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TE381Lecture2-Physics of Light

This document provides an overview of the physics of light as it relates to optical fiber communications. It discusses three models of light: the geometric optics view which treats light as rays; the quantum view which sees light as discrete photons; and the electromagnetic wave view developed by Maxwell. For fiber communications, the total internal reflection of light rays is key to keeping signals within the fiber. The document also covers the refractive index of materials, reflection and refraction at boundaries, and the critical angle above which total internal reflection occurs.

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Jeffrey Mintah
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20 views

TE381Lecture2-Physics of Light

This document provides an overview of the physics of light as it relates to optical fiber communications. It discusses three models of light: the geometric optics view which treats light as rays; the quantum view which sees light as discrete photons; and the electromagnetic wave view developed by Maxwell. For fiber communications, the total internal reflection of light rays is key to keeping signals within the fiber. The document also covers the refractive index of materials, reflection and refraction at boundaries, and the critical angle above which total internal reflection occurs.

Uploaded by

Jeffrey Mintah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TE 381: Optical

Communications
Lecture 2: Physics of Light
‘’whether you can observe a thing or not
depends on the theory which you use. It is
the theory which decides what can be
observed’
By Albert Einstein
Physics of Light
▪ Fiber-optic communications technology
▪ uses light as a signal carrier
▪ To understand the basics of the technology
▪ we need to examine the various aspects of light
▪ We will consider light from three vantage points
1. As a ray, or beam: the geometric optics view
2. As a stream of photons: the quantum view
3. As electromagnetic (EM) waves: the wave view

▪ In solving engineering problems


i. we need to choose the appropriate and easiest physical theory that can
handle the problem
ii. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Geometric View (ray theory)
▪ Light
▪ can be treated as a beam (ray)
▪ Ray theory
▪ That light travels in a straight line obeying the laws of geometric
optics
▪ rays propagate within different media at different velocities
▪ Thus different media resists light propagation with different
strengths
▪ The characteristic that
▪ describes how a medium resists light propagation is the
▪ refractive index or index of refraction
Geometric View
▪ If
▪ v is the light velocity within a medium
▪ c the speed in free space
▪ Then
▪ The refractive index, n is given by
c
n =

▪ Thus c
 =
n

▪ All the
▪ Characteristics of light in free space are changed inside a material with the
refractive index n
Geometric View
Index of Refraction –
n = Speed of light in a vacuum / Speed of light in a medium

▪ Velocity becomes: c/n


▪ Wavelength becomes: λ/n
Geometric View -Questions
1. When a light ray encounters a boundary separating two media
what happens?

2. What happens when light ray


▪ falls from a medium with a greater refractive index to a medium of
smaller refractive index?
Geometric View
▪ Reflection and refraction n1 sin 1 = n2 sin 2
Reflection and Refraction
▪ The angle, ᵩ1 between the incident ray and the normal to the surface
is the
▪ Angle of incidence
▪ As the angle of incidence ᵩ1
▪ in the optically dense material becomes larger the refracted angle ᵩ2
approaches 90 degrees
▪ Beyond this point
▪ No refraction is possible and the light becomes totally internally reflected
Total internal reflection, Critical angle
Transmitted
(refracted) light
2 kt  2 = 90 
n2 Evanescent wave
n 1 > n2
ki 1 kr c
1   c TIR
Incident Reflected
light light
(a ) (b ) (c )

n2
sin  c =
n1
Total Internal Reflection
• As 1 increases the refracted angle n1 > n2 n2
approaches 90 degrees
• The incident angle 1
1 =  c = Critical Angle
c
n1 sin 1 = n2 n1

Thus the critical angle n1 > n2 n2


 n2 
c = sin −1 
 n 

 1 
1<c 1
• Beyond the critical angle, light ray
becomes totally internally reflected 1>c
n1
Geometric View
▪ When light travels
▪ from a medium of higher refractive index to a medium of lower
refractive index and it strikes the boundary at more than the critical
incident angle
▪ All the light will be reflected back to the incident medium
▪ This phenomenon is called Total Internal Reflection
Geometric View
▪ Total internal reflection
▪ is what keeps light inside an optical fiber
The wave view
James Clerk Maxwell
▪ His mathematical theory of electromagnetism led to the view that
▪ light is of electromagnetic nature, propagating as a wave from the
source to the receiver
The wave view (electromagnetic
theory)
▪ That optical signal is an electromagnetic signal
▪ It has electric and magnetic fields that are orthogonal to each other
The wave view
▪ Electromagnetic radiation
▪ propagates in the form of two mutually coupled vector waves
▪ Electric field wave and magnetic field wave
The wave view
▪ It is possible to
▪ describe any optical phenomena by wave theory in which light is described by a wave
function
▪ Light as an electromagnetic wave
▪ develops in both TIME and SPACE
▪ Its development in
▪ space is described by WAVELENGTH (λnm)
▪ The distance between two identical points of two successive cycles of wave
The wave view
▪ Its development in
▪ time is quantified by a PERIOD
▪ The time it takes a wave’s two identical points to pass in sequence the same location
The wave view
▪ The wavelength and the period
▪ of the light wave are related through the wave velocity
▪ which is equal to the wavelength divided by the period

 =
T
▪ This results in an important formula

. f = c
The Quantum View (stream of photons)
▪ The wave and geometric views of light
▪ adequately account for all phenomena involving the transmission of
light
▪ However
▪ in dealing with the interaction of light and matter, as occurs in emission
and absorption of light both views are not appropriate
The Quantum View (stream of photons)
▪ Instead
▪ we must turn to the quantum view
▪ Quantum Theory
▪ That optical signal consists of discrete units called PHOTONS
The Quantum View (stream of photons)
▪ A photon
▪ can be thought of as an elementary particle that carries a quantum of
energy, Ep and travels with the speed of light c
hc
E P = hf =

where
▪ h = 6.625 x 10-34 J.s is Planck’s constant
▪ f is the photon’s frequency
The Quantum View (stream of photons)
▪ Energy level Diagram
▪ All matter consists of atoms and an atom possesses discrete values of
energy
▪ Thus an atom’s energy is quantized
The Quantum View (stream of photons)
▪ A photon
▪ When an atom jumps from E3 to E2, there is an energy gap between
these two levels
E = E 3 − E 2

▪ This difference will be released as a quantum of energy which is called


a photon
The Quantum View (stream of photons)
▪ When light is
▪ incident on an atom, a photon can transfer its energy to an electron
within this atom, thereby exciting it to a higher energy level
▪ The energy absorbed by the electron must be exactly equal to that required to excite the
electron to higher energy level

▪ Conversely,
▪ an electron in an excited state can drop to a lower state by emitting a photon
THANK YOU

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