is a method of transmitting information from

one place to another by sending light through

an optical fiber.

The light forms an electromagnetic carrier

wave that is modulated to carry information.

The process of communicating using fiberoptics involves the following basic steps:
Creating the optical signal using a
transmitter,
relaying the signal along the fiber, ensuring
that the signal does not become too distorted
or weak,
and receiving the optical signal and
converting it into an electrical signal.

Relatively new transmission medium used by

telephone companies in place of long-distance
trunk lines
Also used by private companies in implementing
local data communications networks
Require a light source with injection laser diode
(ILD) or light-emitting diodes (LED)

An optical fiber is a thin (2 to 125 m), flexible medium capable of

guiding an optical ray. Various glasses and plastics can be used to make
optical fibers. An optical fiber cable has a cylindrical shape and consists of
three concentric sections: the core, the cladding, and the jacket (Stallings
DCC8e Figure 4.2c). The core is the innermost section and consists of one
or more very thin strands, or fibers, made of glass or plastic; the core has a
diameter in the range of 8 to 50 m. Each fiber is surrounded by its own
cladding, a glass or plastic coating that has optical properties different
from those of the core and a diameter of 125 m. The interface between
the core and cladding acts as a reflector to confine light that would
otherwise escape the core. The outermost layer, surrounding one or a
bundle of cladded fibers, is the jacket. The jacket is composed of plastic
and other material layered to protect against moisture, abrasion, crushing,
and other environmental dangers.
Optical fiber already enjoys considerable use in long-distance
telecommunications, and its use in military applications is growing. The
continuing improvements in performance and decline in prices, together
with the inherent advantages of optical fiber, have made it increasingly
attractive for local area networking. Five basic categories of application
have become important for optical fiber: Long-haul trunks, Metropolitan
trunks, Rural exchange trunks, Subscriber loops & Local area networks.

Act as wave guide for 1014 to 1015 Hz

Portions of infrared and visible spectrum

Light Emitting Diode (LED)

Cheaper
Wider operating temp range
Last longer

Injection Laser Diode (ILD)

More efficient
Greater data rate

Wavelength Division Multiplexing

Electromagnetic Spectrum

1880 Alexander Graham Bell

1930 Patents on tubing
1950 Patent for two-layer glass wave-guide
1960 Laser first used as light source
1965 High loss of light discovered
1970s Refining of manufacturing process
1980s OF technology becomes backbone of long
distance telephone networks in NA.

An optical fiber (or fibre) is a glass or plastic

fiber that carries light along its length.

Light is kept in the "core" of the optical fiber

by total internal reflection.

Thinner
Less Expensive
Higher Carrying
Capacity
Less Signal
Degradation& Digital
Signals
Light Signals
Non-Flammable
Light Weight

Much Higher Bandwidth (Gbps) - Thousands of

channels can be multiplexed together over one
strand of fiber
Immunity to Noise - Immune to electromagnetic
interference (EMI).
Safety - Doesnt transmit electrical signals,
making it safe in environments like a gas
pipeline.
High Security - Impossible to tap into.

Less Loss - Repeaters can be spaced 75 miles

apart (fibers can be made to have only 0.2
dB/km of attenuation)
Reliability - More resilient than copper in
extreme environmental conditions.
Size - Lighter and more compact than copper.
Flexibility - Unlike impure, brittle glass, fiber is
physically very flexible.

greater capacity (bandwidth up to 2 Gbps, or more)

smaller size and lighter weight

lower attenuation

immunity to environmental interference

highly secure due to tap difficulty and lack of signal radiation

Greater repeater spacing

10s of km at least

Noise resistance as energy travels as light and not electricity

13

The following characteristics distinguish optical fiber from twisted pair or coaxial cable:
Greater capacity: The potential bandwidth, and hence data rate, of optical fiber is immense; data
rates of hundreds of Gbps over tens of kilometers have been demonstrated. Compare this to the
practical maximum of hundreds of Mbps over about 1 km for coaxial cable and just a few Mbps
over 1 km or up to 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps over a few tens of meters for twisted pair.
Smaller size and lighter weight: Optical fibers are considerably thinner than coaxial cable or
bundled twisted-pair cable. For cramped conduits in buildings and underground along public rightsof-way, the advantage of small size is considerable. The corresponding reduction in weight reduces
structural support requirements.
Lower attenuation: Attenuation is significantly lower for optical fiber than for coaxial cable or
twisted pair, and is constant over a wide range.
Electromagnetic isolation: Optical fiber systems are not affected by external electromagnetic
fields. Thus the system is not vulnerable to interference, impulse noise, or crosstalk. By the same
token, fibers do not radiate energy, so there is little interference with other equipment and there is a
high degree of security from eavesdropping. In addition, fiber is inherently difficult to tap.
Greater repeater spacing: Fewer repeaters mean lower cost and fewer sources of error. The
performance of optical fiber systems from this point of view has been steadily improving. Repeater
spacing in the tens of kilometers for optical fiber is common, and repeater spacings of hundreds of
kilometers have been demonstrated.

Disadvantages include
the cost of interfacing
equipment necessary
to convert electrical
signals
to
optical
signals.
(optical
transmitters, receivers)
Splicing fiber optic
cable is also more
difficult.

The main disadvantages of fiber optics are cost,

installation/maintenance, and fragility.
Cost. Fiber-optic cable is expensive. Also, a laser
light source can cost thousands of dollars,
compared to hundreds of dollars for electrical
signal generators.
Installation/maintenance
Fragility. Glass fiber is more easily broken than wire,
making it less useful for applications where
hardware portability is required.

expensive over short distance

requires highly skilled installers

adding additional nodes is difficult

17

Telecommunications
Local Area Networks
Cable TV
CCTV
Optical Fiber Sensors
Long-haul trunks
Metropolitan trunks
Rural exchange trunks
Subscriber loops

relatively new transmission medium used by telephone

companies in place of long-distance trunk lines

also used by private companies in implementing local

data networks

require a light source with injection laser diode (ILD) or

light-emitting diodes (LED)

fiber to the desktop in the future

19

Optical fiber consists of a core, cladding, and

a protective outer coating, which guides light
along the core by total internal reflection.

Core thin glass center of the

fiber where light travels.
Cladding outer optical
material surrounding the core
Buffer Coating plastic
coating that protects
the fiber.

The core, and the lower-refractive-index

cladding, are typically made of high-quality
silica glass, though they can both be made of
plastic as well.

consists of three concentric sections

plastic jacket

glass or plastic
cladding

fiber core

24

25

Contains one or
several
glass
fibers at its

core
Surrounding

the fibers is a
layer of glass
called cladding

3 TYPES OF OPTICAL FIBERS

1.

Plastic core and cladding

2.

Glass core with plastic

cladding ( called PCS
fiber- Plastic Clad Silica )

3.

Glass

core

and

glass

cladding ( called SCS

Silica Clad Silica )

Fiber-optic cable
connectors

The subscriber channel (SC) connector is used in cable TV. It

uses a push/pull locking system. The straight-tip (ST)
connector is used for connecting cable to networking
devices. MT-RJ is a new connector with the same size as
RJ45.

Photons (light particles)

light represented by tiny bundles of energy
(or quanta), following straight line paths
along the rays.

PLANCKS LAW

Ep =hf
Where,
Ep energy of the photon (joules)
h = Plancks constant = 6.625 x 10 -34 J-s
f frequency o f light (photon) emitted (hertz)

Let medium 1 be glass ( n1 = 1.5 ) and medium

2 by ethyl alcohol (n2 = 1.36 ). For an angle of
incidence of 30, determine the angle of
refraction.

Answer: 33.47

The minimum angle of incidence at which a

light ray ay strike the interface of two media
and result in an angle of refraction of 90 or
greater.

The maximum angle in which external light

rays may strike the air/glass interface and still
propagate down the fiber.

in (max) = sin-1

Where,
in (max) acceptance angle (degrees)
n1 refractive index of glass fiber core (1.5)
n2 refractive index of quartz fiber cladding
( 1.46 )

Core and cladding with

different indices of refraction

Core-cladding boundary

Used to describe the light-gathering or lightcollecting ability of an optical fiber.

In optics, the numerical aperture (NA) of an

optical system is a dimensionless number
that characterizes the range of angles over
which the system can accept or emit light

The numerical aperture in

respect to a point P depends
on the half-angle of the
maximum cone of light that
can enter or exit the lens.

Two main categories of

optical fiber used in

fiber

optic

communications
multi-mode

are

optical

fiber and single-mode

optical fiber.

Single-mode fibers used to transmit one

signal per fiber (used in telephone and cable

TV)

as

is

best

designed

for

longer

transmission distances. They have small

cores(9 microns in diameter) and transmit

infra-red light from laser.

Single-mode

fibers

smaller

core

(<10

micrometres) necessitates more expensive

components and interconnection methods,
but allows much longer, higher-performance
links.

Multi-mode fibers used to transmit many

signals per fiber (used in computer networks).
They have larger cores(62.5 microns in
diameter) and transmit infra-red light from
LED. Transmits short distance hence suited to
LAN and video surveillance.

Multimode fiber has a

larger

core

50

micrometres),

allowing

less

cheaper

precise,

transmitters

and

receivers to connect to it

as

well

connectors.

as

cheaper

However,

multi-mode

fiber

introduces

multimode distortion which often limits the

bandwidth

and

length

of

the

link.

Furthermore, because of its higher dopant

content, multimode fiber is usually more
expensive and exhibits higher attenuation.

The index profile of an optical fiber is a

graphical representation of the magnitude of
the refractive index across the fiber.

The refractive index is plotted on the

horizontal axis, and the radial distance from
the core axis is plotted on the vertical axis.

The

boundary

between the core

and cladding may
either be abrupt, in
step-index fiber, or

gradual, in gradedindex fiber.

A step-index fiber has a central core with a

uniform refractive index. An outside cladding
that also has a uniform refractive index
surrounds the core;

however, the refractive index of the cladding

is less than that of the central core.

In graded-index fiber, the index of refraction

in the core decreases continuously between
the axis and the cladding. This causes light
rays to bend smoothly as they approach the
cladding, rather than reflecting abruptly from
the core-cladding boundary.

multimode step-index fiber

the reflective walls of the fiber move the light pulses to

the receiver

multimode graded-index fiber

acts to refract the light toward the center of the fiber

by variations in the density

single mode fiber

the light is guided down the center of an extremely

narrow core

58

Single-mode
fiber
Carries light

pulses along
single path

Multimode fiber
Many pulses of

light generated
by LED travel at
different angles

fiber optic multimode

step-index

fiber optic multimode

graded-index

fiber optic single mode

60

Type

Single mode uses stepindex fiber and a highly

focused source of light that
limits beams to a small
range of angles, all close to
the horizontal.

50/1
25

62.5/
125

Core

50

62.5

Claddi
ng

Mode

125

Multimode,
gradedindex

125

Multimode,
gradedindex

Fiber Sizes

Optical fibers are defined by

the ratio of the diameter of
their core to the diameter of
their cladding, both
expressed in microns
(micrometers)

100/
125

100

125

Multimode,
gradedindex

7/12
5

125

Singlemode

Light sources for optical fibers

The purpose of fiber-optic cable is to contain and direct

a beam of light from source to target.
The sending device must be equipped with a light
source and the receiving device with photosensitive cell
(called a photodiode) capable of translating the
received light into an electrical signal.
The light source can be either a light-emitting diode
(LED) or an injection laser diode.

LEDs produce incoherent light

laser diodes produce coherent light.

LED is a forward-biased p-n junction,

emitting light through spontaneous emission,
a

phenomenon

referred

to

as

electroluminescence.

The emitted light is incoherent with a

relatively wide spectral width of 30-60 nm.

LED light transmission is also inefficient, with only

about 1 % of input power, or about 100 microwatts,
eventually converted into launched power which
has been coupled into the optical fiber.

However, due to their relatively simple design, LEDs

are very useful for low-cost applications.

Communications LEDs are most commonly made

from gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) or gallium
arsenide (GaAs)

Because GaAsP LEDs operate at a longer

wavelength than GaAs LEDs (1.3 micrometers vs.

0.81-0.87 micrometers), their output spectrum is

wider by a factor of about 1.7.

A semiconductor laser emits light through

stimulated emission rather than spontaneous
emission, which results in high output power
(~100 mW) as well as other benefits related to
the nature of coherent light.

The output of a laser is relatively directional,

allowing high coupling efficiency (~50 %) into
single-mode fiber. The narrow spectral width also
allows for high bit rates since it reduces the effect of
chromatic dispersion. Furthermore, semiconductor

lasers can be modulated directly at high frequencies

because of short recombination time.

The main component of an optical receiver is

a photodetector that converts light into
electricity through the photoelectric effect.

The

photodetector

is

typically

semiconductor-based photodiode, such as a

p-n photodiode, a p-i-n photodiode, or an
avalanche photodiode.

10-1
PIN

Bit Error Rate

10-5

10-9

APD

10-13

10-17
-60

-50

-40

-30

-20

Average Received Optical Power (dBm)

-10

Band

Description

Wavelength Range

O band

original

1260 to 1360 nm

E band

extended

S band

short wavelengths

1460 to 1530 nm

C band

conventional ("erbium
window")

1530 to 1565 nm

L band

long wavelengths

1565 to 1625 nm

U band

Ultra-long wavelengths

1625 to 1675 nm

1360 to 1460 nm