UNIT - II

Signal Degradation in Optical Fibers

Attenuation
Absorption losses
Scattering losses
Bending Losses
Core and Cladding losses
Signal Distortion in Optical Wave guides
Information Capacity determination –Group Delay
Material Dispersion, Wave guide Dispersion
Signal distortion in SM fibers-Polarization Mode dispersion
Intermodal dispersion, Pulse Broadening in GI fibers
Mode Coupling –Design Optimization of SM fibers
RI profile and cut-off wavelength. 1
 Introduction

 Most optical fibers are used for transmitting

information over long distances.

 Two major advantages of fiber: (1) wide bandwidth

and (2) low loss.

 Attenuation cause mainly by absorption and

scattering.

 Bandwidth is limited by an effect called dispersion.

There are a number of major causes of attenuation in fiber
 Attenuation mainly due to material absorption, material
scattering.

 Others include bending losses, mode coupling losses and

losses due to leaky modes

There are also losses at connectors and splices

Effect of Attenuation
A receiver in an optical system requires a minimum optical input
power to operate with a specific error probability. Attenuation
reduces the optical power available, degrading the error
probability. Most system specifications allow a maximum error
probability of 1X10-9
 Attenuation

• Logarithmic relationship between the Optical Attenuation

optical output power and the optical
input power
1
• Measure of the decay of signal alpha prime = 0.1 alpha prime = 0.3
0.9
strength or light power 0.8

  ' z 
P( z )  Po e
alpha prime = 0.5
0.7

0.6

Po(mW)
0.5
where: 0.4
P(z) = Optical Power at distance z 0.3
from the input 0.2
Po = Input optical power (W) 0.1
-’ = Fiber attenuation coefficient, 0
[dB/km] 0 5 10 15 20

z (km)

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 Attenuation

• Usually, attenuation is expressed in terms of decibels

• Attenuation Conversion:  = 4.343’

 Pout 
z / 10 10 log  
P( z )  Po10  Pin 

z

where:
P(z) = Optical Power at distance z
from the input
Po = Input optical power
 = Fiber attenuation coefficient, [dB/km]
 = scattering + absorption + bending
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 Types of Attenuation
1- Material
Absorption losses
2- Intrinsic
Types of
Absorption
Absorption
3- Extrinsic
Absorption
4- Scattering loss
(Linear and
nonlinear)
5- Bending loss
 Material Absorption Losses

♣ Material absorption is a loss mechanism related to the

material composition and the fabrication process for the
fiber, which results in the dissipation of some of the
transmitted optical power as heat in the waveguide.

♣ The absorption of the light may be intrinsic or extrinsic

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• Intrinsic Absorption: Caused by interaction with one or
more of the components of the glass.

ℓ Intrinsic absorption is a natural property of glass. It is strong

in the ultraviolet (UV) region and in infrared (IR) region of the
electromagnetic spectrum.

ℓ However both these considered insignificant since optical

communication systems are normally operated outside this
region

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• Extrinsic Absorption: Caused by impurities within the glass
• A- Extrinsic Absorption (OH ions):
Caused by dissolved water in the glass, as the Hydroxy or (OH)
ion. In this case absorption due the same fundamental processes
between (2700 nm, and 4200 nm) gives rise to so called
absorption overtones at 1380, 950, 720 nm. Typically a 1 part
per million impurity level causes 1 dB/ km of attenuation at 950
nm.

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B- Extrinsic Absorption (metallic ions):
For some of the more common metallic impurities in silica
fiber, the table shows the peak attenuation wavelength caused
by impurity concentration of 1 in 109. Modern fabrication
techniques can reduce impurity levels below 1 part in 1010

**Extrinsic absorption is much more significant than intrinsic

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 Linear Scattering Losses
• Scattering - Linear Scattering Losses
Scattering is a process whereby all or some of the
optical power in a mode id transferred into another
mode. Frequently causes attenuation, since the
transfer is often to a mode that does not propagate
well. (also called a leaky or radiation mode).

o Two major type:

1. Rayleigh
2. Mie scattering
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 – Raleigh Scattering - most common form of
scattering
• caused by microscopic non-uniformities making light rays partially scatter
• nearly 90% of total attenuation is attributed to Raleigh Scattering
• becomes important when wavelengths are short - comparable to size of
the structures in the glass: long wavelengths are less affected than short
wavelengths
• Raleigh scattering causes the sky to be blue, since only the short (blue)
wavelengths are significantly scattered by the air molecules.)

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The loss (dB/km) can be approximated by the formula below
with λ in µm;

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  Mie Scattering
▪ caused in inhomogeneities 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 imperfections such as
irregularities in the core-cladding interface, core-cladding refractive
index differences along the fiber length, diameter fluctuations,
strains and bubbles.

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 Nonlinear Scattering Losses
 Non linear scattering causes the power from one
mode to be transferred in either the forward or
backward direction to the same or other modes,
at the different frequency.

 The most important types are;

1. Stimulated Brillouin
2. Raman scattering

 Both are usually only observed at high optical

power density in long single mode fibers

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 – Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS)
• another way to increase SBS threshold is to phase dither the output of the external modulator
- see Graphs below. A high frequency (usually 2 x highest frequency) is imposed at the
external modulator.
• Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs) reduces the SBS threshold (in Watts) by the number of
amplifiers.

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 – Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS)
• much less of a problem than SBS
• threshold is close to 1 Watt, nearly a thousand times higher than SBS
• with an EDFA having an output power of 200mW, SRS threshold will be reached after 5
amplifiers. Recall that threshold drops with each amplifier.
• Shorter wavelengths are robbed of power and fed to longer wavelengths. (See Graphs
below)

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 dB/ km

Threshold optical power for Brillouin and

PB= 4.4 10 3 d 2 2 Raman scattering.

PR= 5.9  10 2 d 2  d=core diameter, v =source

bandwidth,  = attenuation
 Example 1
• Given: Input Power = 1mW
Length = 1.3km
Attenuation Coefficient,  = 0.6dB/km
Find: Output Power
• Solution: P(z) = Po10-z/10
= 1mW10-0.6·1.3/10
= 836W  = 0.6B/km
Pin = 1mW Pout = ?
1.3km

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 Problem 1
• Given: Input Power = 1mW
Length = 2.6km
Attenuation Coefficient,  = 0.6dB/km
Find: Output Power

 = 0.6B/km
Pin = 1mW Pout = ?
2.6km

Answer:
Pout = 698W

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 Problem 2
• Given: Input Power = 1mW
Output Power = 250W
Length = 2km
Find: Attenuation Coefficient, 

=?
Pin = 1mW Pout = 250W
2km

Answer:
 = 3dB/km

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 2.7.6 Attenuation Due to Microbending and Macrobending

• microbending - result of microscopic imperfections in the geometry of the fiber

• macrobending - fiber bending with diameters on the order of centimeters
(usually unnoticeable if the radius of the bend is larger than 10 cm)

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 Dispersion
• Different modes take a different amount of time
to arrive at the receiver. Result is a spread-out signal
• Graded Index Fiber
– prior discussion concerned with Step Index Fiber
– GRIN fiber is designed so that all modes travel at nearly the same speed
– GRIN fiber core has a parabolic index of refraction

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 Dispersion
• Dispersion - spreading of light pulses in a fiber
– limits bandwidth
– most important types
• Intramodal or chromatic dispersion
– material dispersion
– waveguide dispersion
– profile dispersion
• Intermodal/multimode dispersion
• polarization mode dispersion (PMD)

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 Intramodal or Chromatic Dispersion

 Chromatic Dispersion
 caused by different wavelengths
traveling at different speeds
 is the result of material
dispersion, waveguide dispersion
or profile dispersion
 for the fiber characteristics
shown at right, chromatic
dispersion goes to zero at 1550
nm (Dispersion-Shifted Fiber)
 For a light-source with a narrow
spectral emission, the bandwidth
of the fiber will be very large.
(FWHM = Full Width Half
Maximum)

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 Material Dispersion, DM
• Material Dispersion - caused by the fact that
different wavelengths travel at different
speeds through a fiber, even in the same
mode.
• Amount of Material Dispersion Determined
by:
– range of light wavelengths injected into the
fiber (spectral width of source)
• LEDs (35 - 170 nm)
• Lasers (< 5 nm)
– center operating wavelength of the source
• around 850 nm: longer wavelengths (red)
travel faster than shorter wavelengths (blue)
• around 1550 nm: the situation is reversed -
zero dispersion occurs where the
wavelengths travel the same speed, around
1310 nm
• Material dispersion greatly affects single-
mode fibers. In multimode fibers,
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multimode dispersion usually dominates.
 Material Dispersion, DM

• Can be approximated by:

[λZD = zero dispersion wavelength (λZD = 1276nm for pure

silica or can be approximated as 1300nm)]

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Waveguide (DW) and Profile Dispersion
• Waveguide Dispersion, DW
– occurs because optical energy travels in both the core and
cladding at slightly different speeds.
– A greater concern for single-mode fibers than for
multimode fibers
• Profile Dispersion
– the refractive indices of the core and cladding are
described by a refractive index profile
– since the refractive index of a graded index fiber varies, it
causes a variation in the propagation of different
wavelengths
– profile dispersion is more significant in multimode fibers
that in single-mode fibers

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 Intermodal or Multimode Dispersion
• Multimode Dispersion (also Modal Dispersion)
– caused by different modes traveling at different speeds
– characteristic of multimode fiber only
– can be minimized by:
• using a smaller core diameter
• using graded-index fiber
• use single-mode fiber - single-mode fiber is only single-mode at
wavelengths greater than the cutoff wavelength
– When multimode dispersion is present, it usually dominates to the
point that other types of dispersion can be ignored.

L( NA )2
 
2Cn1
Intermodal dispersion formula, L=fiber length, C= speed
of light, n1=core refractive index

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 Polarization Mode Dispersion
• Complex optical effect that occurs in single-
mode fibers
• Most single-mode fibers support two
perpendicular polarizations of the original
transmitted signal
• Because of imperfections, the two
polarizations do not travel at the same speed.
• The difference in arrival times is known as
PMD (ps/km1/2)
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 Total chromatic dispersion, D
• The total chromatic dispersion can be obtained by adding D M
and DW i.e. (DM+DW)∆λ.

• Normally DM > DW in the range of wavelengths 800 – 900nm.

• Therefore, waveguide dispersion can be neglected except for

systems operating in the region 1200nm – 1600nm.

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 Overall Fiber Dispersion, σT
• The overall dispersion in the fibers comprise both intramodal
and intermodal terms.

• The total rms broadening σT is given by:

σT=(σc2+ σn2)1/2 where σc is the intramodal or chromatic
broadening and σn is the intermodal broadening (i.e. σs for
multimode step index fiber and σg for multimode graded
index fiber)

• However, since waveguide dispersion is generally negligible

compared with material dispersion in multimode fibers, the σc
= σm .
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