FIBRE OPTICS ASSIGNMENT

4) i) EXPLAIN IN DETAIL ABOUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ABSORPTION LOSSES IN FIBER

ANSWER:-

Material absorption is loss mechanism related to material composition and fabrication process of the fiber
which results in some dissipation of optical power.

There are basically three types of absorption losses

1) atomic effects
2) intrinsic losses
3) extrinsic losses

ATOMIC EFFECTS:-

It is caused due to Imperfections in the atomic structures of fiber materials. Imperfection corresponds to
missing molecules and high density structure. Losses are much accountable if the fiber is exposed to
ionising radiation. Radiation damages the internal structure of the material.
Higher the radiation level larger the attenuation will occur.

INTRINSIC EFFECTS:-

An absolutely pure silica glass will have little absorption due to material structure in
the near infrared region. It occurs when material is in perfect stage (no density variations).it results from
electronic absorption bands in the near infrared region. Electronic absorption bands are associated with
band gap of amorphous glass material. It may be observed that there is a fundamental absorption edge, the
peaks of which are centered in the ultraviolent region. This is due to the simulation of electrons transition
within the glass by higher energy excitations. Ultra violet edge of the electron absorption bands of both
amorphous and crystalline materials follow the empirical relation
αuv= CeE/Eo (urbach’s rule)
E is photon energy

Effect of the losses may be minimized by suitable choice of core and cladding composition.
EXTRINSIC LOSSES:-

In practical optical fiber are prepared by conventional melting techniques a major source of signal
attenuation is extrinsic absorption from transition metal element impurities (copper, cobalt etc).
Transition element contamination reduced to acceptable levels by glass refining techniques such as
vapour phase oxidation which largely eliminates the effects of these metallic impurities. Another major
extrinsic loss mechanism is caused by absorption due to water dissolved in glass. These hydroxyl groups
are bonded into the glass structure and have fundamental stretching vibrations which occur at wavelength
between 2.7 and 4.2µm depending on group position in the glass network. It may be noted that only
significant absorption band in the region below a wavelength of 1µm is the second overtone at 0.95µm
which causes attenuation of about 1dBkm-1 for one part per million of hydroxyl. At longer wavelength the
first overtone at 1.38µm and its sideband at 1.24 µm are strong absorbers giving attenuation of about
2dBkm-1 ppm and 4dBkm-1 ppm respectively.
ii) EXPLAIN IN DETAIL ABOUT DIFFERENT TYPES OF SCATTERING LOSSES IN A FIBER
OPTIC CABLE?

ANSWER:-

Scattering losses are more in the case of multimode fibers than in the single mode fiber. It is due to the
large diameter and large compositional variations. There are two types of scattering losses

1) Linear losses
 2) Nonlinear losses

LINEAR SCATTERING LOSSES:-

Optical power linearly transfers one propagating mode to a different one. Linear scattering process may
cause the attenuation of the operating mode power by means of transferring it to leaky or radiation
mode. High scattering losses is experienced in multimode fiber due to dopants.

There are two types of linear losses

1) Rayleigh scattering losses

2) Mie scattering losses

RAYLEIGH SCATTERING LOSSES:-

Rayleigh scattering is the dominant intrinsic loss mechanism in the low absorption window between the
ultra violet and infrared absorption tails. It results from the in homogeneities of a random nature occurring
on a small scale compared with the wavelength of light. In homogeneities may occur due to density
fluctuations, refractive index fluctuation, and compositional variations. The compositional variation s
may be reduced by improved fabrication but the index fluctuations caused by freezing in of density in
homogeneities are fundamental and cannot be avoided. The subsequent scattering due to the density
fluctuations, which is in almost all direction, produces attenuation proportional to 1/λ 4 following the
scattering formula.
RAYLEIGH =1/λ4
For a single component glass is given by:

γR = 8π3/3 λ 4 n8 p2 βc K Tf

Where n = refractive index of silica

p = photo elastic coefficient

β c isothermal compressibility

K Boltzmann’s constant

Tf annealing temperature

λ wavelength

The Rayleigh scattering coefficient is related to the transmission loss factor of the fiber following the
relation
 α=exp (-γR L)

Where L is the length of the fiber

MIE SCATTERING LOSSES:-

Linear scattering losses may also occur at in homogeneities which are comparable in size to the guided
wavelength. These result from the non perfect cylindrical structure of the waveguide and may be caused
by fiber imperfection such as irregularities in the core –cladding interface, core cladding refractive index
differences along the fiber length, diameter fluctuation, strains and bubbles. The scattering created by
such in homogeneties is mainly in the forward direction and is called Mie scattering. The in
homogeneities may be reduced by:

1) Removing imperfections due to the glass manufacturing process

2) Carefully controlled extrusion and coating of the fiber

3) Increasing the fiber guidance by increasing the relative index difference

NON LINEAR SCATTERING LOSSES:-

When using high optical power levels, non linear scattering occurs. Scattering loses the optical power to
shift from one mode to another with different frequency levels, either in forward or backward direction.
Scattering are inelastic, due to the shift in frequency.

There are two types of non linear scattering

1) Stimulated Brilloven scattering

2) Stimulated Raman scattering

STIMULATED BRILLOVEN SCATTERING:-

Stimulated Brilloven scattering may be regarded as the modulation of light through thermal molecular
vibrations within the fiber. The scattered light appears as the upper and lower sidebands which are
separated from the incident light by the modulation frequency. The incident photon in the scattering
process produces a photon of acoustic frequency as well as a scattered photon. This produces an optical
frequency shift which varies with the scattering angle because the frequency of the sound wave varies
with the acoustic wavelength. Frequency shift is maximum in the backward direction and reduced to zero
in the forward direction. Brilloven scattering is only significant above a threshold a power density. The
threshold optical power is given by

PB =4.4*10-3 d2λ2αdBv watts

Where d = fiber core diameter

αdB Brilloven scattering loss coefficient

v= source bandwidth in gigahertz

STIMULATED RAMAN SCATTERING:-

Stimulated Raman scattering is similar to stimulated Brilloven scattering except that a high a frequency
optical photon rather than an acoustic photon is generated in the scattering process. It can occur in both
forward and backward direction in an optical fiber and may have an optical power threshold of up to three
orders of magnitude higher than the Brilloven threshold in a particular fiber. The threshold optical power
for stimulated Raman scattering ii a single mode fiber is given by

PB =5.9*10-2 d2λαdB watts

Where d =fiber core diameter

λ = operating wavelength

α dB Raman scattering loss coefficient

Losses introduced by a non linear scattering can be avoided by the use o a suitable optical signal level.
Stimulated Brilloven and stimulated Raman scattering are not usually seen in multimode fiber because
their relatively large core diameter make the threshold optical power levels extremely high.