Q1) Describe various types of couplers.

Q2) Explain working principle of Isolator with neat sketch

Q3) Write short note on circulators
Q4) Difference between isolator and Circulator
Q5) Explain the concept of multiplexing optical communication
Q6) Write short note on WDM
Q7) What is the need of wavelength stabilization
Q8) Write a short note on : WDM network element and architecture.
Q9) What are the Important Features of WDM Architecture?
Q10) What is the Necessity of DWDM?
Q11) Explain in detail DWDM system structure
Q12) What are the types of DWDM network
Q13) List advantages of DWDM
Q14) Differentiate between DWDM and WDM
Q15) Write short notes on fiber grating.
Q16) Write short notes on fiber bragg grating.
Q17) List advantages and applications of Fiber Gratings
Q18) What is optical amplifier? Explain in brief its different types.
Q19) Explain EDFA
Q20) Explain SOA
Q21) Explain optical transmitters
Q22) Explain Optical Detectors

Q23) Explain Telecommunication Networks

Q24) Explain fundamental types of first generation optical networks.
Q25) Discuss second generation optical networks in brief.
Q26) Discuss the evolution of optical network in brief.
 1. Optical Couplers
5.10.1 Describe various types of couplers

Ans.

- Couplers are the devices which couples or transfers some amount of data passing
through one fiber optic cable to the another.

- Here the coupling ratio should be minimum

- The coupling ratio is defined as the ratio of output optical power to total input power.

- The various types of couplers are

1. Diffusion couplers

2. Area splitting couplers

3. Beam splitting couplers

1. Diffusion couplers

The diffusion couplers are again divided into two types viz.

(i) Evanscent wave couplers

(ii) Twisted pair couplers

(i) Evascent wave coupler

- This type of couplers are as shown in Fig.5.10.1.

- Here it is required to couple the data from optical fiber 1 to the optical fiber 2.

- To achieve this coupling, for a certain length the two fiber optic cables are made
parallel to each other as shown in Fig.5.10.1.

- This particular length is called as coupling length.

- Then the optical wave called as evanescent wave enters into the second fiber optic
cable.

- And the signal is coupled into the second optical fiber.

(ii) Twisted pair coupler (Fused Biconical Tapper Coupler, FBT)

- The schematic of twisted pair coupler is as shown in Fig.5.10.2.

- In this case a pair of optical fibers is twisted and then it is fused with the heat
treatment.

- Because of the fusing action the core layer of one fiber optic cable acts as cladding
layer for other.

- Thus the coupling of data takes place.

2. Area splitting coupler (star couplers)

- Here the optical power is divided and a part of optical power is passed to the another
fiber optic cable.

- Thus the distribution of optical power takes place.

- The construction of star coupler is as shown in Fig.5.10.3.

- In this case a portion of several optical fibers to be coupled is fused as shown in

Fig.5.10.3.
- Then the data transmitting through one fiber optic cable gets coupled to all the
remaining optical fibers.

- The different detectors can be connected at the output of each optical fiber.

3. Beam splitting coupler

- This type of couplers are used for multiplexing operation.

- This coupler is as shown in Fig.5.10.4.

- This consists of a partially reflecting surface. The incident light beam gets reflected
partially and the data is coupled to other optical fiber.

- Sometime dichoric surfaces are used inside the optical fiber.

- This is a wavelength selective surface. So only required wavelengths of light can be

coupled into another optical fiber.

5.10.3 Solved Examples on Couplers

5.10.1

A2x2 biconical tapered fiber coupler has an input optical power level of P0 = 200 μW. The
output powers at the other three ports are P1 = 90 μW, P2 = 85 μW and P3 = 63 μW. Calculate
coupling ratio (splitting ratio), excess loss, insertion loss and cross talk for the coupler.

Soln.:

Given, P0 = 200 μW, P1 = 90 μW, P2 = 85 μW, P3 = 63 μW

1. Splitting ratio =
 =

2. Excess loss = 10 log

= 0.579 dB

3. Insertion loss (Port 0 to 1) = 10 log

= 10 log = 3.4678 dB

And insertion loss (Port 0 to 2) loss = 10 log

= 10 log = 3.716 dB

4. Cross talk = 10 log = 10 log

= - 5.016 dB

Ex. 5.10.2

A 2 × 2 biconical tapered fiber coupler has an i/p optical power P0 = 300 μw. The o/p powers
at the three other ports are P1 = 150 μw, P2 = 65 μW and P3 = 8.3 nw.

Calculate coupling ratio (splitting ratio), excess loss insertion loss and cross talk for the
coupler.

Soln.:

Given, P0 = 300 μW, P1 = 150 μW, P2 = 65 μW, P3 = 8.3 nW

(i) Splitting ratio =

 =

(ii) Excess loss = 10 log

= 10 log

(iii) Insertion loss (Port 0 to 1) = 10 log

= 10 log = 3.01 dB

Insertion loss (Port 0 to 2) = 10 log

= 10 log = 6.64 dB

(iv) Cross talk = 10 log

= 10 log

= -45.47 Db

Ex.5.10.3

A 2 x 2 biconical tapered fiber coupler has an input optical power level of P0 = 200 μW. The
output powers at the other three ports are P1 = 95 μW, P2 = 85 μW and P3 = 9.3 nW.

Soln.:

Given, P0 = 200 μW,

 P1 = 95 μW,

P2 = 85 μW,

P3 = 9.3 nW,

(i) Coupling ratio =

(ii) Excess loss = 10 log

= 10 log = 0.4576

(iii) Insertion loss (port 0 to 1) = 10 log

= 10 log

Insertion loss (port 0 to 2) = 10 log

= 10 log = 3.7161 dB

2. Isolator
5.11.1 Explain working principle of Isolator with neat sketch

Ans.:

- Optical isolator is a device which allows the propagation of light in one direction and
blocks the propagation in another direction.
- Basically optical isolator allows the light to propagate in forward direction only and
blocks the propagation of reflected light.

- Consider in optical system in which laser is used as light source.

- The laser beam coming out from the laser source, passes through optical cable and
strikes on the detector at other end of optical cable.

- It may happen that, the light rays get reflected from photodetector and starts travelling
towards the laser source.

- When such reflected light, strikes on the laser source; it affects the laser oscillations.

- To avoid this optical isolators are placed between source and detector.

- Isolator allows the light only in forward direction that means from laser source to the
detector but it blocks the reflected light.

- The two important parameters of isolators are as follows :

(i) Insertion loss

(ii) Isolation

- Insertion loss is the loss taking place in optical cable, when the light rays are
travelling in forward direction.

- Insertion loss should be as low as possible. A typical value of insertion loss is 1 dB.

- Isolation is the loss in reverse direction and it should be as large as possible. Typical
value of isolation is 40 to 50 dB.

- Thus an isolator is irreversible device, that permits the passage of light only in
forward direction.

Principle of Working

- Optical isolator works by rotating the plane of polarization of incoming light ray.

- Basically the State of Polarization (SOP) means orientation of electric field vector on
a plane which is perpendicular to the direction of light propagation.
- Consider that, incoming light has vertical polarization (Vertical SOP) as shown in
Fig.5.11.1.

- This light is allowed to pass through first polarized; whose function is to pass the light
having only vertical SOP.

- This light is then passed through Faraday rotor. It rotates the polarization by 45° as
shown in Fig.5.11.1.

- The polarizer (2), is designed in such a way that it passes the light ray having SOP
rotated by 45°.

- Thus the light gets propagated in the forward direction without any loss.

- Now the reflected light with 45° orientation gets passed through the polarizer (2).

- The Faraday rotar again provides orientation by 45°. Thus the original vertical SOP
becomes horizontal SOP.
- Now, polarizer (1) is designed to pass the light having vertical SOP only. Thus the
reflected light, having horizontal SOP will be blocked.

Thus the optical isolation is provided.

3. Circulator
5.12.1 Write short note on circulators

Ans.

- The circular is similar to optical isolator ; the only difference is that, the circulator is
having multiple ports.

- Optical circulator can have three ports or four ports.

- Optical circulator is used to separate out optical powers, which travels in opposite
directions in an optical cable.

- The three ports optical circulator and four port optical circulators are shown in
Fig.5.12.1 (a) and 5.12.1(b) respectively.

- The arrow indicates the directions along which the light ray propagate from one port
to another.

- Consider the case of three port optical circulator. If the signal enters in port (1) then it
comes out from port (2).

- Similarly, the signal entering in port (2), comes out from port (2) and the signal
entering in port (3) comes out from port (1).
- This propagation of light rays is shown by the directions of corresponding arrows.

- The four port circulator, works on the same principle.

- Suppose, in three port circulator, the light enters in port (1) and from port (2) the light
gets reflected to the circulator; then reflected light will not enter into port (1). It will
be emitted out from port (3).

- The circulars are basically used to perform bidirectional communication by using

single optical cable

- Circulators are basically non reciprocal devices and are used to construct optical add
or drop elements

5.12.1 Difference between isolator and Circulator

Ans.

Sr.No. Isolator Circulator

1. It transmit the signals in one It transmit the signals between different ports.
direction only.
2. It is two port device. It is three or four port device.
3. It is used to isolate two ports. It is used to separate out optical powers, which
travels in opposite direction in optical cable.
4. It transmits the signal in forward According to requirements; anyone port is
direction with terminating any port. terminated.
5. It is used to avoid reflected light to It is used to construct optical add or drop
enter into source. elements.

4. Multiplexer
5.1.3.1 Explain the concept of multiplexing optical communication

Ans.:

- In many applications, it is required to multiplex and demultiplex the optical signals.

- Basically in optical communication, the signal transmission is based on operating

wavelength of incoming light.

- A multiplexer is a device which combines the different wavelengths at the input port.

- The demultiplex accepts the common wavelengths and divides into different
wavelengths that means it perform the reverse operation.
- By using a cascade connectors of multiplexer and demultiplexers. Wavelength cross
connectors (WXC) are designed.

- The Wavelength crossconnects (WXC) are of two types namely state WXC and
dynamic WXC.

- The signals of different wavelengths are transformed from input to output depending
on the cross connection.

- An example of wavelength cross connector is shown in Fig.5.13.2.

- A static wavelength cross connect, is a device in which the cross connection are fixed;
used cannot change it according to the requirement.

- While in case of dynamic wavelength cross connect is a device in which the cross
connections can be changed according to the requirements.
5.14 Operating Principle of WDM

5.1.4.1 Write short note on WDM.

Ans.:

- This schematic of wavelength division multiplexing is as shown in Fig.5.14.1.

- Here a number of light sources are used. Each light source emits the light of different
wavelength.

- As an example three light sources emits the three wavelengths of light as shown in
Fig.5.14.1.

- Optical multiplexer is used at the input side to multiplex these signals.

- Now this multiplexed signal is transmitted by using optical fiber.

- The detector is not capable of separating these signals.

- So a demultiplexer is used at the output side to differentiate the signals of equal

amplitude.

- Thus multiple wavelength are transmitted through a single optical cable.

4.14.4 What is the need of wavelength stabilization

Ans.

- The recommended channel spacing is 100 GHz. But by reducing this channel spacing;
more number of channels can be added.

- So, if the channel spacing is reduced then there should be precise control on
wavelength of incoming signal.

- That means, the lesser source transmitting wavelengths, should have better
wavelength stability.

- An improved version of this type of multiplexing is the bidirectional wavelength

division multiplexing.
- The schematic of this type is as shown in Fig.5.14.2.

- Here for the light sources 1 and 2 the first device (MUX/DEMUX1) as multiplexer
and the second device (MUX/DEMUX2) acts as demultiplexer.

- Thus the signals gets transferred from sources 1 and 2 to the detectors 1 and 2.

- Now while transferring the signals from sources 3 and 4 to detectors 3 and 4 the
reverse case takes place.

- Thus a bidirectional data transmission is done.

5.15 WDM Network Elements and Architecture

5.15.1 Write short note on WDM.

5.15.2 Write short note on multiplexing of optical signals.

5.15.3 What is WDM? Explain the architecture of WDM with network component.

5.15.4 Write a short note on : WDM network element and architecture.

Ans.:

- The general architecture of wavelength routing mesh network is shown in Fig.5.15.1.

- The different WDM network elements like Optical Line Terminals (OLT), Optical
Add Drop Multiplexer (OADM), Optical Cross Connects (OXC) etc. are shown in the
architecture.

- Optical amplifiers are not shown in Fig.5.15.1.; but they can be separately connected,
according to the requirements or optical amplifiers can be inbuilt in OLT, OADM or
OXC.

- The users such as SONET boxes and IP routers are connected using different light
paths as shown in Fig.5.15.1.

- In a light path, at some places, it is required to change the wavelength of operation.

For this wavelength converters are used.

- In Fig.5.15.1, operating wavelength λ1 is shown by a solid line and wavelength λ2 is

shown by dotted line.

5.15.1 WDM Network Elements

5.15.5 What is WDM? Explain the architecture of WDM with network component.

5.15.6 Write a short note on : WDM network element and architecture.

Ans.:

The various WDM elements are as follows :

1. Optical Line Terminals (OLTs)

- Optical line terminals are used at either ends of point to point communication link.

- OLT consists of a transponders and wavelength multiplexers and demultiplexers.

- Transponder is also called as adaptation device and it is used as an interface between

clients (IP router, SONET etc.) and optical link.

- The commonly used interface is the SONET/SDH Short Reach (SR) interface.

- Transponder accepts the signal from the clients and converts it into the form which is
suitable for transmission in the optical network.

- Similarly in the reverse direction, it converts the signal from optical network, in the
form suitable for clients.

- The signal output from transponder is multiplexed with other signals of different
wavelength, using wavelength multiplexer.

- In some cases, optical amplifiers are used to boost these signals.

- At the other end, using demultiplexer, the signal of required wavelength is extracted.

- The output of OLT is also terminated on Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC). The
OSCs operate on different wavelength than actual traffic.

- The OSC signals are used to monitor the performance of optical amplifiers, as well as
to perform some other management functions.

2. Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers (OADMs)

- In some applications, it is required to add some wavelengths or to drop some

wavelengths; depending on the requirements.

- To perform these tasks OADMs are used. The commonly used architectures of
OADMs are as follows :

(i) Parallel

(ii) Modular version of parallel

(iii) Serial
(iii) Band drop

(i) Parallel
- The parallel architecture of OADM is shown in Fig.5.15.2.

- Initially all incoming channels are demultiplexed to generate separate output

wavelengths λ1, λ2….

- Some of the wavelengths are droped at this stage and other wavelengths channels are
passed forward to the multiplexer.

- At the multiplexer, some other wavelength channels (λ′1,λ′2 etc.) can also be added.

(ii) Modular version of parallel

- In this case, the demultiplexing as well as multiplexing is done in two stages.

- The first stage in demultiplexing separates the wavelength channels into different
bands.

- For example, if there are 16 wavelength channels then four bands are formed; each
band as 4 channels.

- A particular band of wavelengths can be dropped or added; remaining wavelengths

are directly passed.

- A modular version of parallel architecture is shown in Fig.5.15.3.

(iii) Serial

- This architecture can drop or add a single channel at a time. It is also called as S
(-OADMs).

- If it is required to add or drop multiple channels at a time then, a number of such

architectures are connected in series.

- This architecture is shown in Fig.5.15.4.

(iv) Band drop

- As the name indicates; this architecture is used to drop or add a band of wavelengths.
It is shown in Fig.5.15.5.

- From the total set of channels; a fixed group of channels is added or dropped.

- The dropped channels are again demultiplexed, to separate out into different
wavelengths.

- The added band of channels is combined with couplers and added to existing
channels.

3. Optical Cross Connects (OXC)

- Whenever there is large amount of traffic at any node in optical network or there are
many optical nodes in the complex network then optical cross connects are used to
smooth out the operations.

- OXCs work along with OLTs, SONET/SDH, OADMs etc.

- In a larger networks, OXCs are used to provide extra light paths automatically. As
well as OXCs can be used to reconfigure the existing light paths.
- In case of fiber cut or failure of optical element; OXC is used to detect such things
and then to provide an alternate light path.

- The test equipments can be connected to the test ports, where the signals which are
passing through OXCs can be monitored.

- OXCs can also be used to switch the optical signals from one port to another port and
it also provides the wavelength conversion, if required.

- OXCs contain multiplexing capabilities to switch the traffic internally.

5.15.2 Important Features of WDM Architecture

5.15.7 What are the Important Features of WDM Architecture?

Ans.:

- The WDM architecture is shown in Fig.5.15.1.

Some important features of this architecture are as follows :

(i) Wavelength reuse (ii) Wavelength conversion

(iii) Transparency (iv) Circuit switching

(iv) Survivability

(i) Wavelength reuse

- In this architecture, the term light path represents the path from source to definition
along which optical signal passes.

- For a number of light paths, we can use the same wavelength, until the paths overlap.

- As shown in Fig.5.15.1, light path from SONET (1) to SONET (2) makes use of
wavelength λ1. Similarly a light path from IP router (2) to IP router (3) makes use of
same wavelength λ1.

- Thus the network can support large number of light paths, using a limited
wavelengths.

(ii) Wavelength conversion

- Whenever there is overlapping of light paths then a wavelength conversion is
required.

- Consider the light path from IP router (3) to IP router (4) through the node X. Here for
light path from IP router (3) to node X; operating wavelength is λ2 and for the same
path, from node X to IP router (4), the wavelength is λ1.

- Thus the wavelength conversion is done at node X.

- Sometimes, the wavelength conversion is required at the boundaries of the network.

This is required to convert the outside wavelength into a specific wavelength,
necessary to perform the data transmission inside the network.

(iii) Transparency

- As shown in the architecture, various light paths are connected between different
sources and destinations.

- The light paths can be between two SONETs or it can be between two routers.

- Every light path can carry the data at different rates and different light paths make use
of different protocols. Thus the protocol is insensitive to the light paths.

(iv) Circuit switching

- Optical layers provide a light path between different destination.

- The circuit switching in optical network is similar to the circuit switching in

electronic networks.

- For example, in case of telephone networks, new connections can be setup and can be
taken down according to the requirements.

- Like wise in case of optical networks; the circuits can be setup or taken down;
according to the requirement of applications. But the packet switching is not provided
in the optical layer.

(v) Survivability

This architecture detects the failure and in such cases the light paths are routed
through different paths.
5.16.1 What is the Necessity of DWDM?

5.16.3 What is the necessity of DWDM?

Ans.:

- DWDM means Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing, that means the channels,
which are used to carry different wavelengths are very close (dense) to each other.

- In case of optical communication, attenuation and dispersion are the major problems.
It limits the practical speed and the distance of communication.

- Using Erbium Dopped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA), the problem of attenuation of signal
can be recovered.

- But due to the effect of bandwidth; always a compromise is required between

transmission distance and the bandwidth.

- So, it is required to use repeaters, after a certain distance, all along the length of
optical cable. This increases the total cost of system.

- DWDM increases the bandwidth of systems, without using the repeaters.

- EDFA are commonly operated in the range of wavelengths 1525 nm to 1565 nm and
DWDM are used in the band of 1550 nm. So, DWDM increases the capabilities of
EDFA.

- In order to implement 100 Gbps networks; there is a requirement of faster physical

layer technology.

- The normal optical networks are not capable of supporting this bandwidth for more
than 500 meters distance.

- The DWDM increases the bandwidth and it supports for more transmission distance.

5.16.2 Principle of Operation of DWDM

5.16.4 Explain principle of operation of DWDM

Ans.:

- The DWDM, divides the light travelling through optical cable into different
wavelengths. Each wavelength is called as lambdas.

- DWDM takes input optical signal and divides it into different wavelengths (colors).

- All these wavelengths are transmitted through the same optical cable.
- DWDM selects the wavelength in certain band. It is around 1550 nm and it is called
as operating window of DWDM.

- Thus DWDM increases the capabilities of existing optical networks without extra
cabling.

- Thus, using DWDM the different signals cam travel in parallel as if they travel in
dedicated lanes, where each lane is independent.

5.16.3 DWDM System Structure

5.16.5 Explain in detail DWDM system structure

Ans.:

The DWDM system structure consists of following components :

(i) Laser transmitters

- The different laser sources transmitting laser beams at accurate wavelengths.

- Each laser source, transmits different wavelength and all wavelength from individual
laser sources are closely spaced.

(ii) Receivers

These are optical detectors, which receives the signal and transmit them into
demultiplexers.

(iii) EDFA

- It is eribiumdopped fiber amplifier. It is a silica based optical fiber and it is dopped

with eribium.

- Basically EDFA acts as a repeater and it is used to amplify incoming optical signal.

(iv) OADM

These are the components which receives an optically multiplexed signal and these
components can add or drop a certain wavelength.

(v) DWDM MUX

It is DWDM multiplexer, which receives many optical signals of different

wavelengths; and transmit it on a single optical cable.

(vi) DWDM DEMUX

- It receives all signals on single cable and transmit each wavelength in different cable.

- The DWDM system structure is shown in Fig.5.16.1.

- The laser sources, transmit different wavelengths. All these wavelengths are applied
to the multiplexer.

- The different fibers carry these wavelengths to the multiplexer. The multiplexers,
combine all these wavelength and transmit it on a single Optical Fiber Cable (OFC).

- OADM can takes certain wavelengths of its channel or add certain wavelength from
other optical channel. It can also drops certain wavelength from main optical cable to
other optical channels.

- EDFA is used to amplify the signals. The output of EDFA is connected to

demultiplexer which separate out the different wavelengths.

5.16.4 DWDM Network

5.16.6 What are the types of DWDM network

Ans.:

- The DWDM network makes use of mesh, star or ring topologies.

- There are two types of DWDM network as follows.

(i) Single hop networks

- In this case each data stream is having a same wavelength from source to destination.

(ii) Multiple hop networks

- Whenever there is overlapping of network paths (light paths) the reuse of wavelength
is done.

- Each node has a limited number of wavelengths, so at intermediate nodes, electronic

switching of packets is required.

5.16.5 Advantages of DWDM

5.16.7 What are the advantages of DWDM network.

Ans.:

(i) DWDM increases the bandwidth capacity of the channel.

(ii) Using DWDM, it is possible to use signals having different data rates and different
formats.

(iii) A large amount of information can be transmitted simultaneously.

(iv) DWDM can handle higher data rates.

5.16.6 Comparison between DWDM and WDM Techniques

5.16.8 Differentiate DWDM and WDM Techniques

Ans.:

Sl.No. WDM DWDM

1. WDM stands for wavelength division DWDM means Dense wavelength
multiplexing. division multiplexing.
2. Signals of different light sources are It uses wavelength division multiplexing,
multiplexed in terms of wavelength. but the channels are close (dense) to each
other.
3. The WDM network elements are The major components are
(i) Optical line terminal (i) Laser transmitters
(ii) Optical add drop multiplexer.(ii) Receivers
(iii) Optical cross connects. (iii) EDFA
(iv) OADM
4. It can be unidirectional or The two major DWDM networks are
bidirectional wavelength division single hop and multiple hop networks.
multiplexing
5. It is used mainly where frequency It is used when it is required to increase
reuse, wavelength conversion, circuit the bandwidth of systems without using
switching is required. repeaters.
 5. Filter

5.18 Fiber Gratings

5.18.1 Write short notes on fiber grating.

Ans.:

- Basically grating means a series of grooves are formed such that a particular
wavelength of light is reflected and other wavelengths are transmitted.

- These grooves can be formed inside the optical cable. It is also called as grating are
written in fibers.

- The gratings are written in the fiber by making use of photosensitivity property of the
fiber.

- Generally fiber is made using silica material. When it is dopped using germanium
then it becomes photosensitive.

- When UV (ultraviolet) rays falls on this fiber then the refractive index of core layer is
changed. By this way gratings can be written inside the fiber.

- Two UV beams are used to illuminate the fiber core; then the radiation intensity varies
periodically along the length of optical cable.

- For the low radiation intensity; the refractive index is unchanged and when the
radiation intensity is high the refractive index is increased.

5.18.1 Types of Fiber Gratings

Basically there are two types of fiber grating namely short period grating and long
period grating. The short period grating is also called as Brag grating.

1. Fiber Brag Grating (FBG)

2. Long period fiber Gratings

1. Fiber Brag Grating (FBG)

5.18.2 Write short notes on fiber bragg grating.

5.18.3 What is fiber bragg gratings? Give its applications.

5.18.4 Explain the concept of bragg grating

Ans.
- It is also called as distributed brag reflector and it is constructed in the short length of
optical cable.

- This grating has a property to reflect a particular wavelength and to pass all remaining
wavelengths.

- This property can be achieved by making the variations in the refractive index of fiber
core.

- Consider a fiber brag grating used along with a circulator as shown in Fig.5.18.1.

- This is three port circulator. If input is applied to port (1) then output is generated to
port (2) and if input is applied to port (2), then output is generated at port (3).

- Suppose the wavelengths λ1, λ2, λ3 and λ4 are applied to port (1) and λ1,λ3,λ4 are the
required wavelengths.

- Basically circulator passes these all wavelengths to port (2).

- The fiber grating is placed at port (2) and it is designed in such a way that; the
wavelength λ2 gets reflected by this grating.

- This reflected wavelength will be routed to port (3).

- This is basically called as optical drop element because the wavelength λ2 is dropped.

- After the diffraction grating; we can connect one more circulator and wavelength λ2 is
again added. It will produce the outputs λ1, λ2, λ3 and λ4. This later part is called as
optical add element.

- These short period grating is having a period around 0.5 μm, which is comparable to
the wavelength.

2. Long Period Fiber Gratings

- As the name indicates; the period of such grating is long.

- This period is much greater than wavelength. It is in terms of millimeter.

- These grating are fabricated using same technique as that of fiber brag grating.

- Now a days, these gratings are used as filters inside erbium dopped fiber amplifier.

- In case of short period fiber grating, the wavelength to be reflected is transferred

(coupled) from forward mode to the backward mode.

- In long period fiber gratings, the required energy is coupled from the forward mode
incore layer to another forward mode is cladding layer.

- Many losses take place in the cladding modes and their energy decreases as they
propagate along the fiber.

- The coupling between core mode and a particular cladding mode depends on the pitch
or grating.

5.18.2 Advantages of Fiber Gratings

5.18.5 What are the advantages of fiber gratings.

Ans.:

(i) It possess very low losses because it is basically all fiber device.

(ii) Easily coupled with other fibers.

(iii) Fiber gratings are not sensitive to polarization

(iv) They have low temperature coefficients

(v) Packaging is simple and cost is low.

Applications of fiber brag grating

5.18.8 What are the applications of fiber brag grating

Ans.:

1. It is a good sensing element, so it is used for measurement of parameters like

temperature, pressure, acceleration etc.

2. It can be used as signal shaping and filtering element.

6. Optical Amplifiers
5.23.1 What is optical amplifier? Explain in brief its different types.

Ans.:
- As the name indicates; optical amplifiers are used to amplify the optical signal.

- In case of optical amplifier; it is not necessary to convert optical signal into electric
and then provide the amplification.

- Optical amplifiers performs amplification without any conversion.

- Optical amplifiers are placed throughout the optical length; to provide amplification.

- Optical amplifiers are bidirectional and optical multiplexing is also possible. That
means optical amplifier accepts many signal of different wavelength and provides
amplification.

- Broadly there are two types of optical amplifiers, namely semiconductor optical
amplifier and Raman amplifiers.

- Semiconductor optical amplifiers are small in size and provides amplification by

using stimulated emission; which is similar to laser.

- Raman amplifier makes use of Raman scattering principle to obtain optically

amplified signal.

5.23.1 Erbium Dopped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFA)

- Such optical amplifiers make use of erbium ions in the core layer of optical
cable.

- Input optical signal, which is to be amplified is mixed with high powered beam of
light. This is called as pump light.

- This mixing is done using wavelength selective couplers.

- Both the signals, namely input signal to be amplified and high powered beam of light
are having different wavelengths.

- This signal is then passed through the optical cable containing eribium ions.

- The erbium ions, absorb energy and get excited to higher energy levels.

- When the photons of pump light strikes the erbium atoms; the erbium atoms give
optical energy to the striking photons.

- This optical energy given by erbium atoms is in the form of photons and these new
photos are in phase.

- So, optical amplification takes place and amplified light travels in the forward
direction.

- In order to avoid back reflections; optical insulator is placed at the output.

5.23.1.1 Energy Level Diagram

- The energy level diagram and transition process of ions in silica is shown in
Fig.5.23.1.

- Erbium atoms in the silica are ions, which are basically electrons.

- This erbium ions are raised to higher energy levels by using a pumping light.

- The different transition states are shown in Fig.5.23.1.

Transition 1

It represents the pump transition and in this case 980 nm photons emitting laser is
used for pumping. Due to absorption of incoming energy; erbium ions are excited from
ground state to the pump level.

Transition 2

Due to mechanical vibrations in optical cable; there is quick decay of excited ions
from pump level to the metastable state. This is non radiative decay.

Transition 3

The applied wavelength is 1480 nm. Due to absorption of this energy; erbium ions are
excited from ground state to the metastable state.
Transition 4

It represents the decay to the lower state of same metastable band.

Transition 5

Some of the ions from metastable state falls back to the ground state due to
spontaneous emission.

Transition 6

The ions in the ground state absorbs external photons and get excited to metastable
state.

Transition 7

Due to stimulated emission; new photons of same energy and polarization is created
around 1530 nm.

5.23.2 Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA)

- In case of lasers; amplification of light takes place, when the light beam causes many
reflections between two end faces.

- In case of Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA); the amplification action takes

place without many reflections.

- SOA is basically InGaAsP laser diode, which is operating below the threshold point.

- By changing the composition of InGaAsP material; the gain of amplifier can be

varied.

- It is like a Travelling Wave (TW) amplifier; where many reflections do not take place
in an optical cavity.

- In SOA; using properties of semiconductor material; the required gain is obtained in

one pass of light ray in an optical cavity.

- The construction of SOA is similar to the laser diode.

- But in case of laser diode; the reflectivities of end faces are around 0.3. Because of
this many reflections take place.

- In case of SOA, the reflectivities of end faces are kept very low; so that the reflections
are avoided.

- To lower down the reflectivities of end faces about 10-4; the end faces are dopped
using silicon oxide or silicon nitride.
- To obtain the required gain; external charge carriers are injected, similar to the laser
diode.

- As the length of structure is increased; the gain of SOA is also increased.

- By changing the composition of InGaAsP material; the maximum gain in SOA is

obtained around the wavelength 1200 nm and 1700 nm.

7. Transmitters
Q. Explain optical transmitters
The role of the optical transmitter is to:
● convert the electrical signal into optical form, and
● launch the resulting optical signal into the optical fiber.

There are two main types of fibre optic transmitter that are in use today. Both of them are
based around semiconductor technology:

● Light emitting diodes (LEDs)

● Laser diodes
Semiconductor optical transmitters have many advantages. They are small, convenient, and
reliable. However, the two different types of fibre optic transmitter have very different
properties and they tend to be used in widely different applications.

LED transmitters     These fibre optic transmitters are cheap and reliable. They emit only
incoherent light with a relatively wide spectrum as a result of the fact that the light is
generated by a method known as spontaneous emission. A typical LED used for optical
communications may have its light output in the range 30 - 60 nm. In view of this the signal
will be subject to chromatic dispersion, and this will limit the distances over which data can
be transmitted
It is also found that the light emitted for a LED is not particularly directional and this means
that it is only possible to couple them to multimode fibre, and even then the overall efficiency
is low because not allt he light can be coupled into the fibre optic cable.

LEDs have significant advantages as fibre optic transmitters in terms of cost, lifetime, and
availability. They are widely produced and the technology to manufacture them is
straightforward and as a result costs are low.

Laser diode transmitters     These fibre optic transmitters are more expensive and tend to be
used for telecommunications links where the cost sensitivity is nowhere near as great.
The output from a laser diode is generally higher than that available from a LED, although
the power of LEDs is increasing. Often the light output from a laser diode can be in the
region of 100 mW. The light generation arises from what is termed stimulated emission and
this generates coherent light. In addition to this the output is more directional than that of a
LED and this enables much greater levels of coupling efficiency into the fibre optic cable.
This also allows the use of single mode fibre which enables much greater transmission
distances to be achieved. A further advantage of using a laser is that they have a coherent
light output and this means that the light is nominally on a single frequency and modal
dispersion is considerably less.

A further advantage of lasers is that they can be directly modulated with high data rates.
Although LEDS can be modulated directly, there is a lower limit to the modulation rate. One
of the disadvantages of a laser diode fibre optic

Nevertheless laser diode fibre optic transmitters have some drawbacks. They are much more
expensive than LEDs. Furthermore they are quite sensitive to temperature and to obtain the
optimum performance they need to be in a stable environment. They also do not offer the
same life as LEDs, although as much research has been undertaken into laser diode
technology, this is much less of an issue than previously.

8. Detectors

Q. Explain Optical Detectors

An optical detector is a device that converts light signals into electrical signals,
which can then be amplified and processed. The photodetector is as essential an
element of any fiber optic system as the optical fiber or the light source.
Photodetectors can dictate the performance of a fiber optic communication link.

:: Semiconductor Photodiodes

Semiconductor photodiodes are the most commonly used detectors in optical fiber
systems since they provide good performance, being small in size, and are of low
cost.

Semiconductor photodiodes are made of silicon, germanium, GaAs, InGaAs, etc.

:: How Does a Photodetector Work?

The following illustration shows how a photodetector work. The detector is

electrically reverse-biased. (In contrary, LEDs and Lasers are forward-biased to emit
light).
In the first illustration when there is no light, the reverse bias draws current-carrying
electrons and holes out of the p-n junction region, creating a depleted region, which
stops current from passing through the diode.

In the second illustration when there are lights on the detector, photons with the
proper energy (wavelength) can create electron-hole pairs in this region by raising
an electron from the valence band to the conduction band, leaving a hole behind.
The bias voltage causes these current carriers to drift quickly away from the junction
region, so a current flows proportional to the light hitting the detector.

The wavelengths at which the detector responds to light depend on the detector’s
material composition.
 9. Optical Networks – Telecommunication Network

Q. Explain Telecommunication Networks

Public networks are networks operated by service providers called carriers. Carriers use their
network to provide a variety of services to their customers.
In addition to the traditional carriers providing telephone and leased line services, today there
are carriers who are dedicated to interconnecting Internet service providers (ISPs).
A local-exchange carrier (LEC) offers local services in metropolitan areas, and an
interexchange carrier (IXC) offers long-distance services.
In contrast, private networks are networks owned and operated by corporations for their
internal use.
Networks within buildings spanning at most a few kilometers
are called local-area networks (LANs); those that span a campus or metropolitan
area, typically tens to a few hundred kilometers, are called metropolitan-area networks
(MANs); and networks that span even longer distances, ranging from several
hundred to thousands of kilometers, are called wide-area networks (WANs).
The nodes in the network are central offices, sometimes also called points of presence
(POPs).
At a high level, the network can be broken up into a metropolitan (or metro)
network and a long-haul network. The metro network is the part of the network
that lies within a large city or a region. The long-haul network interconnects cities
or different regions. The metro network consists of a metro access network and a
metro interoffice network.

10. First Generation Optical Network

Q. Explain fundamental types of first generation optical networks.

There are two fundamental types of underlying network infrastructures based
on how traffic is multiplexed and switched inside the network: circuit-switched
and packet-switched.

A circuit-switched network provides circuit-switched connections to its customers.

In circuit switching, a guaranteed amount of bandwidth is allocated to each
connection and is available to the connection all the time, once the connection is set
up. The sum of the bandwidth of all the circuits, or connections, on a link must be less
than the link bandwidth. The most common example of a circuit-switched network
is the public-switched telephone network (PSTN), which provides a nailed-down
connection to end users with a fixed amount of bandwidth (typically around 4 kHz)
once the connection is established.

In packet-switched networks, the data stream is broken up

into small packets of data. These packets are multiplexed together with packets
from other data streams inside the network. The packets are switched inside the
network based on their destination. To facilitate this switching, a packet header is
added to the payload in each packet. The header carries addressing information, for
example, the destination address or the address of the next node in the path. The
intermediate nodes read the header and determine where to switch the packet based
on the information contained in the header. At the destination, packets belonging
to a particular stream are received, and the data stream is put back together. The
predominant example of a packet-switched network is the Internet, which uses the
Internet Protocol (IP) to route packets from their source to their destination.

11. Multiplexing Techniques

(Covered in multiplexers) WDM and OTDM

12. Second Generation Optical Network

Q. Discuss second generation optical networks in brief.

This network is called a wavelength routing network. The network provides light
paths to its users, such as SONET
terminals or IP routers. Lightpaths are optical connections carried end to end from
a source node to a destination node over a wavelength on each intermediate link.
At intermediate nodes in the network, the lightpaths are routed and switched from
one link to another link. In some cases, lightpaths may be converted from one wavelength
to another wavelength as well along their route. Different lightpaths in a
wavelength-routing network can use the same wavelength as long as they do not
share any common links. This allows the same wavelength to be reused spatially in
different parts of the network.

The key network elements that enable optical networking are optical line terminals
(OLTs), optical add/drop multiplexers (OADMs), and optical crossconnects
(OXCs), as shown in Figure 1.4. An OLT multiplexes multiple wavelengths into a
single fiber and demultiplexes a set of wavelengths on a single fiber into separate
fibers. OLTs are used at the ends of a point-to-point WDM link. An OADM takes
in signals at multiple wavelengths and selectively drops some of these wavelengths
locally while letting others pass through. It also selectively adds wavelengths to the
composite outbound signal. An OADM has two line ports where the composite
WDMsignals are present, and a number of local ports where individual wavelengths
are dropped and added. An OXC essentially performs a similar function but at
much larger sizes. OXCs have a large number of ports (ranging from a few tens
to thousands) and are able to switch wavelengths from one input port to another.
Both OADMs and OXCs may incorporate wavelength conversion capabilities.

13. System and Network Evolution

Q. Discuss the evolution of optical network in brief.

1. Multimode Fiber
● The early fibers were the so-called multimode fibers. Multimode fibers have core
diameters of about 50 to 85 μm. This diameter is large compared to the operating
wavelength of the light signal.
● In a multimode fiber, the energy in a pulse travels in different modes, each with a
different speed. At the end of the fiber, the different modes arrive at slightly different
times, resulting in a smearing of the pulse called intermodal dispersion.
2. Single Mode Fiber
● Single-mode fiber has a relatively small core diameter of about 8 to 10 μm, which is a small
multiple of the operating wavelength range of the light signal.
● This forces all the energy in a light signal to travel in the form of a single mode.
● Using single-mode fiber effectively eliminated intermodal dispersion and enabled a dramatic
increase in the bit rates and distances possible between regenerators.
3. Optical Amplifiers and WDM
● The next major milestone in the evolution of optical fiber transmission systems was the
development of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). The EDFA basically consists of a
length of optical fiber, typically a few meters to tens of meters, doped with the rare earth
element erbium.
● The erbium atoms in the fiber are pumped from their ground state to an excited state at
a higher energy level using a pump source.
● An incoming signal photon triggers these atoms to come down to their ground state. In
the process, each atom emits a photon. Thus, incoming signal photons trigger the
emission of additional photons, resulting in optical amplification.