POLITECHNIKA WROCAWSKA

ADRIANO OLIVEIRA
KAROL GAWE

ATTENUATION MEASUREMENT OF OPTICAL FIBER

Wrocaw
May 2014

1 TASKS

Set-up the measuring circuit as in and put in motion (switch on power supply)
equipment: white lights lamp, mechanical chopper and oscilloscope unit;

Select the required frequency value at the optical chopper CH-40;

Control the output light power (voltage value at the detector) of white lamp
(oscilloscope connected with voltmeter measures peak to peak value) for
various lamp driving current;

Adjust values for both lamp current and the optical chopper frequency as in
point;

Derive the fiber guide characteristic (wavelength as function of voltage) when

Compare the derived characteristics with the those of reference indicated;

Formulate conclusions and find out the optimum transmission window.

2 INTRODUCTION
Attenuation is the reduction or loss of optical power as light travels through an optical
fiber. The longer the fiber is and the farther the light has to travel, the more the optical
signal is attenuated. Consequently, attenuation is measured and reported in decibels
per kilometer, also known as the attenuation coefficient or attenuation rate.

Attenuation varies depending on the fiber type and the operating wavelength. For
silica-based optical fibers, single-mode fibers have lower attenuation than multimode
fibers. And generally speaking, the higher (or longer) the wavelength, the lower the
attenuation. This is true over the typical 800-1600 nm operating wavelength range for
conventional datacom and telecom optical fibers.

Single-mode fibers usually operate in the 1310 nm or 1550 nm regions, where

Figure 1- Attenuation spectrum of optical fiber

Fiber attenuation is caused by scattering, absorption and bending. The absorption loss
happens because the fibre itself or by impurities in the fibre, such as water and metals.
The other causes is scattering loss which is intrinsic loss mechanism caused by the
interaction of protons with the glass itself and finally the bending loss, which is a loss
induced by physical stress on the fibre.

2 ABOUT THE EXPERIMENT

Materials

Lamp

Lamp power supply adapter ZHA-250

Optical Chopper CH-40

Monochromator M250 300nm 1200nm

Light detector

Oscilloscope

Fiber cables

Procedures and Discussion

Firstly, we turned all equipment: lamp power, optical chopper, monochromator, light
detector and oscilloscope. After this step, we checked the relation between current on
lamp power supply and voltage on output and could obtain the Table 1 below:
Relation between Current x Voltage on Output
I (A)
2,5
3
4
4,5
5
5,5
6
6,5
7
7,5
8
8,5
9
9,5
10
10,5
11
11,5

u(mV)
2
4
3
10
22
50
92
150
230
332
416
528
616
700
760
800
840
880

Table 1 - Relation Current x Voltage on detector

We realized this first measurement lacking any cable among equipment; it was directly
from optical chopper to detector. In this way, we discovered the maximum voltage
supplied: 880 mV to 11 amperes.
Then, starting the experiment, we fixed the maximum current (11,4 A) and used a
counter of monochromator for gradually increased the wavelength from 5500 to 9500.
Remembering, this first measurement was conducted without cable between optical
chopper and detector. The result was the Table 2, which the wavelength is related to
voltage on output:
Relation between Wavelength x Output Voltage
Indication of Counter
9500
9300
9100
8900
8700
8500
8300
8100
7900
7700
7500
7300
7100
6900
6700
6500
6300
6100
5900
5700
5500

U [mV]
300
220
260
260
220
200
160
200
200
260
200
360
520
600
700
760
800
820
860
880
880

Table 2 - Relation Wavelength x Voltage on detector

Although, after this table, it was necessary to determine the real wave light length and
refer the measured value of voltage to value per unit. Thus, we determined these
values respectively using the equations 1 and 2 below:
1.

()()
()

where:
= Real wave light length;
r = The real red light wavelength (630 nm);
g = The real green light wavelength (550 nm);
Cr = Value of counter for red light (Observed during experiment, 5800);
Cg = Value of counter for green light (Observed during experiment, 6500);
C = Value of counter which is wished to know the real wave light length value.

2.

[] =

where:
U[pu] = Value of voltage to value per unit;
Ui = Minimum value of output voltage;
Umx = Maximum value of output voltage.
Using both equations, we could develop the Table 3, which relate the indication of
counter, the real wave light length, the output voltage and the value of voltage to value
per unit:
Determination of Real Wave Length Ligth and Voltage per Unit
Indication of Counter
[nm]
U [mV]
U [pu]
9500
207,14
300
0,341
9300
230,00
220
0,250
9100
252,86
260
0,295
8900
275,71
260
0,295
8700
298,57
220
0,250
8500
321,43
200
0,227
8300
344,29
160
0,182
8100
367,14
200
0,227
7900
390,00
200
0,227
7700
412,86
260
0,295
7500
435,71
200
0,227
7300
458,57
360
0,409
7100
481,43
520
0,591
6900
504,29
600
0,682
6700
527,14
700
0,795
6500
550,00
760
0,864
6300
572,86
800
0,909
6100
595,71
820
0,932
5900
618,57
860
0,977
5700
641,43
880
1,000
5500
664,29
880
1,000
Table 3 - Results of Real Wave Ligth Length and Voltage per Unit Calculations

Then, after we know all values, the Graph 1 about Detector Characteristic was easily
obtained:

Characteristic of Detector
1,200
1,000

U [pu]

0,800
0,600
0,400
0,200
0,000
0,00

100,00

200,00

300,00

400,00

500,00

600,00

700,00

[nm]
Graph 1 - Characteristic of Detector

In the second part of this experiment, we added two materials more: two cables with
different types of fiber. We distinguished them as Blue cable and Orange cable
during the measurement. We connected the cables between the Monochromators
output ended and detector one at a time and carried out the follow steps:

Change the wave light length and measure the output voltage;

Calculate the U [pu] using equation 2;

Calculate the attenuation of the signal using equation 3 below:

3.

= [] + 1 [] ,

where:
UF = voltage p.u. value of fiber;
UD = voltage p.u. value of detector.
For each wave light length, we calculated output voltage, voltage per unit and
attenuation. As a result, we obtained the Table 4, which relate all measurements in this
experiment, the Graph 2 (Characteristic of cables and detector) and Graph 3
(Attenuation coefficient of the fibers):

Output Voltage and Attenuation According to Wave Light Length

[nm]
207,14
230,00
252,86
275,71
298,57
321,43
344,29
367,14
390,00
412,86
435,71
458,57
481,43
504,29
527,14
550,00
572,86
595,71
618,57
641,43
664,29

U [mV]
300
220
260
260
220
200
160
200
200
260
200
360
520
600
700
760
800
820
860
880
880

U Orange
U Blue
U [pU] U Blue [mV]
[mV]
[pU]
0,341
8
8,8
0,0238
0,250
3,6
4,4
0,0107
0,295
2,8
3,6
0,0083
0,295
2,8
3,2
0,0083
0,250
2,4
3,2
0,0071
0,227
2,8
3,6
0,0083
0,182
2,8
3,6
0,0083
0,227
3
5,6
0,0089
0,227
3
3,6
0,0089
0,295
10
5,6
0,0298
0,227
3
4
0,0089
0,409
16
22,4
0,0476
0,591
54
70
0,1607
0,682
104
120
0,3095
0,795
160
178
0,4762
0,864
208
232
0,6190
0,909
256
268
0,7619
0,932
280
304
0,8333
0,977
304
324
0,9048
1,000
328
344
0,9762
1,000
336
352
1,0000
Table 4 - Complete Table about All Measurements

U Orange
[pU]
0,0250
0,0125
0,0102
0,0091
0,0091
0,0102
0,0102
0,0159
0,0102
0,0159
0,0114
0,0636
0,1989
0,3409
0,5057
0,6591
0,7614
0,8636
0,9205
0,9773
1

Blue
0,6829
0,7607
0,7129
0,7129
0,7571
0,7811
0,8265
0,7817
0,7817
0,7343
0,7817
0,6385
0,5698
0,6277
0,6807
0,7554
0,8528
0,9015
0,9275
0,9762
1,0000

Orange
0,6841
0,7625
0,7148
0,7136
0,7591
0,7830
0,8284
0,7886
0,7830
0,7205
0,7841
0,6545
0,6080
0,6591
0,7102
0,7955
0,8523
0,9318
0,9432
0,9773
1,0000

Characteristics of fibers and detector

1,000

U [pu]

0,800
0,600
0,400
0,200
0,000
0,00

100,00

200,00

300,00

400,00

500,00

[nm]
U [pU]

U Blue [pU]

U Orange [pU]

Graph 2 Characteristics of fibers and detectors

600,00

700,00

Attenuation coefficient of the fibers

U [pu]

0,6000
0,5000
0,4000
0,3000
0,2000
0,1000
0,0000
0,00

100,00

200,00

300,00

400,00
[nm]

Blue

Orange

Graph 3 - Attenuation coefficient of the fibers

500,00

600,00

700,00

3 CONCLUSION
In a system of fiber optics, attenuation is the loss when the light travels inside of fiber
cable. This loss is caused by three problems: scattering, absorption and bending. The
challenge of engineers is to develop one system with less loss as possible.

So that the loss could be minimized, it is necessary to carry out some experiments and
determine the best wave light length. According to the Graph 1, waves with lengths
from 450 nm to 665 nm are the best to operation, because the utilization factor of
voltage supplied is higher than the other points.

In the same way, if we look at to Graph 2, it is possible to perceive that the shape of
this graph looks like the Graph 1. The values of output voltage in second graph are
lower than the first because of the introduction of the cables. Nevertheless, it is clearly
seem that wave light length in a grade 450 665 nm is more productive.

Finally, confirming this argument, the Graph 3 showed us that the attenuation (loss) in
both cables is much lower in wavelengths which are bigger than 450 nm in this
experiment.