1. Optical Fiber Communication An Introduction

2. Optical Fiber
Communication system with light as the carrier and fiber as communication medium
Propagation of light in atmosphere impractical: water vapor, oxygen, particles.
Optical fiber is used, glass or plastic, to contain and guide light waves
Capacity
Microwave at 10 GHz with 10% utilization ratio: GHz BW
Light at 100 Tera Hz (1014 ) with 10% utilization ratio:100 THz (10,000GHz)

3. History
1880 Alexander G. Bell, Photo phone, transmit sound waves over beam of light
1930: TV image through uncoated fiber cables.
Few years later image through a single glass fiber
1951: Flexible fiberscope: Medical applications
1956:The term “fiber optics” used for the first time
1958: Paper on Laser

4. History Cont’d 1960: Laser invented
1967: New Communications medium: cladded fiber
1960s: Extremely lossy fiber: more than 1000 dB /km
1970: Fiber with loss of less than 2 dB/km
70s & 80s : High quality sources and detectors, SM fibres with Loss of <0.16dB/km
1988 : Optical Amplifiers
Early 2000: High Speed transmission & large bandwidth

5. Increase in Bitrate-Distance product

6. Progress In Lightwave Communication Technology

7. Optical Fiber: Advantages
Capacity: much wider bandwidth (10 GHz)
Crosstalk immunity
Immunity to static interference
Safety: Fiber is non-metallic
Longer lasting (unproven)
Security: tapping is difficult
Economics: Fewer repeaters

8. Higher initial cost in installation Interfacing cost
Disadvantages
Higher initial cost in installation
Interfacing cost
Strength: Lower tensile strength
Remote electric power
more expensive to repair/maintain
Tools: Specialized and sophisticated

9. Optical Fiber Link Transmitter Input Signal Coder or Converter Light
Source
Source-to-Fiber
Interface
Fiber-optic Cable
Output
Fiber-to-light
Interface
Light
Detector
Amplifier/Shaper
Decoder
Receiver

10. Sources & Detectors Light source: LED or ILD (Injection Laser Diode):
amount of light emitted is proportional to the drive current
Source –to-fiber-coupler (similar to a lens):
A mechanical interface to couple the light emitted by the source into the optical fiber
Light detector: PIN (p-type-intrinsic-n-type)
or APD (avalanche photo diode) both convert light energy into current

11. Plastic core and cladding
Fiber Types
Plastic core and cladding
Glass core with plastic cladding PCS (Plastic-Clad Silicon)
Glass core and glass cladding SCS: Silica-clad silica
Under research: non silicate: Zinc-chloride:
1000 time as efficient as glass

12. Plastic Fiber
Used for short run
Higher attenuation, but easy to install
Better withstand stress
Less expensive
60% less weight

13. Types Of Optical Fiber Single-mode step-index Fiber
Multimode step-index Fiber
Multimode graded-index Fiber
n1 core
n2 cladding
no air
Variable n
Light
ray
Index porfile

14. Single-mode step-index Fiber
Advantages:
Minimum dispersion: all rays take same path, same time to travel down the cable. A pulse can be reproduced at the receiver very accurately.
Less attenuation, can run over longer distance without repeaters.
Larger bandwidth and higher information rate
Disadvantages:
Difficult to couple light in and out of the tiny core
Highly directive light source (laser) is required.
Interfacing modules are more expensive

15. Multimode step-index Fibers:
inexpensive; easy to couple light into Fiber
result in higher signal distortion; lower TX rate
Multimode graded-index Fiber:
intermediate between the other two types of Fibers

16. Acceptance Cone & Numerical Aperture
n2 cladding qC
n1 core
n2 cladding
Acceptance angle, qc, is the maximum angle in which
external light rays may strike the air/Fiber interface
and still propagate down the Fiber with <10 dB loss.
Numerical aperture:
NA = sin qc = √(n12 - n22)

17. Losses In Optical Fiber Cables
The predominant losses in optic Fibers are:
Absorption losses: due to impurities in the Fiber material
Material or Rayleigh scattering losses: due to microscopic irregularities in the Fiber
Chromatic or wavelength dispersion: because of the use of a non-monochromatic source
Radiation losses: caused by bends (micro or macro) in fiber
Modal dispersion or pulse spreading: due to rays taking different paths down the Fiber
Coupling losses: caused by misalignment & imperfect surface finishes

18. Absorption Losses In Optic Fiber6
Rayleigh scattering
& ultraviolet
absorption 5 4
Loss (dB/km) 3
Peaks caused
by OH- ions
Infrared
absorption 2 1
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
Wavelength (mm)

19. Coupling Loses in Fiber
Axial displacement
Gap displacement
Angular displacement
Imperfect surface finish

20. Light Sources Light-Emitting Diodes (LED)
Made from material such as AlGaAs or GaAsP
Light is emitted when electrons and holes recombine
Either surface emitting or edge emitting
Injection Laser Diodes (ILD)
Similar in construction as LED except ends are highly polished to reflect photons back & forth

21. ILD versus LED Advantages: Disadvantages:
More focussed radiation pattern; smaller Fiber
Much higher radiant power; longer span
Faster ON, OFF time; higher bit rates possible
Monochromatic light; reduces dispersion
Disadvantages:
Much more expensive
Higher temperature; shorter lifespan

22. Light Detectors PIN Diodes Avalanche Photodiodes (APD)
Photons are absorbed in the intrinsic layer
Sufficient energy is added to generate carriers in the depletion layer for current to flow through the device
Avalanche Photodiodes (APD)
Photo-generated electrons are accelerated by relatively large reverse voltage and collide with other atoms to produce more free electrons
Avalanche multiplication effect makes APD more sensitive but also more noisy than PIN diodes

23. Wavelength-Division Multiplexing
WDM sends information through a single optical fiber using lights
of different wavelengths simultaneously.
Laser
Optical sources l1 l2 ln
ln-1 l3
Optical detectors
Optical
amplifier
Multiplexer
Demultiplexer

24. On WDM and D-WDM WDM is generally accomplished at 1550 nm.
Each successive wavelength is spaced > 1.6 nm or 200 GHz for WDM.
ITU adopted a spacing of 0.8 nm or 100 GHz separation at 1550 nm for dense-wave-division multiplexing (D-WDM).
WDM couplers at the demultiplexer separate the optic signals according to their wavelength.

25. Progress In Lightwave Communication Technology

26. Lightwave Application Areas
Optical interconnects
Chip to Chip (Unlikely in near future)
Board to Board (>1foot eg. CPU-Memory)
Subsystem-Subsystem (Optics used Low Speed)
Telecommunications
Long Haul (Small Market-High Performance)
LANs (Large Market Lower Performance)

27. The Internet

28. Global Undersea Fiber systems

29. Traffic Growth

30. Thanks!

31. Multiples Decimal Value Binary Value 1000 103 K kilo 1024 210 10002
106 M
Mega
10242
220
10003
109 G
Giga
10243
230
10004
1012 T
Tera
10244
240
10005
1015 P
Peta
10245
250
10006
1018 E
Exa
10246
260
10007
1021 Z
Zetta
10247
270
10008 Y
Yotta
10248
280

32. Transmission Windows Band Description Wavelength Range O band Original
1260 to 1360 nm
E band
Extended
1360 to 1460 nm
S band
Short Wavelengths
1460 to 1530 nm
C band
Conventional (Erbium Window)
1530 to 1565 nm
L band
Long Wavelengths
1565 to 1625 nm
U band
Ultralong Wavelengths
1625 to 1675 nm