Optical
Communication
EEE 489
Hamdard University Bangladesh
Lecture - 01
Lecture Contents
• Introduction to OC
• What is an Optical Fiber Communication (OFC)?
• Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) system
• Types of optical fiber
• Working Principal of OFC
• Advantage and Disadvantages of OFC
• Applications of OFC
Introduction:
History of Optical
Communication Technology
In 1792, Claude Chappe, invented optical
telegraphy system.
An optical telegraph is a line of stations,
typically towers, for the purpose of conveying
textual information by means of visual signals.
In 1792, he succeeded in covering France with
a network of 556 stations stretching a total
distance of 4,800 kilometers
History of Optical Communication Technology
During 1950 it was realized that Bit rate distance product can be further increased if optical waves were
used as the carrier
During 1950 there was no coherent optical source nor a suitable transmission medium
In 1960 first LASER was developed (coherent light source)
After 1960 first idea was developed to use glass material as a transmission medium
In 1966 first optical fiber was made by Kao and Hockham but loss was 1000 dB/km
By reducing concentration of transition-metal ions and water ions (Fe, Cu, Cr, Ni, Mn, Cobalt and HO)
In 1970 Kapron et al. at Corning made a fiber with α < 20 dB/km in the wavelength region near 1 m
In the same time GaAs semiconductor lasers operating continuously at room temperature at 1 m
Simultaneous availability of compact light source and low loss fiber led to a worldwide effort for
developing FO Comm. systems
Optical Fiber Communication System:
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Optical Fiber Communication
Optical fiber communication
System
1.7 µm 0.8 µm
NIR
Red Visible Spectrum
0.7 µm Violet 0.4 µm
Microwave Millimeter
wave Far
IR UV X-ray
The electromagnetic
spectrum
106 108 1010 1012 1014 1016 1018 1020
Light sources used in OFC having wavelength:
0.85µm, 1.3µm, and 1.55µm
Optical Fiber Communication System
Attenuation, Dispersion,
crosstalk & noise
Input Output
Optical Comm. Channel Optical
Transmitter (Optical fiber) Receiver
1G 2G 3G
Optical Fiber Fiber optic Fiber Optic
Comm Systems Systems Systems
Opportunity:
Purpose: Opportunity:
Development of low- Long-distance
Eliminate repeaters used
attenuation fiber (removal of H2O Communication
in inter-office trunk lines
and other impurities), Eliminate Technology:
Technology:
repeaters in long-distance lines 1.55 µm single-
0.8 µm GaAs
Technology: mode semiconductor
semiconductor lasers,
1.3 µm semiconductor lasers, lasers, Single mode
Multimode silica Muti-mode fiber, low-attenuation fiber, low- attenuation
fibers silica fibers, bit rate: < 100 Mb/s
Repeater Spacing: silica fibers, bit rate: 2.5
due to dispersion1.3 µm
Gb/s
10 km semiconductor lasers, Single-
Limitations:
Limitations: mode fiber, low-attenuation silica
fibers, bit rate: 1.7 Gb/s Fiber attenuation 0.2
Fiber attenuation 3
Limitation: dB/km, repeater
dB/km, Intermodal
Fiber attenuation 0.5 dB/km, spacing ≈ 60~70 km,
dispersion, bit
repeater spacing ≈ 50 km Fiber dispersion,
rate 45 Mb/s Deployed since 1978
Deployed since 1974 electronic repeaters
Deployed since 1982
4G 5G
Optical Fiber Optical Fiber
System System
Opportunity:
Development of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and Opportunity:
WDM technology Development of Raman amplifiers and WDM
technology, dry fiber
Technology (deployment began in 1994):
1.55 µm single-mode, narrow-band semiconductor Technology (deployment began in 1994):
lasers, Single-mode, low-attenuation dispersion-shifted Dry fiber with low loss over the wavelength
silica fibers, Wavelength-division multiplexing, with bit region 1.3 to 1.65 µm lead to
rate 2.5 Gb/s over 21000 km and 5 Gb/s over 14300 lightwave systems having 1000 WDM
km by 1996. Using WDM technology bit rate was channels, Each channel 40 Gb/s,
possible to increase 2.56 Tb/s by 2002 which can be extended to 160 Gb/s in future
Nonlinear effects limit the following system
parameters:
Signal launch power, Propagation distance without
regeneration, WDM channel separation, Maximum
number of WDM channels per fiber
Optical Fiber
An optical fiber is a waveguide for light
Consists of :
Core: inner part where wave propagates
Cladding: outer part used to keep wave in core
Buffer: protective coating
SiO2 doped
Jacket: outer protective shield Low n
with GeO2
High n
According to the refractive index
profile
Types of
According to the mode of fiber optic
propagation waveguide
• Single mode means
Basic
comparison
• While multimode means between
SM and MM
Fiber
• The differences between single mode
and multimode fiber
Basic • Step index fiber:
comparison
between
Step index • Graded Index Fiber:
fiber and
Graded
Index Fiber
Specification and Performance Ch. of
MM step index fiber
Fiber diameter
Step change in
refractive index
Typical structure of Refractive
n1
MM step index fiber n2
index
Structure:
Core diameter : 50 ~ 400 m
Cladding dia. : 125 ~ 500 m
Buffer jacket dia.:250 ~ 1000 m
NA : 0.16 ~ 0.5
Specification and Performance Ch. of SM
step index fiber
Fiber diameter
Step change in
refractive index
Typical structure of Refractive
SM step index fiber n1 index
n2
Structure:
Core diameter : 5 ~ 10 m
Cladding dia. : generally 125 m
Buffer jacket dia.: 250 ~ 1000 m
NA : 0.08 ~ 0.15,
around 0.1
Types of OF with specification and Performance
Ch.of MM Graded index Fiber
Fiber diameter
Gradual change in
refractive ind.
Typical structure of
MM Graded index Refractive
n1 index
fiber n2
Structure:
Core diameter : 30 ~ 100 m
Cladding dia. : 100 ~ 150
Buffer jacket dia.: 250 ~ 1000
NA : 0.2 ~ 0.3
Working Principal OFC
The classical understanding of fiber optics comes from Snell’s Law!
For a given pair of media, the ratio of the sines of angle of incidence and angle of refraction is equal
to the refractive index of the second medium,
n1sin(θ1) = n2sin(θ2)
• Step index fibers: Total Internal Reflection
• GRIN fibers: layered changes in refractive index
Total Internal Reflection
When a ray is incident on the t = 900
interface between two
dielectrics of different refractive low index, n2 Exit rays
indices (e.g. glass-air), reflection
and refraction occur. high index,
n1 i
According to Snell’s Law i
Incident rays
c
Step Index Fiber
Escapes core
(freedom!)
Cladding n2 n 1 > n2 Escapes from core
Core n1
i
c Stuck in core
i
i
c = Critical Angle,
i c for total internal reflection
Graded Index Fiber
n2
n varies
Gradually
n1
n2
•
•
•
Advantages •
•
of OFC •
•
•
Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS):
An interaction between light and vibrations of silica molecules, causes
attenuation of short wavelength channels in WDM system
Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS):
An interaction between light and sound waves in the fiber, causes
frequency
conversion and reversal of propagation direction of light
Disadvantages Four Wave Mixing (FWM):
Two or more optical waves at different wavelengths mix to produce new
of OFC waves at other wavelengths
Self Phase Modulation (SPM):
Change in signal phase due to change in intensity of the signal due to
group
velocity dispersion
Cross Phase Modulation (XPM):
It is an interaction via the non-linear refractive index between the
intensity of
one light wave and optical phase of other light waves
Some other limitations:
Dispersion, laser phase noise, relative intensity noise etc.
•Medical
Used as light guides, imaging tools and also as lasers
for surgeries
•Defense/Government
Used as hydrophones for seismic waves and SONAR ,
as wiring in aircraft, submarines and other vehicles and
also for field networking
Applications of •Data Storage
Used for data transmission
Optical Fiber •Telecommunications
Fiber is laid and used for transmitting and receiving
purposes
•Networking
Used to connect users and servers in a variety of
network settings and help increase the speed and
accuracy of data transmission
•Broadcast/CATV
Broadcast/cable companies are using fiber optic cables
for wiring CATV, HDTV, internet, video on-demand and
other applications
