Signal Distortion on Optical Fibers

Attenuation
Attenuation is the loss of optical energy as it travels through the fiber; this
loss is measured in dB/km.
Causes of Attenuation:

Empirical research has shown that attenuation in optical fiber is caused

primarily by both scattering and absorption.

Attenuation depends on:

a) Attenuation depends on wavelength used (i.e. frequency used). The

most common peak wavelengths are 780 nm, 850 nm, 1310 nm, 1550 nm,
and 1625 nm.

b) Attenuation depends on light intensity i.e input light power

c) Attenuation depends on diameter of optical fiber (diameter of core

mainly). For single/mono mode attenuation is minimum since lesser the
traversed distance lesser the power loss.

d) Attenuation definitely depends on distance. Distance between optical

source and repeater/detector.

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  Glass fiber (which has a low attenuation) is used for long-distance fiber
optic cables; plastic fiber has a higher attenuation and hence shorter
range

Signal attenuation within optical fibers is usually expressed in the

logarithmic unit of the decibel.
The decibel, which is used for comparing two power levels, may be defined
for a particular optical wavelength as the ratio of the output optical power Po
from the fiber to the input optical power Pi.
Loss ( dB )=−10 log 10( P o /P i)

*In electronics, dB = 20 log 10 (V o /V i)

The logarithmic unit has the advantage that the operations of multiplication
and division reduce to addition and subtraction.
In numerical values: Po / Pi=10[−loss (dB )/ 10]

The attenuation is usually expressed in decibels per unit length ( i.e. dB/km)
γL=−10 log 10 (P o /P i)
γ (dB /km) : signal attenuation per unit length in decibels
L ( km ) : fiber length

dBm
dBm is a specific unit of power in decibels when the reference power is 1
mW:
dBm=10 log 10 (Power /1mW )
e.g. 1 mW = 0 dBm; 10 mW = 10 dBm; 100 mW = 20 dBm

 Loss (dB) = input power (dBm) - output power (dBm)

e.g. Input power = 1 mW (0 dBm), output power = 100 mW (20 dBm)

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loss = -10 log10 (100 mW/1 mW) = -20 dB
OR 0 dBm – (-20 dBm) = 20 dB

Example 1
Consider a 30 km long optical fiber that has an attenuation of 0.4 dB/km at
1310 nm. Suppose we want to find the optical output power Pout if 200 µW of
optical power is launched into the fiber.
Solution
We first express the input power in dBm units

Example 2

When the mean optical power launched into an 8 km length of fiber is 120
mW, the mean optical power at the output is 3 mW.

Determine:

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(a) The overall signal attenuation (or loss) in decibels through the fiber
assuming there are no connectors or splices
(b) The signal attenuation per kilometer for the fiber
(c) The overall signal attenuation for a 10 km optical link using the same
fiber with splices (i.e. fiber connections) at 1 km intervals, each giving an
attenuation of 1 dB
(d) The output/input power ratio in (c).
Solution

(a) signal attenuation = -10 log10(Po/Pi) =-10 log10(3/120) =16 dB

(b) 16 dB / 8 km = 2 dB/km
(c) The loss incurred along 10 km fiber = 20 dB. With a total of 9
splices (i.e. fiber connections) along the link, each with an attenuation
of 1 dB, the loss due to the splices is 9 dB.

=> the overall signal attenuation for the link = 20 + 9 dB = 29 dB

(d) Po / Pi=10(−29 /10)=0.0013

Fiber attenuation mechanisms:

1. Material absorption
2. Scattering loss
3. Bending loss
4. Radiation loss (due to mode coupling)
Attenuation in fiber optics, also known as transmission loss, is the reduction in
intensity of the light beam (or signal) with respect to distance traveled through a
transmission medium.

Material absorption losses in silica glass fibers

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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 (caused by the interaction with one or more of the major
components of the glass) or extrinsic (caused by impurities
within the glass).

Linear scattering losses

Linear scattering mechanisms cause the transfer of some or all

of the optical power contained within one propagating mode
to be transferred linearly (proportionally to the mode power)
into a different mode. This process tends to result in
attenuation of the transmitted light as the transfer may be to a
leaky or radiation mode which does not continue to propagate
within the fiber core, but is radiated from the fiber. It must be
noted that as with all linear processes, there is no change of
frequency on scattering.
Linear scattering may be categorized into two major types:
Rayleigh and Mie scattering. Both result from the nonideal
physical properties of the manufactured fiber.

Rayleigh scattering

Rayleigh scattering is the dominant intrinsic loss mechanism in

the low-absorption window between the ultraviolet and infrared
absorption tails. It results from inhomogeneities of a random

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nature occurring on a small scale compared with the wavelength
of the light.
These inhomogeneities manifest themselves as refractive index
fluctuations and arise from density and compositional
variations which are frozen into the glass lattice on cooling.
The compositional variations may be reduced by improved
fabrication, but the index fluctuations caused by the freezing-in
of density inhomogeneities are fundamental and cannot be
avoided. The subsequent scattering due to the density
fluctuations, which is in almost all directions, produces an
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attenuation proportional to 4 following the Rayleigh scattering
λ
formula. For a single-component glass this is given by:

where γ R is the Rayleigh scattering coefficient, λis the optical

wavelength, n is the refractive index of the medium, p is the
average photoelastic coefficient, β cis the isothermal
compressibility at a fictive temperature T F , and K is Boltzmann’s
constant. The fictive temperature is defined as the temperature
at which the glass can reach a state of thermal equilibrium and is
closely related to the anneal temperature. Furthermore, the
Rayleigh scattering coefficient is related to the transmission

loss factor (transmissivity) of the fiber following the relation

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Where L is the length of the fiber. The fundamental component of
Rayleigh scattering is strongly reduced by operating at the
longest possible wavelength.

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Mie scattering

Linear scattering may also occur at inhomogeneities which are

comparable in size with the guided wavelength. These result from
the nonperfect 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. When the scattering
inhomogeneity size is greater than λ /10 , the scattered intensity
which has an angular dependence can be very large.
The scattering created by such inhomogeneities is mainly in the
forward direction and is called Mie scattering. Depending upon
the fiber material, design and manufacture, Mie scattering can
cause significant losses. The inhomogeneities may be reduced by:

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(a) removing imperfections due to the glass manufacturing
process;
(b) carefully controlled extrusion and coating of the fiber;
(c) increasing the fiber guidance by increasing the relative
refractive index difference.

Nonlinear scattering losses

Optical waveguides do not always behave as completely linear

channels whose increase in output optical power is directly
proportional to the input optical power. Several nonlinear
effects occur, which in the case of scattering cause
disproportionate attenuation, usually at high optical power
levels. This nonlinear scattering causes the optical power from
one mode to be transferred in either the forward or backward
direction to the same, or other modes, at a different frequency. It
depends critically upon the optical power density within the
fiber and hence only becomes significant above threshold
power levels.
The most important types of nonlinear scattering within optical
fibers are stimulated Brillouin and Raman scattering, both of
which are usually only observed at high optical power
densities in long single-mode fibers. These scattering
mechanisms in fact give optical gain but with a shift in frequency,
thus contributing to attenuation for light transmission at a specific
wavelength.

Fiber bend loss

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Optical fibers suffer radiation losses at bends or curves on their
paths. This is due to the energy in the evanescent field at the
bend exceeding the velocity of light in the cladding and hence the
guidance mechanism is inhibited, which causes light energy to be
radiated from the fiber.

The loss can generally be represented by a radiation

attenuation coefficient which has the form:

where R is the radius of curvature of the fiber bend and c1, c2 are
constants which are independent of R. Furthermore, large
bending losses tend to occur in multimode fibers at a critical
radius of curvature Rc which may be estimated from:

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It may be observed from the expression that potential
macrobending losses may be reduced by:
(a) designing fibers with large relative refractive index
differences;
(b) operating at the shortest wavelength possible.

The above criteria for the reduction of bend losses also apply to
single-mode fibers. One theory, based on the concept of a single
quasi-guided mode, provides an expression from which the
critical radius of curvature for a single-mode fiber Rcs can
be estimated as:

where λc is the cutoff wavelength for the single-mode fiber.

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