LASERS & Optical Instrumentation 18EI55

Module III: Structures, Wave guiding, and Fabrication I

RNS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering (EIE)
V SEMESTER Academic Year : 2021 - 22
Subject : LASERS & OPTICAL INSTRUMENTATION Sub Code : 18 EI 55
Faculty : Dr. Andhe Pallavi, Prof & HoD, EIE Dept.

Module_3_Part_b: Structures, Wave guiding, and Fabrication I:

3.9 The nature of light, 3.10 basic optical laws and definitions, 3.11 optical fiber modes and
configurations, 3.12 Mode theory for circular waveguides, 3.13 Single mode fibers.

3.9 The nature of light

Theories: 1. Particle Theory - Early 17th century, light consisted of minute particles emitted by luminous
sources, travelling in straight lines, could penetrate transparent materials, but reflected from opaque
materials. Addressed large scale optical effects such as reflection, refraction. But could not describe
finer scale phenomena viz., interference, diffraction.
Theory 2: Wave Theory - Fresnel in 1815 – light is in wave motion to describe diffraction fringes.
Theory 3: Maxwell in 1864 – light waves – electromagnetic waves with spherical wavefront emitted by a
small optical source. Wave theory explains all light transmission phenomena.
The interactions of light and matter as in dispersion, emission & absorption of light, both particle theory
& wave theory are not appropriate. – explained by ‘quantum theory’.
Theory 4: Quantum nature of light – states that optical radiation has both particle and wave properties,
wherein light energy is emitted / absorbed in discrete units – called ‘quanta’ or ‘photons’, & the photon
energy (particle theory) is dependent on the frequency  (wave property) given by the relationship E =
h.

The electromagnetic waves radiated by a small optical source can be represented by a train of spherical
wavefronts. ‘Wavefront’ defined as the locus of all points in the wave train that have the same phase.
When the wavelength of light is much smaller than the opening/object, the wavefront appears as a
‘plane wave’ & its direction of travel is indicated by a ‘light ray’.

Dr. Andhe Pallavi, Prof & HoD, EIE Dept, RNSIT

LASERS & Optical Instrumentation 18EI55
Module III: Structures, Wave guiding, and Fabrication I

(Fleming’s rule) – E (electric), H (magnetic) & k (direction of propagation) -orthogonal vectors all
perpendicular to each other (x, y, z).

Linear Polarization:
The electric E / magnetic H field of waves traveling in direction ‘k’ has the general form
−( jwt−k r )
A ( r , t ) =ei A0 e .
Say for linearly polarized wave, the electric field in x- direction
E x ( z , t )=ℜ [ E ] =e x E0 x cos ( wt −kz ) =e x E x .
Consider another wave perpendicular to this wave. Now, the electric field in y- direction
E y ( z ,t )=e y E0 y cos ( wt −kz + δ )=e y E y where  - relative phase difference between the two waves.
Adding the 2 waves, the resultant wave is E ( z ,t )=E x ( z , t ) + E y (z , t). If  = 0 (or integer multiple of
2), the resultant wave is also a linearly plane polarized as shown in Fig. below.

Fig.: Addition of two linearly polarized waves with zero relative phase between them.

For general values of , the resultant wave is elliptically polarized – the endpoint of E will trace out an
ellipse at a given point in space.

Dr. Andhe Pallavi, Prof & HoD, EIE Dept, RNSIT

LASERS & Optical Instrumentation 18EI55
Module III: Structures, Wave guiding, and Fabrication I

Fig. Elliptically polarized light

Addition of two equal-amplitude linearly polarized waves with =90(or its multiples) results in circularly
polarized wave (shown below).

3.10 Basic Optical Laws and Definitions

Refractive index of a material - n = c/v ; c- speed of light; v – velocity of light in that material. Typical
values of n: 1 for air, 1.33 for water, 1.45 for silica glass; 2.42 for diamond.
Reflection & Refraction
When a light wave passes from one medium into a medium having a different velocity of propagation
(the speed waves can travel through a medium), a change in the direction of the wave will occur.
This change of direction as the wave enters the second medium is called refraction.

Dr. Andhe Pallavi, Prof & HoD, EIE Dept, RNSIT

LASERS & Optical Instrumentation 18EI55
Module III: Structures, Wave guiding, and Fabrication I

Snell’s Law gives the relationship at the interface of two materials with different refractive indices; -
n1 sin ϕ 1=n2 sin ϕ 2 or n1 cos θ1 =n2 cos θ2 where ϕ 1 – incidence angle, ϕ 2 – refracted angle.

n2
if ϕ 2=90° , then ϕ 1=ϕ c – critical angle, when TIR (total internal reflection occurs) -sin ϕ c =
n1

n glass 1.48
Critical angle for glass- air interface is sin ϕ c = = =1.48 ; ϕ c =sin−1 1.48=42.5 °
n air 1

Polarization Components of Light: Unpolarized light- lightwave with many transverse

electromagnetic waves vibrating in different directions (more than one plane). Any unpolarized wave
can be resolved into parallel polarization & perpendicular polarization components. (parallel polarization
– lies in plane of incidence containing incidence & reflected rays)

Dr. Andhe Pallavi, Prof & HoD, EIE Dept, RNSIT

LASERS & Optical Instrumentation 18EI55
Module III: Structures, Wave guiding, and Fabrication I

Fig: behavior of an unpolarized wave at the interface of air & a non-metallic surface

Polarization sensitive materials: Polarizers, Faraday rotators, Birefringent crystals.

Say vertically oriented polarizer – passes only the vertical polarization component.

Faraday rotators – rotates the state of polarization clockwise by 45 or a quarter of a wavelength.

Birefringent crystals splits the light entering it into two perpendicularly polarized beams.

Dr. Andhe Pallavi, Prof & HoD, EIE Dept, RNSIT

LASERS & Optical Instrumentation 18EI55
Module III: Structures, Wave guiding, and Fabrication I

3.11 Optical Fiber Modes and Configurations

Fiber Types: Step-Index Fiber & Graded Index Fiber

Refractive Index Profile for a) Step Index fiber b) Graded Index Fiber

In graded index fiber design, the core refractive index decreases continuously (from n 1 to n2) with
increasing radial ‘r’ from the center of the fiber (from n 1 at r=0 to n2 at r=a). where n2 = cladding
refractive index – constant & n1 = maximum core refractive index; also n2 < n1

In a step index fiber, the refractive index n1 of the core is uniform throughout & has an abrupt change
(step) at the cladding boundary. n2 = n1(1-) ;  = index difference or core-cladding index difference.
Both Step-Index Fibers & Graded Index Fibers are further divided into Single mode (sustains only one
mode of propagation & the core diameter is very small, =0.2 to 1%) & Multi mode fibers (may contain
hundreds of modes,  = 1 to 3%).

Ray optics representation: Two types of rays can propagate in a fiber: Skew & Meridional rays.
Skew rays – path is not constrained to one plane; 3D path; do not pass through the center of the fiber –
follow a helical path along the fiber. Meridional rays – confined to meridian planes (core axis) of the
fiber – will travel down the fiber in a zig-zag path - & keeps passing through the center of the fiber.

Dr. Andhe Pallavi, Prof & HoD, EIE Dept, RNSIT

LASERS & Optical Instrumentation 18EI55
Module III: Structures, Wave guiding, and Fabrication I

Fig. Comparison of fiber structures

Fig: Ray optics representation of Skew Rays traveling in a step index optical fiber core

Fig. Meridional ray optics representation of the propagation mechanism in an ideal step-index optical
waveguide

Adv of multimode fibers as compared with single mode fibers – several.

1. Larger core radii of multimode fibers makes it easier to launch optical power into the fiber and
facilitate the connecting together of similar fibers.
2. Light can be launched into a multimode fiber using LED source, whereas single mode fibers must
generally be excited with laser diodes. Though LEDs have less optical output power than laser diodes,
they are easier to make, are less expensive, require less complex circuitry and have longer lifetimes than
laser diodes, hence making them more desirable in certain applications.
Disadv: Multimode fibers suffer from intermodal dispersion.

Dr. Andhe Pallavi, Prof & HoD, EIE Dept, RNSIT

LASERS & Optical Instrumentation 18EI55
Module III: Structures, Wave guiding, and Fabrication I

Intermodal Dispersion: When an optical pulse is launched into a fiber, the optical power in the pulse is
distributed over all (or most) of the modes of the fiber. Each of the modes (freq/ wavelength) travels at
a slightly different velocity in the multimode fiber. This leads to the different modes in a given optical
pulse arriving at the fiber end at slightly different times, causing the pulse to spread out in time as it
travels along the fiber.
This effect – ‘intermodal dispersion’ or ‘intermodal distortion’, can be reduced by using a graded-index
profile in a fiber core. This allows graded-index fibers to have much larger bandwidths (data rate
transmission capabilities) than step-index fibers. But in step-index fibers, still higher bandwidths are
possible, as intermodal dispersion is not present in step-index fibers.
3.12 Mode Theory for Circular Waveguides
Optical power propagation mechanism in a fiber involves solving Maxwell’s equations with cylindrical
boundary conditions at the core-cladding interface. The cross-sectional view of a slab waveguide is
same as that of an optical fiber cut along its axis.
Key Modal Concepts
The fig below shows the field patterns of the Lower-order Transverse Electric (TE) modes in a
symmetrical slab waveguide (after solving Maxwell’s equations). It shows that electric fields of the
guided modes are not completely confined to the core, but extend partially into the cladding. The fields
vary harmonically in the guiding region of the core (n1) and decay exponentially in the cladding.

Fig. Electric field distributions of the Lower-order guided modes in a symmetrical slab waveguide.
For monochromatic light fields of radian frequency , a mode traveling in z-direction is e j (ωt−βz ) where 
(discrete values only ) is the z-component of the wave propagation constant k =2 π / λ
Guided modes occur for n2 k < β <n 1 k
β=n 2 k is cut-off condition – mode no longer guided in the fiber.
β <n2 k – below cut-off point, where unguided or radiation modes appear.
If radiation is blocked by the angular momentum at the core-cladding interface, the mode still travels in
the fiber – called ‘leaky modes’ or partially confined guided modes.

Cut-off Wavelength & V Number:

1/ 2
Numerical Aperture – NA = ( n21−n22 ) ; a-core radius. When cut-off - β=n 2 k =n2 2 π / λ c

Dr. Andhe Pallavi, Prof & HoD, EIE Dept, RNSIT

LASERS & Optical Instrumentation 18EI55
Module III: Structures, Wave guiding, and Fabrication I

λ c is the cut-off wavelength. For V  2.405, all higher order modes are cut-off (single mode). λ c can be
obtained from the V number equation also.

A step-index fiber has a normalized frequency V = 26.6 at a 1300 nm wavelength. If the core radius is
25μm, what is the numerical aperture?

When V is large, number of modes M computed in a multimode fiber

For large values of V, fraction of average optical power in the cladding is (P – total optical power in fiber)

Dr. Andhe Pallavi, Prof & HoD, EIE Dept, RNSIT

LASERS & Optical Instrumentation 18EI55
Module III: Structures, Wave guiding, and Fabrication I

3.13 Single Mode Fibers

Construction: Single mode fibers have a core diameter of a few wavelengths (8-12μm), small index
differences (- 0.2 to 1%) between core & cladding, V less than 2.4.
MFD: - Mode Field Diameter- determined from the fundamental fiber mode distribution & is used to
predict fiber properties such as splice loss, bending loss, cutoff wavelength, waveguide dispersion, etc.
MFD arises due to the fact that the optical power carried by the fiber is not confined in the core as
shown in Fig. For V=2, only 75% of the optical power is confined to the core. For a Gaussian distribution,
the MFD is given by 1/e2 width of the optical power.

Fig. Mode-field diameter

Propagation modes in Single-mode fibers – There are actually two independent, degenerate
propagation modes. They are similar with orthogonal polarization planes – (H) & (V) – constitutes the
fundamental HE11 mode.

Dr. Andhe Pallavi, Prof & HoD, EIE Dept, RNSIT

LASERS & Optical Instrumentation 18EI55
Module III: Structures, Wave guiding, and Fabrication I

Fig. Polarizations of fundamental mode

The imperfections in an actual fiber such as lateral stress, variations in n, etc., break the circular
symmetry of the ideal fiber. The modes propagate with different phase velocities & the difference
between their effective refractive indices is called the ‘fiber birefringence’ - Bf =( n y −n x ) or
β=k 0 ( n y −n x )
When this phase difference is an integral multiple of 2, the two modes will beat at this point & the
input polarization state is reproduced. The length over which this beating occurs is called the ‘fiber beat
length’ - L p=2 π / β

Dr. Andhe Pallavi, Prof & HoD, EIE Dept, RNSIT