Transmission Characteristic

of Optical Fibers
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.

 Attenuation

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

 Usually, attenuation is expressed in terms of decibels

 Pin 
10 log 
 Pout 

L

where:
Pin = Input optical power
Pout = output optical power
 = Fiber attenuation coefficient, [dB/km]
L=Length of fiber
Optical fiber attenuation vs. wavelength

Optical Fiber communications, 3rd ed.,G.Keiser,McGrawHill, 2000

Types of Attenuation

1- Material Absorption losses

Types of Absorption
2- Intrinsic Absorption
3- Extrinsic Absorption
4- Scattering loss (Linear and nonlinear)
5- Radiative 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

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

• 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.

• However both these considered insignificant since optical

communication systems are normally operated outside this
region
• 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.
 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
 Rayleigh Scattering - most common form of
scattering
▪ caused by microscopic non-uniformities making light rays partially scatter
▪ nearly 90% of total attenuation is attributed to Rayleigh Scattering
▪ becomes important when wavelengths are short - comparable to size of
the structures in the glass: long wavelengths are less affected than short
wavelengths
▪ Rayleigh scattering causes the sky to be blue, since only the short (blue)
wavelengths are significantly scattered by the air molecules.)
The loss (dB/km) can be approximated by the formula below
with λ in µm;
 Mie Scattering
▪ caused in in-homogeneities 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.
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
Example 1
 Given: Input Power = 1mW
Length = 1.3km
Attenuation Coefficient, a = 0.6dB/km
Find: Output Power
 Solution: P(z) = Po10-z/10
= 1mW10-0.6·1.3/10
= 836W a = 0.6B/km
Pin = 1mW Pout = ?
1.3km
Problem 1
 Given: Input Power = 1mW
Length = 2.6km
Attenuation Coefficient, a = 0.6dB/km
Find: Output Power

a = 0.6B/km
Pin = 1mW Pout = ?
2.6km

Answer:
Pout = 698W
Problem 2
 Given: Input Power = 1mW
Output Power = 250W
Length = 2km
Find: Attenuation Coefficient, a

a=?
Pin = 1mW Pout = 250W
2km

Answer:
a = 3dB/km
Radiative Loss:
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)
Macro Bending
Micro Bending
Dispersion

 Different modes take a different amount of time

to arrive at the receiver. Result is a spread-out signal
 Graded 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
Dispersion

 Dispersion - spreading of light pulses in a

fiber
 limits bandwidth
 most important types
▪ Intramodal or chromatic dispersion
▪ material dispersion
▪ waveguide dispersion
▪ Intermodal/multimode dispersion
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
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,
multimode dispersion usually dominates.
Waveguide (DW) 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
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
Total chromatic dispersion, D
 The total chromatic dispersion can be obtained by adding DM
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.
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 = σ m .