OPTICAL SOURCES

Friday, March 26, 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

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 POINTS OF DISCUSSION
•LASER DIODES

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

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 NEED OF OPTICAL SOURCES

WHY WE NEED TRANSMISSION MEDIA?

X X
G G
E- E-
1 2

OPTICAL OPTICAL
SOURCE DETECTOR

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 OPTICAL TRANSMITTER

MUX
OPTICAL
ELECTRONIC
PROCESSING SOURCE

OPTICAL TRANSMITTER

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 OPTICAL TRANSMITTER

MUX
OPTICAL
ELECTRONIC SOURCE
PROCESSING

OPTICAL TRANSMITTER

PROCESSING IS DONE ELECTRONICALLY TO

PREPARE THE SIGNAL FOR TRAVELLING SAFE
THROUGH THE FIBER

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 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
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 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

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 WINDOWS

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 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
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 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
>Friday,
10March
% 26, 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

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 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

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 LIGHT SOURCES

TWO TYPES OF LIGHT SOURCES

EMPLOYED IN COMMUNICATIONS
- LED
- LD
BOTH USE INTENSITY MODULATION

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 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

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 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”.

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 LIGHT EMITTING DIODE (LED)

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 EDGE – EMITTING LED

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 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 ),

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 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.

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 OPERATING PRINCIPLE

E2
E2

E1

E1

ENERGY BAND DIAGRAM

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 OPERATING PRINCIPLE

Conduction band

e V0
Conduction band
EF
Eg Valance band

Valance band

n p

V=0

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 OPERATING PRINCIPLE

Conduction band

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

Valance band
Vi +
n p
Vi

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 LED WAVELENGTH OF PHOTON

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

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 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

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 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
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 LED
CHARACTERISTICS

Optical power ( mW )

LED CURRENT (in mA)

Power – Current relationship for an LED

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 LED MODULATION

Optical power ( mW )

OUTPUT
POWER

TIME

LED CURRENT (in mA)

TIME

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 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
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 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.
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 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.

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 LED RADIATION PATTERN
BEAM INTENSITY

P = k * COS ∅

-90 O 90
BEAM ANGLE

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 RADIATION PATTERN

EDGE EMITTERS CONCENTRATE THEIR

RADIATION BETTER THAN THE SURFACE
EMITTERS

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 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.

Friday, March 26, 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 /  )
 = --------- ?

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 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.

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 LASER DIODE
SHORT-WAVELENGTH (800-900 nm)

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 LASER DIODE
LONG-WAVELENGTHS (1300-1600 nm)

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 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.

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 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

Friday, March 26, 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.

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 LASER OPERATING PRINCIPLE
E2
ABSORPTION
E1

SPONTANEOUS
EMISSION

STIMULATED
EMISSION
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 LASER OPERATING PRINCIPLE

Friday, March 26, 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”.

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 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”.

Friday, March 26, 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”.

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 Laser characteristics
P

75mA I

Friday, March 26, 2010 47

 Laser characteristics
P

TIME
75mA I
Idc
TIME

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 Laser action

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 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.

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 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.

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 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)

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 Optical sources compared

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