Optical fiber waveguides

Lect_5
Optical fiber
4th year, Elect. Eng. Dept., ECE
Lecturer: Dr. Emad Tammam
 Outline

• Cylindrical fiber modes

• Graded-index fiber

• Step-index fiber

• Single-mode fiber
• Photonic crystal fibers
 Single-mode fibers
• The advantage of the propagation of a single mode is that
the signal dispersion may be avoided.
• For the transmission of a single mode, the fiber must be
designed to allow propagation of only one mode.
• For single-mode operation, only the fundamental LP01
mode can exist.
• The limit of single-mode operation depends on the lower
limit of guided propagation for the LP11 mode.
• The cutoff normalized frequency for the LP11 mode in step
index fibers occurs at Vc = 2.405.
• Single-mode propagation of the LP01 mode in step index
fibers is possible over the range:
• There is no cutoff for the fundamental mode.
 Adjusting the normalized frequency

• The normalized frequency for the fiber may be

adjusted to within the range given by:
 Reduction of the core radius,
 Reduction of the relative refractive index
difference which, for single-mode fibers, is
usually less than 1%.
• The small core diameters pose problems with
launching light into the fiber and with field jointing.
• The reduced relative refractive index difference
presents difficulties in the fiber fabrication process.
 Graded index single-mode fibers

• Graded index fibers may also be designed for

single-mode operation.
• The cutoff value of normalized frequency Vc to
support a single mode in a graded index fiber is
given by:

• It is possible to determine the fiber parameters

which give single-mode operation.
 Single-mode graded index vs single-mode step index

• The critical value of normalized frequency for the parabolic

profile graded index fiber is increased by a factor of √2 on the
step index case.
• The diameter of graded index fiber increased by a similar
factor over a step index fiber with the equivalent core
refractive index (equivalent to the core axis index) and the same
relative refractive index difference.
• The maximum V number which permits single-mode
operation can be increased when a graded index fiber with a
triangular profile is employed.
• The increase in this case is by a factor of √3 over a comparable
step index fiber. Hence, significantly larger core diameter
single-mode fibers may be produced utilizing this index profile.
 Mode propagation in cladding
• A problem with single-mode fibers with low relative
refractive index differences and low V values is that the
electromagnetic field associated with the LP10 mode extends
appreciably into the cladding.
• With V values less than 1.4, over half the modal power
propagates in the cladding.
• The exponentially decaying evanescent field may extend
significant distances into the cladding.
• It is essential that the cladding is of a suitable thickness, and
has low absorption and scattering losses in order to reduce
attenuation of the mode.
• The necessary cladding thickness is of the order of 50 μm
to avoid prohibitive losses (greater than 1 dB km−1 ) in
single-mode fibers.
 Single-mode W fiber

• Another approach to single-mode fiber design

which allows the V value to be increased above
2.405 is the W fiber
• Two cladding regions are used. Use of such two-
step cladding allows the loss threshold between
the desirable and undesirable modes to be
substantially increased.
• Fundamental mode will be fully supported with
small cladding loss when its propagation constant
lies in the range kn3 < β < kn1 .
The refractive index profile for a single-mode W fiber
 Single-mode W fiber, cont.
• If the undesirable higher order modes are excited or
converted to have values of propagation constant β
< kn3 , they will leak through the barrier layer
between a1 and a2 into the outer cladding region n3.
• These modes will lose power by radiation into the
lossy surroundings.
• This design can provide single-mode fibers with
larger core diameters than can the conventional
single-cladding approach which proves useful for
easing jointing difficulties.
• W fibers tend to give reduced losses at bends in
comparison with conventional single-mode fibers.
 Which fiber type has been utilized firstly?
• Following the emergence of single-mode fibers as
a viable communication medium in 1983, they
quickly became the dominant and the most
widely used fiber type within telecommunications.

• Multimode fibers are still finding significant use

within more localized communications (e.g. for
short data links and on-board automobile/aircraft
applications).
Why the single-mode fiber is most widely used

• They exhibit the greatest transmission bandwidths and

the lowest losses.
• They have a superior transmission quality because of
the absence of modal noise.
• They offer a substantial upgrade capability for future
wide bandwidth services using either faster optical
transmitters and receivers or advanced transmission
techniques.
• They are compatible with the developing integrated
optics technology.
• It will not require replacement over its anticipated
lifetime of more than 20 years.
 Matched-cladding (MC) and depressed-
cladding (DC) fibers
• The fibers are either of MC or DC design.

• In the conventional MC fibers, the region external

to the core has a constant uniform refractive index
which is slightly lower than the core region,
typically consisting of pure silica.

• In the DC fibers, the cladding region immediately

adjacent to the core is of a lower refractive index
than that of an outer cladding region.
Single-mode fiber step index profiles optimized for
operation at a wavelength of 1.3 μm
 Cutoff wavelength
• Single-mode operation only occurs above a theoretical
cutoff wavelength λc given by:

• Where Vc is the cutoff normalized frequency. Hence λc

is the wavelength above which a particular fiber
becomes single-moded.

• Practical transmission systems are generally operated

close to the effective cutoff wavelength in order to
enhance the fundamental mode confinement, but
sufficiently distant from cutoff so that no power is
transmitted in the second-order LP11 mode.
 Mode-field diameter and spot size

• Many properties of the fundamental mode are determined

by the radial extent of its electromagnetic field.
• MFD is an important parameter for characterizing single-
mode fiber properties which takes into account the
wavelength-dependent field penetration into the fiber
cladding.
• For step index and graded (near parabolic profile) single-
mode fibers operating near the cutoff wavelength λc, the
field is well approximated by a Gaussian distribution
• MFD is taken as the distance between the opposite 1/e =
0.37
• Field amplitude points and the power 1/e2 = 0.135 points in
relation to the corresponding values on the fiber axis.
Field amplitude distribution E(r) of the fundamental
mode in a single-mode fiber illustrating the mode-
field diameter (MFD) and spot size (ω0 )
 Spot size (or mode-field radius) ω0

• MFD = 2ω0 , where ω0 is the nominal half width of

the input excitation.
• The MFD can therefore be regarded as the single-
mode analog of the fiber core diameter in
multimode fibers.
• For real fibers and those with arbitrary refractive
index profiles, the radial field distribution is not
strictly Gaussian and hence alternative techniques
have been proposed.
• The problem of defining the MFD and spot size
for non-Gaussian field distributions is a difficult
one and at least eight definitions exist.
 Effective refractive index
• The phase propagation constant β of a mode is
given as
• Effective refractive index for single-mode fiber,
sometimes referred to as a phase index or
normalized phase change coefficient neff, is defined
by the ratio of the propagation constant of the
fundamental mode to that of the vacuum
propagation constant

• The wavelength of the fundamental mode λ01 is

smaller than the vacuum wavelength λ by the
factor 1/neff where:
 Effective refractive index, cont.
• For a medium with a refractive index n(r), the effective refractive
index can be considered as an average over the refractive index of
this medium.
• At long wavelengths (i.e. small V values) the MFD is large
compared to the core diameter and the electric field extends
far into the cladding region. the propagation constant β will be
approximately equal to n2 k and the effective index will be
similar to the refractive index of the cladding n2 . Physically, most
of the power is transmitted in the cladding material.
• At short wavelengths, the field is concentrated in the core region
and the propagation constant β approximates to the maximum
wave number n1k.
• The propagation constant in single-mode fiber varies over the
interval n2 k < β < n1 k. Hence, the effective refractive index will
vary over the range n2 < neff < n1 .
Relationship between the effective refractive
index and normalized propagation constant b
 Propagation constant as a function of the
normalized frequency (V)
• The dimensionless parameter b which varies between 0
and 1 is particularly useful in the theory of single-mode
fibers because the relative refractive index difference is
very small, giving only a small range for β.
• It allows a simple graphical representation of results to
be presented as illustrated by the characteristic of the
normalized phase constant of β as a function of
normalized frequency V in a step index fiber.
• It should also be noted that b(V) is a universal
function which does not depend explicitly on other fiber
parameters
 The normalized propagation constant (b) of the
fundamental mode in a step index fiber as a function
of the normalized frequency (V)
 Group delay and mode delay factor
• The group delay τg for a light pulse propagating along
a unit length of fiber is the inverse of the group
velocity υg

• The group index of a uniform plane wave

propagating in a homogeneous medium has been
determined as:
• For a single-mode fiber, it is usual to define an
effective group index Nge

where υg is considered to be the group velocity of the

fundamental fiber mode.
• The specific group delay of the fundamental fiber
mode becomes:

• The effective group index may be written in terms

of the effective refractive index neff

• β may be expressed in terms of the relative index

difference Δ and the normalized propagation
constant as
• Approximating the relative refractive index
difference as (n1 − n2 )/n2 , for a weakly guiding
fiber where Δ << 1,
• where Ng1 and Ng2 are the group indices for the
fiber core and cladding regions respectively.
• The group delay per unit distance as:

• The dispersive properties of the fiber core and the

cladding are often about the same and therefore
the wavelength dependence of Δ can be ignored
• The initial term in the last equation gives the
dependence of the group delay on wavelength
caused when a uniform plane wave is propagating
in an infinitely extended medium with a refractive
index which is equivalent to that of the fiber
cladding.
• The second term results from the waveguiding
properties of the fiber only and is determined
by the mode delay factor d(Vb)/dV, which
describes the change in group delay caused by the
changes in power distribution between the fiber
core and cladding
The mode delay factor (d(Vb)/dV) for the fundamental mode
in a step index fiber shown as a function of normalized
frequency (V)