Lecture 6 - Propagation in Optical Fibers and Dispersion

ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal

6.1

Non-Linear Schrodinger Equation

Both linear (dispersive) and nonlinear effects must be taken into account for pulse propagation in the ber
The propagation of a signal in a single mode ber is set (to a very high level of accuracy) by the following equation, called the nonlinear Schrodinger equation:

A 1 A 1 A 2 = A + j 2 2 3 3 j A A z 2 t 6 t
Attenuation" Chromatic" Dispersion" Nonlinear" Effects"

A(z,t) is the complex-envelope of the optical eld

The resulting optical power is P(z,t)=| A(z,t) |2

ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal
6.2

Pulse Broadening

Assuming a Gaussian shaped input pulse and rst order dispersion dominates (2 0)

Optical intensity

Single Mode Fiber

t
L

1

T0

2 2 ( + " " T (z) C z % z % 2 ' = *$ 1 + + $ 22 ' 2 T0 T0 & # T0 & , )#

T(z)

2

Dene Dispersion Length

An unchirped pulse (C=0) will broaden by a factor of 2 at z = LD

ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal
6.3

Pulse Compression

If 2C < 0, the pulse will initially decrease!
This will happen if the
(a) the initial pulse is positively chirped and propagates in the anomolous dispersion regime of the ber OR
(b) if the pulse is initially negatively chirped and propagates in the normal dispersion regime of the ber

Optical intensity

zmin

Tmin

Single Mode Fiber

t

T0

zmin

C # =! LD "1 + C 2 $ T0

T(z)

Tmin =
ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal

(1 + C 2 )

6.4

Chromatic Dispersion

The two terms 2 and 3 of the previous equation are the derivative of the mode propagation constant ()
The meaning of () is clear when considering a single pulse propagation

n( ) 1 1 ( ) = = 0 + 1 + 2 2 + 3 3 c 2 6 c p = 0 = 0 n( 0 )
1 ' d g = =% 1 % & d $ " " = 0 #
1

g
p

0

It turns out that, considering the dispersion term only

The phase velocity (p) is the velocity of the center frequency 0,
The group velocity (g) is the velocity of the center of the pulse. It is the value that determine the practical velocity of the transmission of the information (energy) in the ber

ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal
6.5

Group Delay

0
Group delay
0

g = g =

L g c ng

Group velocity

Single Mode Fiber

L

The group delay effective index ng is approx. of the same order of the index of refraction of the ber, i.e. , ng =1.5
As an example, the (group) delay of 100 Km of ber is given by:
L Lng 105 1.5 g = = = 500 s 8 g c 3 10

vg =
ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal

c 2 108 m / s ng
6.6

Group Velocity Dispersion (GVD)

Group velocity (GVD) is frequency-dependent
Any communication signal (pulse) has a given bandwidth

Different frequencies in pulse => Different group delays => Leads to pulse distortion

A more quantitative analysis can be carried out by considering that the ber acts as a lter with the following transfer function:

This equation is obtained after some mathematical manipulation that extracts the absolute group delay
The coefcient 2 and 3 are evaluated on the pulse central frequency/wavelength 0

A( z , ) = A(0, ) e

& # j$ 2 2 + 3 3 ! z 2 % 2 "

ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal

6.7

Group Velocity Dispersion (GVD)

The previous equation can be exactly solved in some particular cases, among which the most important one is the propagation of a Gaussian pulse

Optical intensity

Single Mode Fiber

t
L
t

T0

T0+T

The Gaussian pulse is broadened after propagation of distance L by the amount:

T = L 2
where is the spectrum occupied by the pulse
2 is the dispersion (material and waveguide) of the ber

ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal
6.8

Refractive Index of Silica Fibers

The index of refraction of bulk silica can be approximated using the Sellmeir equation with experimentally measured parameters.

Ai i 2 2 n ( ) = 1 + 2 2 i =1 i
A1 = 0.401040;
1 = 0.064270;
A2 = 0.521885;
2 = 0.129408;
A3 = 0.904048;
3 = 9.425478;

index of refraction vs. wavelength 1.4695 1.469 1.4685 1.468 1.4675 1.467 1.4665 1.466 1.4655 1.465 1.4645 1.15 1.2 1.25 1.3 1.35 1.4 1.45 wavelength (microns) 1.5 1.55 1.6

ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal

6.9

Material Dispersion Parameter

The material refractive index wavlength dependance impacts the dispersion parameter :

First order dispersion 20 15

D (ps/nm/km)

d + ) 1 D= d ) * g

( & & ' n 2 ( ) c 2

10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 1.15

The material zero dispersion wavelength is typically 1350 nm

1.2

1.25

1.3 1.35 1.4 1.45 wavelength (microns)

1.5

1.55

1.6

ZD

ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal
6.10

Group-Velocity Dispersion

The index of the mode is dependent on the wavelength (i.e. the ber is dispersive).
Two components: material dispersion and waveguide dispersion.
These contribute to phase index.
The group index is given by

n ng = n + 2c d 2 2c D= 2 = 2 2 2 d
Units are ps/ (km-nm) ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal

p.40

6.11

Dispersion parameters: 2 and D

2 is called the group velocity dispersion GVD parameter

It is expressed in units of ps2/km

From a mathematical point of view, it is easier to handle equations dealing with 2 and optical frequency
It is also convenient to specify dispersion in terms of optical wavelength
The D parameter is

d + ) 1 D= d ) * g

2 ( n ( ) & 2 & c '

D is called the Dispersion parameter, and it is expressed in units of ps/ nm-km

ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal

6.12

The Dispersion Parameter D

The relation between the two parameters is given by:

D = 2C/2 2 [ps/nm-km]!
Physical meaning: given two wavelengths separated by , their different group velocities give rise to a (group) delay between the two components given by

delay=D L

The gaussian pulse spread, in terms of D, is given by:

T = L D

where is the spectral width of the gaussian pulse

ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal

6.13

Frequency Dependance of Dispersion

The frequency dependence of () is determined by the following physical effects:
Material dispersion

The index of refraction of the bulk material depends on frequency

Waveguide dispersion

Even for an ideal material with constant index of refraction, the solution of the Maxwell equation for a single mode propagating into a ber gives a frequency-dependent ()
This waveguide effects depends on the prole of the index of refraction of the ber

The actual () is thus a combination of the two effects

ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal

6.14

General Dispersion Formula

If we take into account more realistic source and ber effects
we include 3
source with a generic spectral width

, # # ( z) ) # C z & z & 1 z & 2 2 2 2 2 ( = +%1 + + (1 + V )% 2 2 ( + (1 + C + V ) % 3 3 ( . 2 0 $ 2 0 ' 2 $ 4 0 ' * $ 2 0 '

Where V = 20

This formula can be used to derive dispersion limits in several different transmission scenarios

D.

Marcuse, Applied Optics, Vol. 19, p. 1653, 1980 and Vol. 20, p. 3573, 1981.

6.15

ECE 228A Daniel J. Blumenthal