODULATION
Thursday, April 8, 2010 10
 REQUIREMENTS or EXPECTATIONS FROM
OPTICAL SOURCES
•OUTPUT POWER -
- SYSTEM DEMANDS MUST BE MET
- > 1 Mw
•POWER EFFICIENCY – It must operate with an
electric power supply requiring only a -
- LOW POWER
- LOW VOLTAGE
- SMALL WASTE HEAT
>Thursday,
10 % April 8, 2010 EASY MAINTENANCE 11
 REQUIREMENTS or EXPECTATIONS FROM
OPTICAL SOURCES
•FOCUSSING CAPABILITY -
- HIGH COUPLING EFFICIENCY SHOULD
BE POSSIBLE ON TO THE FIBRE.

•SIZE & WEIGHT -

- SMALL
- LIGHT WEIGHT

Thursday, April 8, 2010 12

 REQUIREMENTS or EXPECTATIONS FROM
OPTICAL SOURCES

•COST – Mass production and low cost are

desirable.
•SPECTRAL WIDTH - SINGLE FREQUECY \
MAXIMUM UTILISATION OF THE FIBER BW

PRACTICAL SOURCES FALL SHORT OF

THESE REQUIREMENTS PARTICULARLY
IN RESPECT OF :

SPECTRAL WIDTH , STABILITY

Thursday, April 8, 2010 13

 LIGHT SOURCES

TWO TYPES OF LIGHT SOURCES

EMPLOYED IN COMMUNICATIONS
- LED
- LD
BOTH USE INTENSITY MODULATION

Thursday, April 8, 2010 14

 LIGHT SOURCES
LED - LIGHT EMITTING DIODE
- SHORTHAUL AND MEDIUM HAUL
COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS WHERE
-POWER REQUIREMENTS ARE SMALL
- LOW BIT RATES REQUIRED

LD - LASER DIODE
- USED FOR LONG DISTANCE
- HIGH BIT RATE APPLICATIONS

Thursday, April 8, 2010 15

 LIGHT EMITTING DIODE (LED)
• Light emitting diodes are manufactured from gallium-
aluminium, arsenide or arsenide-phosphide materials.
• Using normal semiconductor diffusion growth
techniques, a P- N junction diode is made and electrons
& holes will migrate across this junction when the diode
is forward biased.
• As due to recombination of Electron & Holes in the
Transition region, energy is emitted in the form of light
with a wavelength of between 500 and 900nm. This is
called “Spontaneous Emission”.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 16

 LIGHT EMITTING DIODE (LED)

Thursday, April 8, 2010 17

 EDGE – EMITTING LED

Thursday, April 8, 2010 18

 OPERATING PRINCIPLE
• An LED is a Semiconductor p-n junction diode
and is forward biased.
• It emits light under this condition.
• When the p and n types of semiconductor
materials are brought together.
• The resulting energy barrier under zero external
applied voltage prevents the movement of the n
and p charge carriers.
• When the barrier energy level is lowered by the
application of an external voltage ( in forward
direction ),

Thursday, April 8, 2010 19

 OPERATING PRINCIPLE
• The movement of Electrons and Holes have taken
place and some of the charge carriers recombine in
the transition region.
• The energy lost in the transition is converted to
optical energy giving rise to photon.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 20

 OPERATING PRINCIPLE

E2
E2

E1

E1

ENERGY BAND DIAGRAM

Thursday, April 8, 2010 21

 OPERATING PRINCIPLE

Conduction band

e V0
Conduction band
EF
Eg Valance band

Valance band

n p

V=0

Thursday, April 8, 2010 22

 OPERATING PRINCIPLE

Conduction band

e V0 e (V0-Vi)
EF
Eg Valance band

Valance band
Vi +
n p
Vi

Thursday, April 8, 2010 23

 LED WAVELENGTH OF PHOTON

Eg = h * f
f=c/
Eg = h * ( c /  )
OR
 = h * c / Eg

Thursday, April 8, 2010 24

 A few parameters of light emitting
semiconductors are given below:
• MATERIAL WAVELENGTH ENERGY GAP
(micro meter) (e v)
Ga As 0.9 1.4
Al Ga As 0.8 – 0.9 1.4 – 1.55
In Ga As 1.0 – 1.3 0.95 – 1.24
In Ga As P 0.9 – 1.7 0.73 – 1.35

Thursday, April 8, 2010 25

 HETROJUNCTION DIODE
• A hetrojunction diode (In contrast to homojunction
where a single substrate is used) has improved
performance characteristics.
• This confines the radiation to a small area therby
increasing the coupling efficiency between the Source
and Fibre.
• The active region has a higher refractive index than the
materials on either side and an optic waveguide is
formed.
• LEDs are of two types:
• Surface Emitting –used for large diameter fibres
• Edge Emitting – used for small diameter fibres
Thursday, April 8, 2010 26
 LED
CHARACTERISTICS

Optical power ( mW )

LED CURRENT (in mA)

Power – Current relationship for an LED

Thursday, April 8, 2010 27

 LED MODULATION

Optical power ( mW )

OUTPUT
POWER

TIME

LED CURRENT (in mA)

TIME

Thursday, April 8, 2010 28

 LED STABILITY
6
LIFE TIME OF LED 10 HOURS
TEMPERATURE DEPENDANCE OF LED
Pout reduces 1% per degree C P = Po [ 1 - α (T-To)]
T2
T1 TO
P
mW

T3

i mA
Thursday, April 8, 2010 29
 RADIATION PATTERN
• Radiation Pattern called Lambertian Pattern of
Surface Emitter LED and also a Lambertian Pattern of
Edge Emitting LEDs.
• In Surface Emitting LEDs , the power diminishes as
cos, where is the angle between the viewing direction
and the normal to the surface.
• The emitting surface is uniformly bright, but is
projected area diminishes as cos when the viewing
angle changes.
• The power is down to 50% of its peak when angle is
60degree.
• The total half power beam width is then 120 degree
for this type of emitter.
Thursday, April 8, 2010 30
 RADIATION PATTERN
• The Edge Emitters concentrate their radiation somewhat more
than Surface Emitters.
• The Lambertian beam diverges slowly in the plane perpendicular
to the junction.
• Its beam angle is confined to 30 degree in perpendicular plane for
better beam intensity.
• The Edge Emitters having speed above 500 Mbps, have been
developed for use with Single Mode Fibres.
• LEDs are very reliable and long lasting if operated within the
power , voltage, current and temperature limits specified by the
manufacturer.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 31

 LED RADIATION PATTERN
BEAM INTENSITY

P = k * COS ∅

-90 O 90
BEAM ANGLE

Thursday, April 8, 2010 32

 RADIATION PATTERN

EDGE EMITTERS CONCENTRATE THEIR

RADIATION BETTER THAN THE SURFACE
EMITTERS

Thursday, April 8, 2010 33

 Disadvantages of LED devices
• The LED produces light which has a BROAD SPECTRAL
RESPONSE, typically 50-100nm. This means that the light
output is not all at the same wavelength or colour.

• When the LED light is transmitted over long distances

through fibre optic cables some pulse spreading will occur
due to CHROMATIC DISPERSION in the fibre core.

• The LED is a cheap, reliable light source suitable for short

distance, low speed optical transmission systems only.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 34

 LASER DIODE
• The LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission
of Radiation) operates in a manner similar to the LED
but produces a much higher output power.
• The electrons can make jumps from one energy level to
another within an atom.
• This movement is accompanied by the emission or
absorption of electromagnetic radiation in the form of
“photons”.
• The frequency of the emitted radiation is determined by
the semiconductor materials used to make the laser.
Eg = h * ( c /  )
 = --------- ?

Thursday, April 8, 2010 35

 LASER DIODE
• A Laser has an optical cavity formed by two parallel
mirror at the end facets of the semiconductor crystal as
shown in fig.
• For most applications, it is sufficient to use the natural
cleaves facets of the crystal as mirrors.
• To increase the reflectivity, the mirrors can be coated
with a metallic film.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 36

 LASER DIODE
SHORT-WAVELENGTH (800-900 nm)

Thursday, April 8, 2010 37

 LASER DIODE
LONG-WAVELENGTHS (1300-1600 nm)

Thursday, April 8, 2010 38

 OPERATING PRINCIPLES
• A few characteristics of Laser are:
1. PUMPING THRESHOLD :
The input power must be above a threshold before
emission of light takes place. This is not required in LED.
2. RADIATION PATTERN :
The angle of radiation depends on the size of the emitting
area and on the modes of oscillation within the Laser.
3. OUTPUT PATTERN :
The output power is spread over a range of frequencies.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 39

 OPERATING PRINCIPLES
• Power does not vary smoothly over this range but has
peaks and valleys.
• The number of such peaks depend on spectral width,
refractive index of material and dimension of cavity.
• The operation of LASER can be explained by the three
situations :
• Absorption
• Spontaneous Emission
• Stimulated Emission

Thursday, April 8, 2010 40

 OPERATING PRINCIPLES
• The structure of semiconductor/Atom/Molecule
contains discrete energy levels e.g. E1, E2.
• E1 is lower energy level and E2 is higher energy level.
• If electron goes up from lower energy level E1 to
higher energy level E2, it absorbs light and light energy
is thus converted to Electrical Energy, that is the case of
absorption.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 41

 LASER OPERATING PRINCIPLE
E2
ABSORPTION
E1

SPONTANEOUS
EMISSION

STIMULATED
EMISSION
Thursday, April 8, 2010 42
 LASER OPERATING PRINCIPLE

Thursday, April 8, 2010 43

 Producing the light output.
• The PN junction is heavily forward biased creating a
dense population of electrons in the conduction band.
At low current levels the device will generate light by
spontaneous emission just as the LED device.

• Once the threshold current has been exceeded the high

electron density will stimulate light emission and the
photons which are emitted will collide with other atoms
in the semi-conductor material causing more photons
to be emitted. This is called “Stimulated Emission”.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 44

 Laser action

• The active layer is bounded by an optical cavity with two

semi-transparent mirrors ends.

• Photons reaching the outer surface are reflected back into

the material and collides with another electron causing a
second photon to be produced. These two photons are
then reflected and collide with more electrons and the
process is repeated so that a very large number of photons
are created in a short time. This process is called “Lasing”.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 45

 Laser characteristics
• Output Power
The light output from the lasers used for telecomms is up to
50mW.

• Modulation Rates
The laser can also be switched on and off at higher rates than
is possible with an LED device. Modulation using 2 Gbits/sec
digital signals is possible with modern lasers.

• Frequency Chirp.
When a laser is switched on and off during the modulation
process, the peak wavelength (or line width) can jump briefly.
This effect is called “frequency chirping”.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 46

 Laser characteristics
P

75mA I

Thursday, April 8, 2010 47

 Laser characteristics
P

TIME
75mA I
Idc
TIME

Thursday, April 8, 2010 48

 Laser action

Thursday, April 8, 2010 49

 Noise in the laser output.

• When a laser is operating, there are random fluctuations in the power of

the light emitted. This variation can produce noise at the optical detector.
A typical S/N ratio for an injection laser is around - 80dB.

• When the laser is operating above the cut-off point of its characteristic, a
small change in temperature can cause the output spectrum to change
suddenly as the laser jumps to another mode. This causes a kink in the
characteristic graph.

• Stabilization of mode is achieved by keeping the laser temperature

constant by adequate heat sinks and cooling.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 50

 Heat sinks.
• The threshold current of a laser is dependent on
temperature and, for efficient operation, the optimum
working temperature is 32- 35° C. To maintain this
temperature, very efficient heat sinks are required and
in some cases Peltier heat pumps may be used.

• Many lasers include built-in negative feedback circuits

to control the output power and junction temperature.
If the temperature rises above a safe value, the power
supply automatically shuts down and an alarm
indication is given to the operator.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 51

 Distributed Feedback Lasers.
• Many early laser designs suffered from “mode instability”
and were prone to small frequency changes as the laser
jumped from one mode pattern to another. (typical 2.0nm
width)
• Modern designs, are being introduced with distributed
feedback. These are known as “distributed feedback
lasers”(DFL).
• The optical feedback in these DFL devices is not due to
reflection from the cavity end faces but by a grating built
into the laser which provides feedback along the whole
length of the cavity.
• This type of construction produces a single stable output
frequency and other modes are 20-30db below the
fundamental. (typical 0.2nm width)

Thursday, April 8, 2010 52

 Optical sources compared

Thursday, April 8, 2010 53