AN INTRODUCTION TO

OPTOELECTRONICS

BY

Dr. ASHOK JAYANTI

 SOURCES OF LIGHT

Optical radiation is electromagnetic radiation in the frequency range of

approximately 10 to 10 Hertz. This corresponds to an energy range of approximately

0.01 to 1000 ev. Therefore if an electromagnetic radiation in the optical region is to be

generated, it must be by an energy variation in the subatomic range. Hence a source of

light radiation has to be based on subatomic transitions. When electrons in the lower

levels are excited by some means to higher level, they emit radiation when they fall back

to the lower levels after some time. The energy of the emitted radiation will be equal to

the energy difference between the two levels.

One of the most common ways of generating optical radiation is by heating. As

the temperatures reach about 2500k bodies become red hot. Red is the lowest

frequency/energy in the visible spectrum. Then as the temperatures raise and the energy

supplied increases other frequencies also add up till finally the body becomes white hot.

The spectral radiant existence of a body is given by Plank's law. In incandescent lamps

the heating is done by passing electric current through a filament in a sealed enclosure.

However thermal light sources are bulky, fragile and are not energy efficient. They also

have a short service life and have poor stability. All these reasons make heat radiators

incompatible with Opto electronic and fiber technology.

 Now what are the characteristics that are required of a source useful for this

technology? The source must be small, rugged and energy efficient. It must have

sufficiently high radiance over a narrow, well defined band of wavelengths. The out put

should be capable of being easily modulated. The source must be cost efficient, reliable

and have long life. The output power most be stable. In addition, if we are using fibre

technology, the source must emit light in an angular cone, which matches the acceptance

cone of the fibre as far as possible. Thus for Optoelectronic applications, we have to look

for phenomena other than thermal radiation for generation of light. The energy transfer

to the electrons must be in some other manner. The process by which a fraction of the

energy absorbed by a substance is remitted in the form of visible or near visible light

radiation is known as luminescence. If the excitation is by photons falling on the

substance, we call it photoluminescence. If the excitation is by chemical reaction, we call

it chemoluminescence. If the excitation is by electric field, we call it

electroluminescence of course we have thermoluminescence, about which we already

know.

There are two aspects of this luminescence, depending on the time lag between

excitation and emission. If the time lag is negligible and emission happens more or less

along with excitation, the phenomenon is called fluorescence. If the emission starts after

the excitation ceases, it is called phosphorescence. Time lag of 10 seconds is generally

taken to be the upper limit for fluorescence.

 Compatibility with integrated circuit technology suggests the use of

semiconductors and the phenomenon of elctroluminescence. The energy band structure

of semiconductors is such that centres for absorption of electromagnetic energy are

available in the form of luminescence centres. These are donor or acceptor atoms which

get ionised or vacant sites in crystal lattices. When sufficient energy is available, it can

dislodge electrons from luminescent centres or release ions from the crystal lattice of the

host material. Thus the semiconductor will have additional charge carriers in the form of

electrons and positive ions. When these carriers encounter vacant lattice sites or the

points of crystal defects they recombine and release the energy in the form of light in

which case we call them radiative recombination's. These lattice sites or defect sites are

known as recombination centers.

Any luminescent phenomena therefore has two stages. The first one involves the

creation of charge carriers. The second stage involves the recombination of these charge

carriers. The driving of a semiconductor to an excited state is done by sending current

through it and the phenomenon is injection electroluminescence.

Before discussing the details of the transitions, which occur in the semiconductor,

it will be appropriate to do a quick recap of semiconductor characteristics.

Semiconductors are materials whose electrical conductivity is smaller than that of

the metals and higher than that of the insulators. The forbidden gap is narrow. The

material has a negative temperature coefficient of resistance. This means that the
electrical conductivity increases with temperature. This is because the forbidden gap

being narrow, the energy from heating is sufficient for electrons in the valence band to be

excited into the conduction band.

The energy band diagram of an intrinsic semiconductor appears as in the figure.

Ev represents the highest energy level in the valence band, which is normally completely

filled. Ec represents the lowest energy level in the conduction band. This band is usually

empty at low temperatures. The energy difference Ec -Ev is known as the forbidden gap.

The conduction band extends from Ec upto a level Eo known as the vacuum level. This

represents the energy of an electron at rest, outside the semiconductor. The energy

difference Eo - Ec is known as the electron affinity of the material. In addition to these

levels, EF represents the Fermi energy level. This is the highest filled energy levet. At O

K all the levels below the Fermi level are filled and all the levels about it are empty.
However at higher temperatures, it may so happen that some of the electrons below EF

acquire energy and are excited to higher levels. Consequently some of the levels above E

may be occupied and some of those below it may be vacant. In terms of the electron

population statistics, the probability of the Fermi level being occupied is exactly one half.

An electron energy level at EF, should one exist, would have a 50% probability of being

occupied. This probability is obtained from the Fermi Dirac distribution functions.

F (δ ) = ---------------------

[1+ exp(E-EF )/KT ]

The difference in energy between the vacuum level and the Fermi level, Eo -E F

is known as the work function of the semiconductor.

The energy diagram in the figure refers to the condition at low temperatures,

when the semiconductor behaves as an insulator. At room temperatures however, a

number of the electrons in the valence band, acquire enough energy and go into the

conduction band. This results in the creation of vacancies or holes in the valence band.

The concentration of electrons, n in the conduction band is the same as the concentration

of holes, P in the valence band. This is known as the intrinsic carrier concentration. Its

value is dependant on the temperature and is given by

 n = p = ni = K exp(- Eg /2kt)

where K is a constant of the material, k is the Boltzman constant and Eg is the energy

gap. The electrical conductivity is dependent of the carrier concentration. When Eg/kT is

more than 100, the material may be considered as an insulator. When Eg/kt is less than

10, the conductivity starts approaching that of a metal.

The most commonly known 'semi conductor elements are germanium and silicon.

These belong to group IV of the periodic table. The energy gap of germanium is 0.7ev

and that of silicon is 1.1 ev. The crystal structure of these elements is tetrahedral and the

inter atomic bonds are mainly covalent.

It is not always necessary that a semiconducting material be an element. The

requirement of four electrons in the outermost orbit can also be satisfied by compounds

of elements from group III & V. These are known as III - V semiconductors. Thus we

have semiconducting materials like Gallium Arsenide, Gallium Phosphide, Indium,

Antimonide and so on. Compounds of elements from groups II and VI such as

cadmium sulfide are also widely known semi conductors. Using these compounds as

semi conductors gives us a greater range of energy structures. It also provides a wide

range of lattice constants, intrinsic carrier concentration, carrier mobilities and other

properties to choose from.

 There is yet another way in which to vary these values and obtain what can be

called 'designer' semiconductors. All the III-V compounds referred to above are binary

compounds. The elements from the groups III and V of the periodic table have a special

property that they are completely miscible with each other. Thus, a part of the arsenic in

Ga As can be replaced by phosphorus and we get the ternary compound GaASP. Again, a

part of the gallium in this compound can be replaced by Indium and

we get the quaternary compound InGaASP. Thus we can get any combination of group

III elements and any other combination of group V elements each in any proportion we

like to get the characteristics that are required for a particular design. The proportions of

each material are designated conventionally by x and 1- x for group three elements and y

and 1 - y for group five elements. Again, x and y are used for the lower atomic weight

elements. Thus we have materials tike Ga (As- P), (Ga1-x Alx)

As, (In1-x Gax) (As1-y Py) and go on. The advantage of the total miscibility of the

materials is that we can choose x and y to be whatever we like.

All the materials we so far discussed are intrinsic semiconductors. Their

conductivity is a direct function of the temperature. Thus any component made using an

intrinsic semi conductor will be heavily temperature dependent. It will be advantageous

if this temperature dependence can be decreased as far as possible. This requires that the

population of electrons in the conduction band must be for some reason other than raise

in temperature. This brings us to the impurity or extrinsic semi conductors. The intrinsic

semiconductor may be doped with a material with an excess of electrons or a depletion of

electrons which can also be termed an excess of holes. As a result of this external

addition of holes or electrons, the carrier concentration n and p are no longer equal. For

normal levels of doping, the product of the carrier concentrations remains independent of

the doping level.

np = n ı ² = K² exp ( - Eg/kT)

Here the impurity concentration, rather than the temperature, is the main

parameter, which determines the total number of free charge carriers. Hence the

electrical conductivity of an extrinsic semi conductor is less dependant on temperature

and reasonably stable components can be built.

Group IV semi conductors can be made n type by doping with group V elements.

They can be made p type by doping with group III elements. The III-V compound can be

made n - type by doping with group VI elements and p - type by doping with group II

elements. There is an interesting variation here. If we consider the group IV elements,

they contain four electrons in their outer most orbit. That is one less than the group V

elements and one more than group III elements. Thus, if Si, Ge or Sn atoms are used to

substitute sites of group V atoms, the III - V semiconductor becomes a p type

semiconductor. Similarly, if these group IV elements are made to substitute group III

sites the semiconductor becomes a n - type semiconductor. Thus the same material,

depending on which sites it is made to settle on, can be either a donor or an acceptor.
They are known as amphoteric dopants. These occupy the sites of atoms which is the

nearest in size to the impurity atom, because that requires the least energy. The case of Si

in Ga As in special since it can occupy either site depending upon the conditions of

crystallisation. Using this, we can prepare successive layers of p & n type

semiconductors.
The energy band diagram of an n type semiconductor appears as shown in the figure.

The n type impurities result in localised energy levels being formed just below the

conduction band. These levels are occupied by the donor atoms, which are ionised,

giving up their electrons to the conduction band. Because of these additional levels, the
Fermilevel in an n type material is nearer the conduction band.
 In the case of a p type semiconductor, acceptor levels are formed just above Ev.

These levels are normally occupied by the electrons excited out of the valence band. Due

to this increased population of holes, the Fermilevel in a p type semiconductor is lowered

and is nearer Ev than Ec .

p-n Junction:

If a one part of a bulk semiconductor is doped with n type impurity and the other

part with p type impurity with a practically abrupt junction between them, we call it a p-n
junction. This is the most basic and most important of all semiconductors components.
 When there are no applied voltages or thermal gradients, the Fermi level is

uniform throughout the material. In the n type material, the conduction band starts from

close to the Fermilevel and in the p type material it is further off. So, as the energy band

diagram of the p-n junction shows, the energy levels Ec and Ec are at different levels in

the two halves. The same is the case with the levels Eo1, and Eo2, and Ev1 and Ev2.

The difference in energies between Ec2, & Ec1, and the consequent difference in the free

electron distribution results in a potential difference Va being set up across the junction.

In the n type materials, the population of the electrons is more. They are the majority

carriers. Their population is less in the p type region. So their tendency is to diffuse

towards the lowly populated region. However the electric field due to Vd causes a

tendency in them to drift exactly in the opposite direction. These two are exactly

balanced and the majority population is maintained. The same thing happens to the holes

also. The transition region contains a negligible number of carriers and is known as the

depletion layer. The equilibrium concentrations of the majority and minority carriers on

either side of the junction is governed by the equation.

n Pn = n p = n²

Where n & np are the concentration of electrons in the n and p regions and p and p are

the concentrations of holes

Now if a voltage is applied across the junction, depending upon the polarity, it

has the effect of either lowering or raising the potential barrier. If the p type region is

made more positive, then the potential barrier is lowered. This leads to some of the

majority carriers diffusing out of their regions. These means that the minority

concentration increases on either side. This increase is by a factor exp ( ev/k T ) where v
is the applied voltage. The point of interest as far as semiconductor light sources are

concerned is this. These excess carriers injected into the region where they are minorities

move away from the depletion region by diffusion. Some of these excess carriers,

recombine with the majority carriers in that region and it is precisely this recombination

process which results in the injection electroluminescence.

 The various transitions that are caused by recombination's in a semiconductor can

be classified as follows.
 The first and the most simple one, shown in fig a is where an electron in the

conduction band recombined with a hole, giving up its energy and coming down to the

valence band. This is known as the direct band to band transition. The energy of the

radiation which results is exactly equal to the energy of the forbidden gap.

The impurity levels in the band gap can trap the electron as it loses energy. The

energy taken by the trapping centre results in one of the impurity atoms combining with a

hole or electron in the valence band. A similar thing can result from dislocations in the

lattice structures. In this case there may not be any radiation of optical frequency since

the transition occurs in two stages. This is illustrated in figure(b).

The electron while losing energy can collide with phonons which are the particle

form of mechanical vibrations and after some transfer of momentum, reach the valence

band and recombine with a hole. This is known as the non-radiative Phonon interaction.

Here the energy of the radiation is different from that of the band gap. This transition is

illustrated in fig C.

The transition may also be affected by the presence of shallow acceptor levels, as

shown in figure D. These types of transitions may or may not be radioactive, depending

on the position of the level.

 As against all these, the energy released by an electron in the process of

recombination may be simply taken up by another electron to go to a higher level. This is

known as Auger recombination. This is illustrated in figure e.

To summarise, we can state that

1) Light generation in semiconductors is by recombination of electrons and holes.

2) Recombination may be brought about by many independent, parallel processes

3) The transition may be directly between band and band or it may involve intermediate

steps.

4) The recombination may be radiative or non radiative. In a radiative process most of

the energy is released as a single quantum of energy. When the recombination takes

place in more than one stage, it is likely that it is non radiative. It may also result in

more than one quantum of longer wavelength radiation being released. In any of the

transitions, the principle of conservation must hold good. For radiative

recombination, an electron in a higher level releases energy and come to a lower

level. While doing so, it releases a photon. If Pe, is the momentum of the electron

before transition and Pe2 is the momentum of the electron after the transition,
 Pe1 = Pe2 + Kp

where kp is the momentum of the photon, which can be written as mp' C. Application

of the deBroglie Principle leads to K = Eg / C. For gap energies of around ev, the value

of the photon momentum is small and negligible compared to the electron momentum. In

these circumstances, the electron momentum may be considered invariable. This

transition is known as a direct transition. The momentum energy curves of

semiconductors where these type of transitions occur are shown in figure. These type of

semiconductors are known as direct band gap semiconductors. The curves in figure show

that the valley of the conduction band is directly above the peak of the valence band. The

natural transition always involves a minimum of change in energy and is from a valley to

the nearest peak. The wavelength of the emitted radiation is given by λ= 1.23/ E g.

Some materials with these properties are GaAs, Ga Al As, Ga ASP etc.

If the peak of the valence band is not exactly below the valley of the conduction band, as

shown in figure, the semiconductor is known as an indirect band gap semiconductor. In

this case, the transition has to involve a change in momentum. The photon momentum is

small and can not account for this change. So for a transition to occur, a third particle has

to participate. This may be an impurity centre, a neutral trap or a phonon. The

momentum relation for an indirect transition can be written as Pe, = Pel ± Kp ±

K
Ga P is an indirect band gap semiconductor. Here, donor - acceptor complex as

(2n , O¯ ) or neutral traps like a nitrogen atom instead of a phosphorus atom in the lattice

act as centres of radiative recombination.

In the case of a direct band gap semiconductor, there is no need for a third particle

to participate in the transition. Therefore the probability of an optical transition is high in

this case and these materials are likely to be efficient luminescent materials. On the other

hand, for the same reason, the probability of the reverse transition, that of absorption of

photons is also equally high. Thus self-absorption of emitted radiation is also strong in

the direct band gap semiconductors. So the selection of material does not depend only on

this aspect. The most important consideration is the required wavelength of light. The

wavelength of the emitted photon is given by 1.23/ Eg. From this expression, for the

radiator to be able to operate in the visible region, the semiconductor should have an

energy gap of 1.5 to 3.0 ev. This rules out the use of materials like Si and Ge. We have

to choose III-V compounds.

Light Emitting diodes

Injection Electro Luminescence

As already discussed, any process of luminescence involves two stages. The first

one is supply of energy to carriers. The second one is the release of this energy through

the process of recombination. Electroluminescence is the phenomenon in which the

energy is given by electrical means. In the case of p-n junction, the excitation is by

creation of excess minority carriers. The process of making the majority carriers in one

region flow across the junction, resulting in an increase in the concentration of minority

carriers is known as injection electroluminescence. The energy stored by the creation of

non-equilibrium carriers is released in the form of radiation.

The operation of an injection LED can be best understood by referring to the

energy band distribution in the p-n junction, as shown in figure. The flow of carriers

from the region in which they are the minority carriers to the other region, under the

influence of the internal fields in known as the drift flow of electrons or holes, as the case

may be. The flow of carriers from the region in which they are the majority carriers to

the other region is known as the diffusion flow. Under equilibrium conditions, the drift

flow and the diffusion flow balance each other. When a forward bias is applied to the p-n

junction, the potential barrier is lowered and more electrons flow into the p-region. This

means that the minority concentration in the p region is increased. Simultaneously the

minority concentration in the n region is also increased. These excess minority carriers

combine with the majority carriers in that region and release energy in the form of

electromagnetic radiation.
 It is preferable that the emission of the radiation is from either of the two regions.

This is achieved by doping one of the regions more heavily than the other. Suppose the

impurity concentration in the n region is heavier. We symbolise it as n+ or n++ as the

case may be. Since n+ is more heavily doped than p, the flow of electrons from n+ to p

is more than that of holes from p to n+ (figure) .

 As a

result, the minority concentration in the p region becomes greater. The rate of

recombination is proportional to the concentration and is more in the p region. Thus the

light emission will be predominantly from the p region. In this case we call the n+ region

the base and p the emitter. In general the more heavily doped region acts as the base and

the other as the emitter.

The efficiency of the light emission depends upon the total number of the excess

minority carriers in the emitter region and the number of these that participate in radiative

recombination. This in turn depends on the current that causes these transitions. The

total current that is flowing through the diode depends on the effect of all the transitions

occurring in the semiconductor, namely

1) The component due to the electrons injected into the p region, In

2) The component due to the holes injected into the n region, Ip

3) Current due to non radiative recombination's at the p-n junction Irec

4) Current due to the charge carriers piercing through the potential barrier. This is

known as the tunneling current I tun.

5) The leakage current at the junction IL

Thus I = In + Ip + Irec + I tun + IL

The ratio of the current providing the excess memory population in the emitter to the total

current is know as the injection efficiency of the diode γ..Ne, the internal quantum

efficiency or simply the 'Yield' of a LED is defined as the ratio of the number of photons

emitted to the number of the electrons injected into the p region.

The parameter γ refers to the efficiency with which the charge carriers are injected

into the active region. The parameter Ne gives us the efficiency with which these

injected charge carriers are converted into photons. Therefore, in order to determine the
effectiveness of the process of injection Electro luminescence, we have to look at the

product γ Ne.

There is another way of looking at the efficiency of a LED. The efficiency

depends on the rate of recombination. The rate of recombination depends upon the

number of excess carriers available. If the number of electrons in the p region before

injection is Npo and their number after injection in N. The excess electrons are N - Npo.

If the life time (average time before recombination of these electrons) is Tp, the rate of

recombination can be written as

N N  N po
 
t p

This rate refers to both radiative and non radioactive recombination and we may

write

dn  dn   dn 
     
dt  dt  RR  dt  NR

Thus leads to the need for defining T RP and TNR as the life times of the electrons which

would result if either of these two processes is operative and

1 1 1
 
 p  RR  NR

The internal quantum efficiency N e may be written as

 dn  1
 
 dt  RR   RR  1
 dn  1 
  1  RR
 dt  p  NR

Thus for an efficient source, it is necessary that TRR/ TNR be as small as possible. The

life time of charge carriers causing radiative recombination must be as small as possible

and that of the charge carriers causing non radiative recombination should be as large as

possible.

In an indirect band gap material like silicon TRP is about 10ms and TNR is about

100ns, giving a value of Ne about 10ˉ5.

In a direct band gap material like GaAs, TRP is as low as 100ns, resulting in an

efficiency of 0.5.

The value of Ne is normally a function of the current density in the forward

direction. At low current densities Ne more or less is proportional to the current density,

showing a sharp rise with increasing J (figure.) At one stage, the diffusion
component becomes more prominent in the total current. So Ne saturates at this value.

After the luminescence centres are all saturated, there is no further possibility of

recombination taking place. Thus any further increase in the current density is likely to

show a decrease in Ne because the injected electrons become more in number and the

number of photons emitted becomes less. However if the edge of the semiconductor are

polished to become mirrors and form a resonant cavity, it is possible to initiate lasing

action. This process will be discussed in detail later.

The product r Ne give us the effectiveness of the injection electro luminescence

phenomenon. But the usefulness of the LED also depends on how many of the photons

that are created get out of the LED surface. Let us look at this in some detail.
 The photons that are created by the injection process may again be absorbed by

the semiconductor itself, resulting in the excitation of electrons in the valence or

conduction band to higher levels. The photons also may be absorbed by the impurity

levels or the crystal lattice. The photons may also cause excitation of electrons from the

valence band to the conduction band. This particular process is more probable in the case

of direct band gap semiconductors.

More importantly, as the photons try to come out from the semiconductor into air,

they are travelling form a denser medium into a rarer medium. If the angle at which the

photon meets the surface is greater than the critical angle, total internal reflection take
place(fig). These photons are likely to be lost in self-absorption.
 In general, the loss by absorption is inversely proportional to the penetration

depth X and the surface area available A and directly proportional to the volume of the

crystal. The loss by total internal reflection is most prominent of these losses because

the semiconducting materials have high refractive indcies more than 3.5. this can be

minimised by shaping the surface such that the possibility of the angle of incidence

exceeding the critical angle is smaller.

To cover all these losses, we define a parameter No, called the light out put

efficiency of the LED

No= Power emitted

Power generated

This parameter acts to modify the product Ne in expressing the efficiency of the

LED. Thus we come to the parameter called the external quantum efficiency η of the

light emitting diode.

Ultimately this value is equal to the ratio of the photons emitted by the LED in a

given time interval to the total number of electrons passing through the diode in the same

time.
 If we want to design an LED which performs better, we must be thinking of

designs which improve either γ, Ne or No.

Let us first look at γ. If we want to improve the injection efficiency, more

electrons should go into the p region than holes into n region. We have already seen that

a solution for this is to dope the n region more heavily. However, we can notsimply go

on increasing the doping concentration. At levels higher that about 10¯²³ m ¯³ in III-V

semiconductors the impurity levels start to interact with one another and the range of

energy levels they occupy starts to merge with the band edge. The band edge it self is

perturbed and a band tail is formed . The band gap therefore becomes narrower. This

results in a change in the frequency of the light emitted. The Fermi level moves up into

the conduction band in the n region and down into the valence band in the p region. A

semiconductor where the impurity level is high enough for all these to happen is said to

be degenerate. Thus the main effect of doping concentration increasing over a particular

level is an unwanted change in the frequency of emitted radiation.

 Therefore there is a limit to the use of increase in doping concentration as a means

of obtaining a higher minority concentration in the emitter p region. The main aim is to

see that more electrons flow into the p region than holes into the n region. If, somehow,

we can make the potential barrier for the electrons lower than that for the holes, this can

be achieved.

This brings us to the concept of heterojunctions, in semiconductors, The pn

junctions we so far referred to are always made up of a single semiconductor either

elemental or compound, which is doped with acceptors on one side and donors on the

other side. These junction are known as Homo junctions - Junctions containing the

same semiconductor.

The complete miscibility of the elements in group III and those in group V gave

the possibility of the tertiary and quaternary semi conducting compounds being formed.

The same capability of forming perfect solid solutions also gives raise to the possibility

of forming a junction with one compound on one side and another compound on the other

side. This results in the band gap being different on each side (figure). Such junctions
are called Hetero junctions.
 This single crystal grown into two different semiconductors shows different

values of band gap energy, electron affinity, permittivity and all the other properties.

Each of the semi conductors may be doped with either donors or acceptors. Similarly the

doping concentration may also be different. Thus there are four types of hetero junctions

that may be formed n - N, n - P, P - P and N - p, where the upper case letters represent the

higher concentration.

The heterojunction is the starting point in the design of a number of devices. The

band diagram for a heterojunction in the Equilibrium State is shown in figure. In this

case the fermi level is common to both materials. If Eg, is the energy gap in the material,

and Eg2 is the energy gap in the material 2, an energy gap ∆ E = Eg - Eg2

exists at the junction. Since the energy gaps on either side are different, the potential

barrier for electrons and holes are different. This results in the flow of the electrons from

the N region to the P region being greater than that of the holes from the P region to the n

region. Consequently the injection efficiency of the device is considerably greater than

that of homojunctions. If we want to further improve the design, the fraction of the

injected electrons, which participate in the recombination, must be increased. Thus we

will be increasing the value of the internal quantum efficiency. For this we have to keep

the injected electrons localised in a specific area near the P-N junction. We have to

prevent them from moving away from this region. One way to stop charge carriers from
moving along the field direction is to create an additional potential barrier. This can be

done by the provision of a third semiconductor layer, whose energy gap is such that an

additional potential well is provided (figure).

 This type

of a structure is known as a double heterostructure. There is an additional advantage we

gain from this second potential barrier. A narrower energy gap means a longer wave

length absorption band and the phenomenon of self absorption of the generated photons

will be considerably smaller Again, the different energy gaps mean different refractive

indices and the transmission of photons will be through three media. The critical angle

for the two individual stages will be higher than what it would have been, if there were

only two media, thus the total internal reflection loss is also reduced. Another reason for

improved performance is that the wider band gap regions are more transparent to the

recombination radiation of the narrow band gap materials.

In order to further reduce the absorption and TIR losses, it has be come common

to use a five layer structure as shown in figure. In addition to the three layers which
make up the double hererojunction there are two contact layers, one of them being the

substrate on which the rest of the layers are grown epitaxially. The middle layer is the

narrow band gap active layer. The layers on either side of it are N and P. If the middle

layer is n we get a N n P double Hetero structure and if the muddle layer is p we get the N

p P structure. The outer most layers are usually narrow band gap materials. These permit

the fabrication of good low resistance ohmic contacts at the device terminals.

If the active emitting region is made narrow enough the phenomenon of total

internal reflection can be utilised to create a wave guide effect. This factor becomes

particularly important in the design of edge emitting LEDS.

We can have an idea of the performance of DHLEDS by trying to figure out its

internal quantum efficiency let us assume the recombination time constant of the active

player is Tp1. This is a function of the radiative and non-radiative time constants.

1 1 1
 
 p1 rr1 nr1

On either side of the active region, the heterojunctions give raise to recombination

centres. These recombinations are largely non-radiative. It the recombination are largely

non-radiative. If the recombination velocity at either heterojunction is s (assumed to be

the same, for simplicity), the thickness of the active region is 2d and the

electron concentration is n1 , we can write the net rate of recombination per unit cross

sectional area as
2n1d 2n1d 2n d
  2n1s  1
rr1 nr1 
1 1 1 s
and   
 rr1 nr1 d

Hence the over all internal quantum efficiency is


int 
rr1

Thus the smaller the value of s the better the device will be GaAS-GaALAS

junctions give s of the order of 10m/s and In GaAsp-In P system give even smaller

values

Practical LED structures :

Light emitting diodes are generally classified as surface emitting (SLED) or edge

emitting ( ELED ). One typical design of a surface emitting conventional LED is shown

in figure. Far visible range, Ga As P or Ga P doped with N or Zn O may be used. This

type of structure has a problem in that there is a limit to the current densities that can be
used. Thus there is a limit to the radiation intensity that can be obtained. If we try to

increase the current density above a certain critical value, the temperature starts to

increase, the wave length distribution of the emitted radiation changes. Non radiative

recombinations start to increase and the internal quantum efficiency falls. Increasing
junction temperature also results in the decrease of the life of the LED.
 These problems are solved to a large extent in what is widely known as the Burrus

design (figure). In this the temperature rise is controlled by keeping the active region

near a heat sink layer, which is also the positive contact layer. The light emission is from

the side of the substrate. A portion of the substrate is etched away to minimise the

distance between the active layer and the emitting layer. The active layer is separated

from the rear contact by an insulating oxide layer, leaving a small area for the light

emitting region. This concentrates the flow of current into a well-defined lateral region.
These designs is known as a Burrus LED
 The Burrus principle extended to double heterostructures results in what are

called the Burrus DHSLED s. In these devices, the etched well in the substrate is taken

to as far as the n-GaAl As confining layer. The isolation of the contact area, when

achieved by the oxide layer as in figure, leaves a large area of inactive Pn junction which

contributes to the depletion layer capacitance. In order to overcome this problem, the

electrical resistivity of the semiconductor layer is increased by bombarding selectively,

with high-energy protons. This results in lattice damage and increase in insulation. The

thickness of the insulating layer is a function of the penetration depth of the protons

which in turn can be controlled by the bombarding energy. The same effect can also be

achieved by implanting oxygen ions. This type of DH SLED can with stand active area

current densities around 50 A/mm² and an optical power of around 60mw. A number of

modifications of the design are possible, mostly involving the formation of micro lenses

in the material. These micro lenses make it possible to use a smaller active area and still

getting a large beam aperture. This results in higher radiance SLEDS.

Edge Emitting LEDS:

The conventional double heterojunction SLED mainly consists of an active layer

and two confining layers. The narrow band gap active layer is the region where most of

the radiative recombination's take place. This means that the photon generation is

predominately in the active layer. The two confining layers have a comparatively wider

band gap and confine the charge carriers to the active region which is between the two
junctions. The wider band gap also results in a lower refractive index. Hence if the

photons are to cross into the confining layers they have to move from a region of higher

refractive index to a region of lower refractive index-i.e. from a denser medium to a rarer

medium. This brings in the possibility of total internal reflection. If the active layer

thickness is sufficiently decreased, it is possible to initiate a wave guiding action, where

the photon stream is confined to the active

layer, without moving into the confining layers and finally emerges from the sides rather

than the surface. This principle results in the design of edge emitting LEDs or ELEDs as

they are called. Here, the two wide band gap layers are providing not only electrical

confinement but optical confinement also. Since the active layer is made fairly thin, the
possibility of self absorption is also decreased.
 The light beam emerging from the ultra thin active region from the sides rather

than from the surface results in a fairly thin output beam. This is of great help in

communication set ups where the beam is likely to be coupled into an optical fiber. If a

surface emitting structure is used it may be necessary to use a converging lens system to

launch the total optical flux into the fiber. In ELED systems this need is eliminated.

Also, since the total optical flux is concentrated over a small cross section, the radiance

of the component is greater.

The number of radiative recombinations is a function of the current density. In

order to get a given current density with lower drive currents, the contact layer at the top

can be laid in the form of a narrow stripe, the rest of the surface being crated with an

insulating layer. This is the bases for the structure commonly referred to as the stripe

geometry DHLED. (fig.). The strip geometry results in greater efficiencies since the

input drive current can be reduced.

If can be designed such that most of the light emission is at one end only by

providing a reflecting crating at one and face and an antireflection creating at the front

end. The stripe geometry also causes the total optical flex to be emitted from a near

circular or elliptical cross section rather than a fan. Thus the effective radiance can be

very high. The size of the output beam gives an increased coupling efficiency into small

NA optical fibers. It must, however, be kept in mind that surface emitters generally

radiate more power into air.

Super Luminiscent LEDs :

Communication applications call for light sources with (a) high out put power (b)

directionality and (c) a narrow spectral line width. Devices known as super Luminescent

LEDs offer more photon output but stop short of providing optical resonance which
would result in a Lasing output. (figure)
 The photon population is increased by giving sufficient drive currents to initiate

stimulated emission. However conditions for optical feed back are not provided, this not

allowing lasing action. This devise thus gives high power incoherent output. The
stimulated emission also causes a narrowing down of the spectral line width. The

structure has its drawbacks in the requirement of high drive currents, non linear output

characteristics and increased temperature sensitivity.

---------

Any device that converts optical energy into electrical energy is a photodetector

and the phenomenon of conversion is the photo effect. The photo effect is the result of
excitation of charge carrier inside a material by the optical radiation. There are some

materials whose work function is such that the energy contained in the optical radiation is

sufficient to release the electrons from the material. This is known as photoemission and

the process is the EXTERNAL PHOTOEFFECT. This effect is used in a number of

photo detecting devices such as photo tubes, photo multipliers etc., These are of limited

interest as far as semiconductor Optoelectronic are concerned though there are areas

where they are highly useful.

The INTERNAL PHOTOEFFECT deals with the creation of additional charge

carriers inside a semiconductor. This generation causes an increase in the conductivity on

exposure to optical radiation and is known as the PHOTOCONDUCTIVE EFFECT. If

the semiconductor is in the form of a p-n junction, the potential barrier seperates the two

types of charge carriers. The spatially separated electrons and holes produce a potential

difference known as the photo e.m.f. This is the PHOTOVOLTAIC EFFECT.

The photo voltaic effect is the basis for the design of photo diode, photo

transistors, photo thyristers etc., while the photo conductive effect is used in photo

resistors.

The creation of charge carriers in a semiconductor is due to the photons giving up

energy to electrons in the valence band and lifting them to the conduction band. We can

also visualise this as the optical radiation ionising the semiconductor atoms. If the photo

energy is used in lifting an electron from the valence band to the conduction band it is
known as the INTRINSIC photo effect. If the energy is spent in the excitation of an

impurity trap centre, it is known as EXTRINSIC photo effect. These are comparable to

the radiative and non - radiative transitions we described in the previous chapter.

However, since the population of the impurity trap centres is very small, it is the intrinsic

photo effect that is the dominant phenomenon and causes almost all of the photo e. m. f.

In intrinsic photo effect, the electrons may make direct transitions or indirect transitions

depending on whether the material is a direct band gap semiconductor or an indirect

band gap semiconductor. One fundamental condition that has to be satisfied is that the

energy of the photon must be equal to or greater than the band gap energy.

Ep ≥ Ec - Ev

This can be expressed in terms of the frequency of the radiation.

f ≥ ( Ec - Ev ) / h.

This give raise to the concept of a critical frequency. If the frequency is less than

this, excitation of the electrons across the bandgap is not possible. In terms of the wave

length, we define a long wave length cut off of the spectral response λc is given as

1.23/Eg.

The number of electrons that are excited is dependent on the number of photons,

which cause the transitions. This in turn, depends on how deep the radiation can penetrate
into the material. Once an electro magnetic radiation enters a material, the oscillations

begin to get damped gradually. The depth at which the radiation reduces to 1/e of its

original value is known as the penetration depth, χo, of the material. If χo, is large, the

photons can cause transitions over a larger distance and the number of charge carriers

created will be more. The reciprocal of the penetration depth is known as the absorption

coefficient.

PHOTODIODES:

In the two types of detectors, which employ the internal photo effect, the photo

voltaic detectors are used more widely, because of better responsivity and greater

flexibility of design. So we would leco discuss these devices in detail. The simplest of
all photo voltaic devices is the p-n junction diode, whose structure is shown in fig 2.1.
 Let us assume that the radiation is incident in a direction normal to the p-n

junction plane, on the n surface χo, is the penetration depth and as the radiation is

incident on the surface, electron-hole pairs are created up to this depth from the surface.

These carriers diffuse into the inner regions and given sufficient time, they would

recombine. This time period depends on the life time of the charge carriers. Keeping the

life time and the mobility of the charge carriers in mind it is possible to design the

distance between the surface and the junction plane such that the possibility of

recombination is minimised. In other words the charge carrier have to reach the junction

before they have time to recombine. Once they reach the junction, the potential barrier

separates them. The holes move into the p region and the electrons, which can not

negotiate the junction field, remain in the n region, piling up at the boundary. The

magnitude of the photo current caused by the movement of the charge carriers, depends

upon the number of photons which charted the charge carriers. Thus it is possible to

control the current by changing the level of illumination. In other words, we can exert

OPTICAL CONTROL on the electric parameters and it is this control that makes the

Optoelectronic devices so important for instrumentation.

It must be noted that the photo current is entirely due to the drift flow of the

minority carriers across the junction. Let us compare this with the case in which the

junction is forward biased. In that case, the potential barrier is lowered and current flows

because of the diffusion of the majority carriers across the junction. This diffusion flow

overwhelms the drift component. However, it is only the drift component, which can be

controlled optically. Thus the diffusion current is parasitic in photo diodes. It becomes
impossible to exert optical control if the diode is forward biased. Thus it is necessary that

a photo diode should always be operated with a reverse bias or no bias at all.

The potential difference caused by the accumulation of charges on either side of the

junction is called the photo EMF. The current caused by the drift flow of the carriers is

the photo current. As the drift flow increases the charge accumulated on either side of the

junction and consequently the photo EMF increase. The photo EMF is opposite in sign to

the junction field. Therefore, the increase in photo EMF causes the lowering of the

potential barrier. This decreases the ability of the potential barrier to separate the charge

carriers. Ultimately there comes a point where the potential barrier is no longer capable

of separating the holes and electrons. This is the point of saturation of the photo diode.

If Ø is the optical flux incident on the photodiode, we can write the number of

photons falling on the surface as Ø /hf , hf being the energy of each photon. Let us

assume each photon creates η charge carriers. This is known as the INTERNAL

QUANTUM EFFICIENCY. The total charge generated is η Ø/hf . Now we have to see

how many of these carriers escape recombination on their way to the junction region.

This is given by the base transport factor rB. Altogether the photocurrent can be written

as

Ip=q η rB. Ø /hf Where q is the charge on the electron

This equation suggests that the Ip- Ø curve must be perfectly linear. However all

the parameters in the above expression are dynamic parameters and vary with conditions.

We have already seen those at large values of Ø, the curve tends to level off. Similarly at
lower levels of Ø also the base transport factor is slightly lower and upto a certain Ømin

value, the raise in Ip is slow. (figure 2.2)

 The spectral response curve between λ and Ø is also not linear (fig 2.3).

At the

short wave length region, the energy absorption in the surface layer of depth Yo is much
higher. This also causes greater levels of recombination. Due to this increased

recombination, there is a decrease in the responsivity at the short wave length region and

there is a practical short wavelength length cut off, in addition to the long wavelength cut

off λc. The dynamic natures of the parameters make the response curves even more

complicated. For instance, the penetration depth Xo depends on the wave length and the

fraction of photons absorbed by the semiconductor depends on Xo so, if the variation of

Xo or its reciprocal, the absorption coefficient with wavelength is sharp, then the peak

response is a function of the cut-off wave length. It the rate of change of Yo with λ is

small, then the peak response depends on the rate of recombination r. This, we can

adjust by varying the base width. Silicon is an example of the second type of material and

germanium is an example of the first type.

We have already mentioned the internal quantum efficiency η of the photodiode

as the number of electrons created by each photon absorbed by the semiconductor. The

external quantum efficiency or simply quantum efficiency of a photodiode is defined as

the number of electrons collected at the detector terminal to the number of photons

incident on the photo diode.

numberofelectronscollected

numberofphoton sin cident
rateofcollectionofelectronsper sec ond

rateofphoton sin cidentper sec ond

The value of η is influenced by (a) the absorption coefficient of the material, (b) the

base transport factor and most importantly (c) the frequency of incident light.
 A more practical parameter of a photo detector is the actual photo current that

results from unit optical power incident on the detector. This is known as the

RESPONSIVITY, R.

Ip
R amperes / watt
Po

where Ip is the output photo current and Po is the input optical power in watts.

If the frequency of the incident radiation is f, then the energy of each photo is hf. From

this we can write rp the number of photons incident per second as Po/hf. The photo

current can be written as the number of electrons collected per second multiplied by the

charge on each electron, re* e

thus

Po  rp hf
and
I p  re e

re e  e
This gives us R  
rp hf hf

This equation gives us a way of calculating the amount of optical power required

to give a certain photo current which can be very important in designing sensor systems.

Noise in Detectors:
 The performance of an optoelctronic instrumentation device depends on the

faithfulness with which the detector output follows the optical input variations.

Unfortunately, this faithfulness is not this. The basic one is what is generally called shot

noise. This stems from the fact that the current flow is not continuous but quantum in

nature. The amount of charge flowing has to be the charge on so many electrons. The

smallest step of increment is the charge on each electron. This on a microscopic scale

there is always a fluctuation around the average value. The r.m.s value of this shot

current is given by

1 1

i 
2
s
2

 2eBI  2

where B is the Band width.

The other contributor to the noise current is the dark current in the device, which

can be minimised by suitable designs and materials.

A parameter, which is used to describe the performance of a detector, is the Noise

Equivalent power or NEP.

The NEP is defined as the incident optical power, at a particular wavelength required

to produce a photocurrent equal to the r.m.s. noise current at unit Bandwidth.

We have the responsively defined as

P0 hf
R 
I p e
I p hc
 P0 
 e

Now we use the photo current value equal to the shot noise current
 1


I p  2eIB  2

The photo diode average current would include the dark current also

 I   I p  Id 
1

 I p   2e  I p  I d  B  2

If the dark current is negligible

I p  2eB

2hc
NEP  P0  (since B has to be put equal to 1 )
n

On the other hand if there is a considerable dark current, as in the case of the

photo transistor, if over whelms the shot noise and

1
I p   2eI d B  2
1
hc  2eI d  2
 NEP 
 e

The reciprocal of NEP is defined as the detectivity

D = 1/ NEP.
 The Specific Detectivity is a parameter which takes into account the area of the

detector collecting light, and is represented by D*

1
D*  DA 2

SPEED OF RESPONSE:

The usefulness of a photo detecting device in instrumentation system greatly

depends on the speed with which it responds to the input variations. This is not only due

to the time lapse between the output signal and the input signal. It is also likely to effect

the output pulse shape, as shown in fig (2.4)

 . The

response time must always be within specific critical values depending on the process

parameters. In general, it can be said that the speed of response must be as high as

possible.

The speed of response of a photodiode depends on several factors. The first

among them is the efficiency with which the electric field at the junction separates the

charge carriers. The speed with which the charge carriers cross the junction determines

the time taken for separation. If is the junction width and Vmax the drift velocity the

transit time is /Vmax. The junction thickness depends on the impurity concentration.

The drift velocity depends on the time constant of the junction capacitance. These are

some of the factors to be taken into account while designing the diodes. The normal

range for Si and Ge photodiodes is about 0.1 ns.

 As already pointed out, what is important in the performance of a photodiode is

not the instantaneous speed but the way in which the current through the load varies with

time, when the input is in the shape of a pulse, the output pulse shape is dependant on this

factor. The time taken for the output current to raise to a particular value and the time

taken for the current to fall to zero from that value are the important parameters in

deciding the output pulse shape. So we want the rate of change of excess minority

carriers at a particular point with time.

The illumination of the photodiode results in an excess minority concentration

being created in the base or n region (fig 2.5)

 Let this

excess hole concentration be ∆p. The distribution of these excess carriers at different

values of x can be written as d (∆p )/d x. Now as the diode continues to be illuminated,

there will be a variation in this distribution. This variation in dependant on the hole

distribution constant and can be written as Dp. d²(∆ P) / d x². However, this number has

to be reduced by the number of charge carriers which recombine. If the life time of the

holes in the n region is Tp, then the fraction of holes which recombine is given by ∆ P /

Tp. So putting these together, we get the time rate of change of minority carriers to be

d (∆p)/dt=Dp d²(∆ P) / d x²-∆ P / Tp ------- (2.3)

 When there is no illumination, the excess hole concentration throughout the n

region is zero. Suppose the illumination starts at t=0. Instantaneously a hole population

starts to build up at the surface, where x = 0. The current caused by the hole population

is Ip, and the boundary condition at the surface can be written at

d(∆p)/dx |=Ip/(q*Dp)

x=0

At the junction, where x=w, there is no current at t=0 and (∆ P)x=w=0. Applying

these two conditions, equn.2.3. has the solution

ip=Ip[1-exp(-t/Ttr)] -------- (2.4)

Where Tr = W²/2Dp is the transit time.

Once the charge carriers reach the junction it is the efficiency with which they are

separated which determines the growth of the photo emf and the slope of the

photovoltage pulse. Let us once again look at the whole process.

Suppose a rectangular light pulse arrives at the n side of the diode at time t = 0.

This triggers the flow of the minority carriers in the n region. The concentration of the

minority carriers increases with t. As the number of carriers increases so does the
probability of collisions and consequent rate of recombination. Also as the flow of

minority carriers increases the hole current through the junction begins to grow and the p

region continues to charge positively with respect to the n region. This results in the

photo emf increasing. After sometime tp, the rate of recombination will be balanced by

the rate of carrier generation and the photo emf reaches a steady value. The time TR is

the raise time of the pulse. After the pulse ends, concentration of minority carriers

decreases and the current and photo emf also decay.

Thus the build up of photo emf takes a specific time period dependant upon the

rate of generation of excess carriers and the rate of recombination. Each of these

processes is governed by the life time of holes tp. The speed of response also depends on

the base width WB and the hole diffusion constant Dp.

Improving the speed of response of a photo diode therefore has to look into either

decreasing the transit time Ttr or increasing the hole life time. It will be the electron life

time if we started by assuming that light is incident on the p side Tp.

Ttr depends on WB and Dp. The minimum value for WB normally is 10 microns.

If we decrease WB further the response lowers and the response peak also shifts towards

the short wavelength region. Dp for normal doping levels is around 0.01 m² s¯¹ . Which

gives Ttr around 100 ns. So it becomes necessary to look outside Si and Ge as

fabricating materials. III-V semiconductors, which have been discussed earlier, have

been widely used.

 Thus in order to increase the response speed over a larger wavelength region, 1)

we need a greater depth through which the charge carriers are generated 2) we need to

increase the speed of diffusion while at the same time keeping W B at around 10 microns.

The transit time can also be written as W/V and we have to look to increasing V. The

first requirement means we have to decrease the rate of recombination. Most of these can

be achieved by using 1) a narrow p region where the generation of charge carriers takes

place 2) following this by a sufficiently wide region of semiconductor so thinly doped

that we can call it intrinsic and 3) a final n region which is comparatively doped heavily

which will provide good external contacts. This is known as the PIN Diode. See fig
(2.6).

The advantages of this structure are many. The junctions P-I and I-N can be made very

sharp, thus decreasing the time constant to around 10¯¹¹ sec. Thus the drift time is

decreased. The initial p region can be brought to the minimum possible thickness but

need not be made too thin. Since the resistivity of the I region is pretty high, almost all

the applied voltage drops across this region. This creates a strong and homogenous field

which pervades the whole I region. This field sweeps the free carriers towards the

junction. Since the impurity concentration is very small, the collisions are also

comparatively less.
 The velocity with which the charge carriers are swept across the intrinsic region is

given by μ E, where E is the electric field. So the transit time can be written as W/ μ E

=(W/ μ ) (W/VSR) = W² / μVSR. In case of the PN diode, this was W²/2Dp

2 2 KT
TTRpin V q 0.5
 2sr   (approx)
TTRpn  Vsr Vsr
2 Dp

Given a reverse voltage of 0.1v, gives double the speed of the PN Diode. For a given

speed PIN Diodes can operate at longer wavelengths. However the intrinsic region

requires high purity and may be difficult to obtain.

Schottky Barrier diode :

 The Schottky junction characteristics also can be utilised to obtain a photo

detector with a wider response band and greater speed.

 The Schottky diode is a metal semiconductor junction. Figure(2.6) shows a metal

p type semiconductor junction. The fermi level in the metal is higher than that in the

semiconductor. This means that if we consider any one particular energy level, the

probability of its being occupied is greater in the case of the metal than in the case of the

p type semiconductor. Hence, the electron occupancy of the conduction band of

semiconductor is lower than that in the metal. When there is an ohmic contact between

the two, a fraction of the electrons move from the metal into the p type semiconductor

and will neutralise some of the holes present there. As a result a negative space charge

appears at the interface (Similarly, if the semiconductor is the n-type, a positive space

charge develops). When a forward bias is applied the barrier lowers and when a reverse

bias is applied it raises.

Used as a photo detector, the light energy is made to be incident on the metal side.

Thus it becomes possible that photons of energy less then the semiconductor band gap

energy also are absorbed. For the flow of photo current it will be sufficient if the

quantum energy is greater than the schottky barrier. Thus the long wavelength cut off is

shifted towards longer wavelengths. Similarly, since the absorption region extends till

the space charge layer, photons of higher energy can penetrate up to the space charge

layer. This extends the short wavelength cut off also. Since the base resistance is also

very small the base being a metal, the time lag is also considerably reduced. Thus the

schottky barrier photo diode operates over a wider spectral region with considerable

speed. However the formation of the metal semiconductor junction is not easy and the

characteristics are also not reasonably stable.

Heterojunction detectors

Many of the shortcomings of junction detectors can be overcome by using

Heterojunctions. For instance let us consider a hetero structure of GaAs and GaAlAs as

shown in figure (2.7).

 The wide

band gap Ga Al As does not absorb the photons and acts as a window. Almost all the

radiant energy is absorbed in the active layer, the n type Ga As, and gives raise to charge

carriers. The holes travel freely to the p region while the electrons travel to the n region.

In this case the difference of band gaps on either side of the heterojunction is about o.4

ev. If the width of the active region is chosen to absorb all the photons and the purity of

the region is high, the loss of photo carriers due to recombination can be minimised and a

high efficiency very near 100% can be obtained. Since the entrance window is

transparent, the photons reach the active region rapidly and the speed of the photo diode

is also very high.

The wave length of operation depends on the difference between the band gaps on

either side of the heterojunction. The penetration depth for the transparent window is
anyway very large. Thus, in order to design a detector for a specific wavelength region,

we have to properly select the pairs of semiconductors.

The use of a heterojuction results in an increase in the breakdown voltage of the

diode. This means that the normal operating reverse bias given to the detector is much

less than the breakdown voltage. As a result the reverse leakage current is kept a

minimum. Which improves the responsivity of the diode.

However the fabrication of heterodiodes is a much more complicated process than

that of homojunctions and this stands in the way of their being used more widely. The

technological bottlenecks are very rapidly being solved.

All the detectors we discussed so far, the photo emf or the photo current depends

on the number of charge carriers which escape recombination. Thus the efficiency is

always less than 100%. When it becomes necessary to detect feeble light signals, this is

not always sufficient. In order to get an output pulse of sufficient amplitude we have to

amplify the output of the detector. Instead of using an external amplifiers it is also

possible to obtain an internal gain in the detector itself.

PHOTODETECTORS WITH INTERNAL GAIN

The first type of detector we consider under this family is the photo transistor. In

principle, we use the photo current here as the base current and the output is drawn from
the collector. The structure of the device is shown in figure (2.8).
Since the input to the base is the photo current, base does not require a separate terminal.

So usually a photo transistor has only two terminals.

Absorption of light flux by the base results in the creation of charge carriers.

These are separated by the collector junction. The holes cross into the p region while the

electrons remain in the n region. This build up of electrons causes a space charge layer at

the emitter junction. As a result the potential barrier at the emitter junction is lowered

and holes cross in to the n region and the total current is increased.

The out put characteristics of a photo transistor are therefore similar to those of an

ordinary bipolar transistor .. The current responsivity of the photo transistor will be p

times the responsivity if only the collector junction was operating, p being the common

emitter current gain.

 As long as there is a potential difference between the collector and emitter, there

will be some current flow even if there is no base current (see curve for Ø-O in fig )

Therefore the dark current in a phototransistor has an appreciable value and is given by

Id=Ieo (1+ß)

The temperature stability of the device is also low because the base operates with

a d.c. bias on it.

In order to improve the gain and decrease the switching time the base width has to

be decreased. But if we decrease the base width, the area available for flux absorption

will be less. Thus the optimum switching time obtainable is about 10¯ s.

To improve both the gain and switching time it is preferable to use a diode for

detection and transistor for amplification. If both of them are fabricated on a single

monolithic chip; the device is known as a composite photo transistor. The structure is

shown is figure (2.9).

 The

diode can be designed for high speed and the transistor can be designed for high gain,

neither one affecting the other switching time are around 10¯ s.

A more commonly used structure is the photo darlington , where two transistors

are connected in a darlington configuration, thus achieving a two stage amplification.

The structure and its schematic are shown in fig (2.10).

 When light falls on the first base, a photo current is generated. This is the base

current of the 1st transistor IB1 . The current through the first collector Ic, is given by

ßıIB1. The current through the first emitter is ( 1 + ßı) IB1. The current through the first

emitter is fed to the second base and can be redesigned as I B2. The current through the

second collector is I B2 ß2 or (1 + ßı ) ß2 I B1 .

The total output current is

Ic=Icı+Ic2= ßı IB1+ ß2 I B2

= I B1(ßı + ß2 + ßı ß2)
 The photo darlington can give on output current that is about 1000 times that of

the ordinary photo diode. The switching time of a photo darlington is, however, high,

being around 10 s.

Avalanche Photodiodes:

Devices using the avalanche breakdown phenomenon in p-n junctions give better

out put voltages than any of these. The APD or the Avalanche photodiode is very widely

used in optical fiber communication systems, inspite of some draw backs.

In principle, an avalanche photodiode is a pn junction operated under heavy

reverse bias causing breakdown of the diode (fig. 2.11 a).

 Photon

generated carriers acquire high energies while crossing the break down field. It becomes

possible for the carriers with sufficient energy to collide with the lattice sites and create

new electron hole pairs. This is known as impact ionisation (fig.2.11b). It is likely that

the newly generated pair will, in turn create another pair and this action can cascade.

Current gains in excess of 100 are readily obtainable. However there are two specific

drawbacks the first is that the current gain varies with the value of the bias voltage. The

second one is that the multiplication process is not necessarily limited to photo generated

carriers. So any noise is also automatically multiplied. The third is that the avalanche

process takes some time to build up and this increases the switching time.

The avalanche process itself is erratic and random. There are fluctuations in the

actual distance between successive collisions. Again the probability of avalanche is

greater for electrons than for holes. All of these give raise to noise and increase the delay

in switching.

Normally the bias voltages required for impact ionisation are about 50 to 400v

depending upon the junction. Newer designs however made it possible to use bias

voltages around 15-25 volts.

As avalanche photo diode usually produces asymmetric pulses. This is due to the

pulse rise time depends on the fast electron transit and fall depends on the slower hole

transit, silicon, germanium and III-V heterostructures have widely been used in APD

design. We will discuss these structures in some detail in chapter 2.B.

Special types of Detectors

We now come to two special types of structures. Even though these can not be

said to be radiation measuring systems; they very certainly are radiation sensing systems

and very useful in instrumentation and / or control.

The photo thyristor is a four layer semiconductor structure as shown as figure

(2.12a). The schematic representation is as in (2.12b).

 When radiant energy is incident on the devise as shown, photo currents start to

flow at the three junctions. Let Ip, be the photo current generated at p1 n1 junction, Ipa

at the n1 p2 junction and Ip3 at the p2 n2 junction.

Each of these currents will have some effect on the current at the other junctions.

Let the total current through the p1 n1 junction be Ij1 , n1 p2 junction be Ij2 and p2 n2

junction be I j3.

The structure can be considered to consist of two transistors, one p-n-p and the

other n-p-n. Let us say the intrinsic current through the collector junction of the first

transistor is Ico, the total current through that junction consists of three parts. The first

one is the current generated at that junction. This is the sum of the intrinsic current and

the photo current, (Ico+Ip2). The second part is the effect of the current at the first

junction. This current is Ijı = I + Ipı . If αı , is the current gain then the effect of Ijı

at J2 will be (I+Ip1 ) αı . The third part is the effect of the current at the third junction.

This is given by Ij3=I+Ip3. If α2 , is the current gain of the second transistor, the effect of

Ij3 at J2 will be ( I + Ip3 ) α2

Thus we can write Ij2=(Ico+Ip2)+ (I+Ip1 ) αı +(I+Ip2 ) α2 .

= I because of the current continuum

This leads to I (1- αı- α2) = Ico + Ip1 αı + Ip2+ Ip3 α2

When there is no light incident on the device

Ip1 = Ip2=Ip3 =0

And I(1- αı- α2)=Ico

If we draw the V-I characteristics for ø = o, it will appear as the curve (a) of fig (2. 13)

When the photo thyristor is illuminated, the R.H.S. of eqn (2. ) will have the

additional terms. This results in the required current appearing at lesser voltages. As the

incident flux, Ø increases to Ø1 , Ø2 , Ø 3 etc. the characteristics will appear as shown

in fig 2.13.
 Thus, the switching voltage of the thyristor decreases with increasing

illumination. The quantity Ip1 αı + Ip2+ Ip3 α2 plays the role of the control current in the

ordinary thyristor.

Photo thyristors are very useful in high power switching applications.

----------
 FIBEROPTIC SENSORS FOR PROCESS INSTRUMENTATION

An instrumentation system in general consists of three major parts. An input

derived from a sensor, an electronic device which performs some processing on this input

and an output device.

In the present context we are concerned with sensors which use optical fibers.

The essential function of a sensor is to convert one form of input energy, which we call

the measurand into another form of energy. The output can also be the same form of

energy but in another mode, for instance amplified. The process of energy conversion in

a transducer can be a single stages processor a two-stage process. In a fiber optic sensor

the measurand is made to change the features of a light beam transmitted along the fiber

and these changes are used to create or modify an electronic signal in the receiver or

actuator. This two stage process in absolutely basic to the operation of a fiber optic

sensor. Therefore it is necessary that both the stages of interaction are very carefully

designed.

Fiber optic sensors are extremely useful in several applications. In areas where

high and variable electromagnetic fields are present, the immunity of fiber optic systems
makes them very useful. In a large member of avionics and space systems where weight

and radar or radiation signatures from the instrumentation are important considerations,

fiber optic systems have found extensive applications. The ever increasing activity in

medical instrumentation where safety, particularly in intra venous use of paramount

importance, we can use fiber optic sensors with advantage. Similarly the security

industry is mainly attracted by the noise immunity, remote operation and safety

considerations.

An optical fiber sensor is defined as a means by which light guided through a

fiber can be modified in response to external. Physical, chemical, biological biomedical

or similar influence. The light from a source is guided through a fiber to the point at

which the measurement is made. At this point there are two options available. The light

beam can be made to come out of the fiber, modulated in a separate zone and re launched

into either a second fiber or the same fiber. This type of sensor is called an Extrinsic

sensor. Here the fiber is simply used as a carrier of information and plays no part in the

modulation. On the other hand, we can modulate the light while passing through the

fiber in response to the measured. In this the characteristics of the fiber are used in

modulation. This type of a sensor is called an Intrinsic sensor.

The specific merits of a fiber optic sensor system depend on the possibility of

energy transmission without any electrical connection. In addition the information

carrying capacity of a fiber is enormous and thus gives us the capability of multiplexing

several systems and form distributed sensing networks.

 The basic structure of a fiber optic sensor can therefore be shown as in the figure.

The modulator M can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. If the signal from the source

is S and the transmission factor of F, is T, the energy that reaches the modulator is ST.

The modulator superimposes a modulation function M on this signal, dependant on Q, the

measurand . If the transmission factor of F₂ is T₂, the signal that reaches the detector

system is ST, T₂ QM. If R is the responsive its of the detector. The output electrical

signal is given by ST,T₂ QMR.

The heart of a fiber optic sensor is obviously the modulator where the light signal

is modulated in response to the physical measurand. This modulation can be either

digital or analogue. The foremost of the analogue quantities is the intensity. The

intensity is the parameter to which all optical detectors finally respond. The sensors

typically use the position of a moving mirror back into a fiber or a mask, which varies the

aperture, and in turn the transmission through a fiber. Shot noise in the source or detector

and variations in the response of the detector system are likely to cause false triggering

and must be corrected.

 Another optical parameter which lends itself to analogue modulation is the optical

phase, where even changes of the order a microradian can be detected. Phase

measurement is typically the measurement of time delay and the principles of

interferometry have to be used.

Polarisation modulation is very much similar to the interferometric technique but

here we use the phase variation between two orthogonal polarisation vectors. Intrinsic

fiber sensors using brefringent fibers use this principle excellently.

A fourth parameter that can be modulated is the color or the frequency of the light

beam. This lends itself to unambiguous detection by the use of filters. The widest

application of this technique is where we use temperature dependant luminescence of

several materials to measure temperature. The digital modulation techniques can be

implemented by on-off intensity modulation useful in limit switches. Similarly if we

make the input light signal to fall on a vibrating mirror the out put light has a modulation

frequency same as that of the mirror. This frequency can be made to be dependant on the

measurand.

Flow measurement sensors commonly use the Doppler shift as a means of

unambiguous determination of apparent speed. This technique can also be used to

measure particle velocities inside a liquid.

 Hybrid fiber optic systems are those where conventional transducers are

interfaced with optically powered low power systems. In these the output from a

conventional transducer is digitally intensity modulated on to a fiber optic system.

In this foregoing, we will look at the structural details of a number of fiber optic

sensor systems which are useful in measuring and monitoring process variables.

Displacement sensors :

Fiber optic displacement sensors are generally intensity modulated. These find

application, in addition, as proximity sensors and in hybrid sensors for measurement of

pressure, temperature and other parameters. The simplest configurations of displacement

sensors are shown in figure.

(a) This is a sensor for measuring transverse displacement. The sensitivity is dependent

on the NA of the fibers.

(b) The same configuration can also be used as a long itudinal displacement sensor, the

numerical aperture again playing the decisive role.

( c )This is a sensor for measurement of angular displacement.

The configuration can be modified to obtain a differential displacement. The

output current giving the difference between the two detectors outputs. This

configuration is useful in maintain the position of a component. The accuracy of these

sensors can be substantially improved by using beam expanders as shown in the

accompanying figure. (d)

(e) In the place of the shutter if we use a moveable grating in conjunction with another

fixed grating, the sensitivity can be greatly enhanced.

 The principle of the shutter modulated on-off sensors is applied in component

known as the optical microswitch, as shown in the figure

 The optical microswitch can be operated neither the normally off configuration or

the 'normally ON' configuration. With this component however it becomes difficult to say

whether the switch is off or if there is any fault in the fiber link. Therefore usually the

shutter is arranged to close the optical path only partially. Due to this, even if the switch

is off there is still some energy coupling between the two fibers. If this energy does not

appear it means that there is a discontinuity in the fiber.

The fiber optic on-off switches find application in components called optical fiber

interrupters. The principle function of the interrupters is to detect moving objects. These

can be either reflection type or transmission type. In the reflection sensor the light

become emitted from the fiber is reflected back into the same fiber. In case of the

transmission type the objects act like a shutter, resulting in no light being coupled into the

output fiber. In general, their interrupters employ incoherent light, use large core plastic

fibers and the minimum delectable size of the object is. These can

Operate from -40° C to 70 ° C. These can be utilised for the following applications

among others.
1) Mark detection ---- Date stamping and character pattern recognition.

2) Color difference recognition.--- Electric wires. Plastic sheet paints, Resistance

Color codes.

3) Defect detection

4) Label detection

5) Counting of discrete products.

It is possible to design complex position and mark sensors like bar code readers or

signature verification using arranged fiber bands. These again can be reflective or

transmittive types as shown in the figure.

Optical Microswitch:

The typical differential attenuation, which determines the ON-OFF contrast, is

about 20dB. When a greater level of fault detection sensitivity is required use is made of

position sensitive microswitches in a robust design. In this we use a retroreflector

material for reflecting a light signal back into the input fiber.
 The retroreflector is mounted on flexible spring blades. The spring blades in turn

are connected to the mechanical interface, which takes in the parameter under test. When

the retroreflector is shifted or inclined form its normal position, the light flux is no longer

reflected into the fiber and the output signal is zero. This type of microswitches find

special application in the oil industry for detecting value positions, indicating whether the

value is open or not. When it becomes necessary to test several positions, it becomes

necessary to code the test signals. In these circumstance we use what are called delay

lines. These are additional lengths of fiber added in any particular path. This works on

the simple principle that the greater the distance to be traveled, the more is the time taken

by the light pulse to return. Thus one pulse can be made to return after another. Let us

examine one commercial design.

The 3dB coupler devides the pulses from the LED into the inputs of the two paths

one of the paths has a delay line incorporated. After the delay line the pulses go the

microswitch, come back, and are detected by the PIN Diode. Signals of the type shown

are figure are receive o.

Depending upon the microswitch configurations, these signals may mean valve

closed, valve open, intermediate etc. This system makes it possible to sense value

position over a distance of 600m with a PCS fiber having an 8dB/km-transmission loss.

Longer distances can be achieved using stronger light sources and fibers with smaller

transmission losses.
Temperature sensors:

Practical FOS for temperature sensing use 1) the temperature dependence of

energy band gap in a semiconductor. 2) The photo luminescent spectrum of a

semiconductor which again is dependent on the band gap and 3) the temperature

dependence of fluorescent emission from phosphors. Systems based on these phenomena

can operate in temperature ranges of -100 ° C to 400° C. High temperature sensors with

ranges of 500° C to 2000° C are usually based on black body radiation and principles of

optical pyrometry. The first type of FOTS are usually point contact type and find

application in microwave processes in the industrial plants like drying methods for tablets

(pharmaceutical), and wood, curing processes for glues, resins and plastics, heating

processes for food, rubber and oil, joint welding. More than all of these, the strongest

attention is now centred on semiconductor device fabrication which may use processes

like plasma etching, ion imphanlation etc which are done in electrically hostile

environments. Similarly since the OFTS are chemically inert, they have advantages for

temperature sensing in electrochemical processes.

 Temperature sensing in electrical power machines such as transformers generators

bus bars etc. can be conveniently done by using OFT's.

Hybrid temperature sensors use the temperature sensing elements like a platinum

resistance and combine them with fiber optic transmission. We will now describe some

common Fiber Optic Sensors for temperature measurement.

Semiconductor absorption sensor:

The operation of this sensor depends on the fact that the energy band gap of most

semiconductors decreases almost linearly with temperature. If the incident energy is

greater than the band gap energy, that energy is absorbed by the semiconductor and used

up in upward transitions of the electrons. If the incident energy is less than the band gap

energy. It will not be absorbed by the semiconductor. Therefore for energies less than

the band gap energy the light intensity transmitted by the semiconductor will be

considerable. As the energy crosses the band gap energy, the intensity will show a sharp

fall and practically no transmitted light will be visible.

 This is shown in curve a) in

figure frequency- transmission curve will be similar to the energy

Transmission curve. On the other hand, if we try to see the wave length transmission

relation, at wavelengths below a particular value corresponding to the energy band grap

there will be no transmitted intensity and above that wavelength value the transmitted

intensity is considerable. This is shown in figure. (b) The critical value of the wavelength

is known as the absorption band edge. If a light signal near the absorption band edge

falls on the semiconductor, as shown in the figure, the transmitted, intensity will depend

on the point where the absorption band edge intercepts the signal pulse.

Now with increasing temperature, the energy gap of the semiconductor decreases.

As a consequence, the absorption edge shifts towards longer wavelengths. This result in

decreased transmission of the signal pulse through the semiconductor, as shown in figure
 Therefore this variation in intensity will be a measure of the temperature. The

basic requirement is that the signal pulse must be in the region of the absorption edge.

Therefore it is common to use Ga As as the sensor and a Al Ga As LED which gives out

light at 0.88 in conjunction. The band edge shift for Ga As is about 3A° per degree

kelvin.

A polished Ga As chip is attached to the fiber and mounted in a stainless steel

capillary tube of 2mm diameter. The front surface of Ga As is coated for anti-reflection.

The back surface of the GaAs chip is coated with gold to return the light into the

fiber.

When designing an instrumentation system based on this principle, we should

take care that loss either in the fiber or connector will not cause measuring errors. For the

purpose we send another signal of wavelength much higher than the absorption band

edge through the fiber. The signal position is as shown in fig.

Its wavelength being far way form the absorption edge, the semiconductor will

not absorb this signal and the transmitted energy will not be affected by the shift in the

band edge. However the losses in the fiber and couplers will be the same for both the
signals. While measuring, the ratio of the transmitted intensities of the two signals is

taken to be indicative of the temperature. The system configuration for this sensor is as

shown in the figure.

Al Ga As LED is the test signal prouder sending pulses of λs = 0.88 . In Ga AsP

LED is the reference signal provider sending pulses of λs= 1.3 . These are guided

through fibers and couplers 1 and 2 to the sensing element. In the sensing element, the

intensity of λs is temperature modulated and λr is unaffected. On return from the fiber

coupler 2 diverts the out put signal to the Ge APD detector, which can be used here

since any variation will be felt by both the signals. Finally the signal processor

normalises the test signal with the reference signal and sends it to a display as a

temperature value.

It is possible to use a number of these configurations together to obtain a multi

channel temperature measurement.

Using a Ga As sensor, AlGaAs LED, a silica fiber of 100 core and a sensor

diameter of 2mm, it is possible to achieve an accuracy of better than ±2.0°C in the range

-20° to 150°C .
Temperature sensor using semiconductor photo luminescence:

We are familiar with the principle of luminescence where if electrons in the

valence band are excited to higher levels, when they fall back to the ground level,

electromagnetic energy is emitted. It the excitation is by electrical means, it is electro

luminescence and results in the design of LEDs. We have seen that semiconductors are

useful for this purpose due to the proximity of their band gap energy to the energy of

electromagnetic radiation in the optical region. The excitation of the electrons to the

upper levels can also be achieved by supplying energy in the form of light. This

phenomenon is called photo luminescence. If the light beam incident on the

semiconductor surface has a photon energy greater than the band gap energy, electrons in

the valence band absorb this energy and jump to the higher levels. When they fall back

they will emit light. It should be noted that, whatever be the value of the exciting energy,

the emitted photons would always have an energy corresponding to the band gap. Thus

the frequency of luminescent energy is always less than that of the incident light. In

terms of the wave length, λ is always greater than λe.

 We can use this principle for measuring temperature. As we have already seen

increasing temperature results in the decrease of band gap energy. Therefore a raise in

temperature will result in a raise in the wavelength of light emitted. If we can

characterise the luminescent emission, we can find out the temperature.

Instead of trying to measure the wavelength of light, which is likely to be a

cumbersome process, we try to measure the intensity of different wavelengths. It must be

remembered that the sensor material being a solid, the emitted light consists of not a

single wavelength but a small spread of wavelengths as shown in the figure. With

increasing temperature, this curve will move towards longer wavelengths. If we pass this

light through an high pass interference filter whose cut off is not steep but gradual, some
of the wave length will be reflected and the rest will be transmitted, as shown in figure.

In position A, most of the light will be reflected and only a small percentage

transmitted. In position B, around half of the light is reflected. In position C only a

small amount is reflected and most of the light is transmitted. The ratio of the reflected to

transmitted intensity is therefore a measure of the position of peak wavelength of

emission and consequently of the temperature.

 The temperature sensor designed on this principle must have a high efficiency,

giving out intensity sufficient for the measurement sensitivity to be achieved. For this

purpose we use a double heterostructure, where we know that the localisation of charge

carriers results in high levels of recombination A GaAs- Ga  Al As-Ga As structure is

generally used. The sensing element is attached to the end of a 100-core silica fiber. The

source for excitation is a LED with peak wave length of around 750nm. The sensor
diameter is around 0.6mm. The system configuration is shown in figure. The
excitation signal from the LED is brought in through a fiber. At the end of the input fiber

a GRIN lens is attached and the light is focussed on to a steep cut off interference filter,

IF. IF is transparent to the luminescent wavelengths but not the excitation wavelength.
Therefore the excitation signal is reflected back into the GRIN lens which couples it to a

second fiber which is connected to the sensor element.

IF1 is attached to a small glass block. The luminescent light from the sensor

comes through the second fiber, meats 1F1, travels through it and refracted at the surface

of the glass block, falls on IF2, which transmits some intensity and reflects some. The

transmitted intensity is measured by detector 1. The reflected intensity is measured by

detector 2. The output of the two detectors are fed to a signal process or which calculates

the ratio and possibly also the temperature if sufficient data has been fed into it.

Temperature sensors of this configuration can work in the range of 0 to 200 °C

And remote measurement from about 600 to 700 meters can be very conveniently done.

Phosphor sensor :

The principle of operation of this type of temperature sensor is based on the

temperature dependant fluorescent emission from phosphors. When the phosphors are

excited by ultra violet light, they reemit lower energy fluorescent light. As the

temperature of the phosphor is increased, the radiation is decreased. Certain phosphors

have several emission lines, each having a different temperature dependence. In order to

eliminate variation in parasitic losses, the ratio of the intensities of two emission wave

lengths is measured.
 The phosphor material commonly used is gadolinium oxysulphide activated by a

small amount of Europium. The composition is selected for a best match to the selected

temperature range, -100°C to 300°C. The temperature dependence of two selected

emission lines of (Gd0.99 Eu0.1) O S is shown in figure.
 The temperature probe consists of a plastic clad fiber having a 0.4mm diameter

silica core with a minute amount of the phosphor (about 200g) attached to the fiber end.

The diameter of the prove is less than 1mm. The schematic of the sensor is as shown.

The high intensity UV light from an incandescent halogen lamp is guided along

the fiber to the sensor to excite the phosphor. The visible light emitted by the phosphor

returns to the instrument through the same fiber. The beam splitter and the interference

filters. IF1 and IF2 isolate the two wave lengths and the intensities are detected by the

photo diodes. After the ratio is calculated by the microprocessor, it is converted into

temperature value by reference to the curves stored in the ROM. The accuracy of the set

up is better than 20°C to 24°C.

 Optical fiber thermometry has also found application in biomedical

measurements. One design is shown in figure. In this, the cladding is removed from a

small portion on the tip of the fiber and a thermosensitive material is applied as cladding

in that region. The refractive index of the thermochromic materials is highly temperature

dependent. As a consequence the numerical aperture of the probe fiber is also

temperature dependent and some of the modes will be lost into the thermosensitive

cladding. Therefore the intensity of light that comes out of the fiber is a function of the

temperature. A typical system which uses a 200/um silica core with plastic cladding in a

miniturised prove 1cm long and 1mm external diameter, gives a sensitivity of 0.1°C in

the 30° to 45° interval.

Another design uses the dependence of light absorption by some liquids. For

example, a cobalt salt in isopropyl alcohol solution, has transmission properties which are

highly temperature dependant at certain wave lengths. Transmission at 600nm various

steeply with temperature, while at 840nm temperature does not effect the transmission.

The probe consists of a glass capillary with a mirrored end reflector, filled with

the thermochromic solution. At the other end, two optical fibers, one for bringing in the

light and the other for taking it back are introduced. The intensity of the back reflected

light can be measured with the aid of interference filters and detectors. The over all
dimensions of the probe can be 1cm in length and 1.5mm in diameter. The thermometer

gives a resolution of 0-1°C over the range 25° - 50°C.

Image sensing:

Whenever it become necessary to visualise inaccessible regions, optical fibers

come in very handy. This is required say for observing the internal organs of the body or

the interior of blast furnaces, burner flames of boilers, or observation, control and

inspection of nuclear power plants, to cite a few applications. The technique is

commonly known as Endoscopy.

An image sensing fiber is actually a fiber bundle, consisting of a large number

(3000 to 100000) of fibers. Each of these fibers has a diameter of about ten microns and

transmits one element or pixel of the picture. The major difference between an ordinary

fiber bundle and an image sensing bundle is this. In an image sensing fiber, it is essential

that the individual fiber are aligned regularly and identically at both ends of the bundle.

When the image is projected at one end of the bundle, it is split into multiple pixels by

the fibers. The image is then transmitted as a group of light dots with different intensities

and colours and the original picture is reproduced at the end of the bundle.

For industrial applications, the fibers must have a low transmission loss over a

wide wavelength band from the visible to the near infrared in order to transmit images
over long distance with out significant colour changes. For this purpose, the fibers are

made of silica glass. Fused silica fibers have been designed for operation at high

temperatures. In some cases, additional cooling arrangements may be necessary for the

imaging lens system.

The structure of an optical fiber image system of an endoscope is basically as
show in the figure.

The objective lens projects the image at one end. The eyepiece at the other end

magnifies the received image. Additional fibers are provided for illuminating the

object. The image-sensing fiber is housed inside a protective flexible tube for most part

of its length.
 When observing the inside of nuclear power plants the conventional image fibers

can not be used because ordinary glass becomes colour under the influence of radiation.

It is necessary to use radiation resistant high purity silica glass.

Sensors for Measurement of Mechanical parameters:

Optoelectronic systems can be used to measure mechanical parameters like

displacement, acceleration, pressure, flow, level etc. with considerable sensitivity. There

are two specific configurations, which can be used with advantage in most of these

measurements.

The first of these is known as the proximity sensor. The configuration is based on

the laws of reflection and is useful when the surface under test is reflecting. The

arrangement is shown in figure.

S is the source and D the detector. When the object is in position A, the beam

from S is reflected by the surface to fall exactly on D, causing a photo current in D.

When the object is in position B, (Fig a). The beam does not fall on D and there is no

current. Since the source will always have a finite width, there will be some current from
D even if the photo diode is illuminated only partially. This is illustrated in figure (b).

When the object is at A1 the beam from S, after reflection will cover the surface of the

photo detector partially and a photo current will flow will flow in the Detector Circuit.

The value of the current will be less than that obtained in position A. The amount of

change in current will depend on the distance between A and A' and can be used to

monitor small changes in position. The same case will happen on the other side of A also.

Therefore, for a range of distances on either side of A there will be a photo current

through the detector circuit, reaching a peak at A. The distance photo current plot is

shown in fig.

A2 is the point where the maximum amount of light is coupled into the return

fiber. The raise from A1 to A2, called the front slope, is many sharpers than the fall from

A2 to A3, called the back slope. According to the requirements of measurement either

the front slope or the back slope may be used. However in most of the cases, the front

slope is used.

The sensitivity is dependant on the distance between the two fibers as also the

beam width. The operating distance is also dependant on the distance between the two
fibers. The operating distance can be increased by using a diverging lens. The sensitivity

can be increased by using two sensors as shown in the figure.

If one of the sensors is placed at a distance to operate in the front slope and the other

operates in the back slope, then the difference in intensities measured by the two sensor

will be twice the value obtained with either one. The increases the sensitivity by two

times.

If the object whose position is to be monitored is transparent, it will be possible

to place two proximity sensors one on either side of the object. When the photocurrent in

one increases, the other will be decreasing, thus increasing the sensitivity by two times.

Whenever we use to proximity sensors instead of one, if becomes possible to have

unambiguous information about the direction of movement.

The proximity sensor discussed till now is based on intensity variation. It is also

possible to use information depending upon wavelength variation. The simplest type of

sensor use a dispersing prism as shown in figure.

Depending upon the position of the fiber, the wavelength of light fed into it will

be varying. The usual way of locating the position is by using two detectors. One of

them is a reference value, fed by light of the wavelength for which the detector has

maximum sensitivity. The other is connected to the fiber detector. The ratio of the out
puts of the two detectors will give an indication of the wavelength being fed. Obviously

the sensitivity - wave length curve of the detector will be of great help in calibrating the

system. If we keep the fiber in a fixed position, the system can also be used to measure

the angular rotation of the prism. Again, any linear displacement can be converted into

an angular displacement by mechanical means and can be measured using this

instrument.

Instead of using a dispersing prism it is possible to use a reflection grating and

measure the displacement. The set up is shown in figure.

Another component which is wave length sensitive is the Fresnel's zone plate.

This is a plate on which concentric circle are drawn (alternately grooves may be cut)

whose diameters vary according to the Fresnel's diffraction pattern. If the circles are

alternate opaque and transparent regions, the system acts like a converging lens. Since

the radio of the circles are calculated according to the wave length, the focal length is

different for different wave lengths . This means that, for any position of the zone plate,

the light convering on a specified point can be of a specific wave length. If the position
of the zone plate is changed, the wave length also will change. If we place a fiber at the

receiving point, the colour of light taken up by the fiber will vary.

If the zone plate consists of alternate reflecting and nonreflecting circles, it will

act like a concave mirror. In this case, we can put both the source and detector on the

same side of the zone plate.

MICROBEND SENSORS:

The second configuration used extensively for displacement measurement

depends on the loss induced in fibers by microbending. This is an intrinsic sensing

system since it depends on the change in the transmission characteristics of the fiber.

Transmission of light energy through a fiber depends on the phenomenon of total

internal reflection. For this it is necessary that the rays should meet the core-clad

interface at an angle greater than the critical angle (fig. a)

When the fiber is bent with a large curvature as shown in figure b, the angle of

incidence will decrease and it is possible that for some rays it will be less than the critical

angle. These rays will not be reflected totally and some intensity will be transmitted into

the cladding. As a result the intensity that is obtained at the end of the fiber will be
smaller. The loss in intensity is depend on the energy lost into the cladding. This in turn

depends on the amount of bending. Therefore it we can find a way of translating linear

displacement into bending of the fiber, the arrangement can measure the displacement in

terms of intensity loss.

PRESSURE SENSORS:

The proximity or displacement sensor can be used for pressure sensing if the

pressure sensing diaphragm is made reflective and attached to the fibers of the y guide

probe. This is a non-contact sensor and has high frequency response.

The pressure of fluid is felt through the input by the seal diaphragm. The

response of the diaphragm is transferred through the capillaries to the sensing diaphragm.

The sensing diaphragm is made of stainless steel. The light from the LED is made to fall

on the reflecting sensor. The reflected light is taken to the out put circuit through another
fiber. The source intensity is monitored by a photo detector placed by its side.
 If the thickness of the sensing diaphragm is about 100 microns, the gauge can

measure pressure up to 3 X 10 kg/m² or 2.94 M. The hysterics is less than 5% and the

linearity is less than ± 0.5% . The drift characteristics are dependant on the material

selection and structural design.

A second type of pressure sensor uses the microbending principle to good effect.

The problem of highly corrosive environment damaging the sensor element and the effect

of high temperatures introducing creep in metal diaphragms is countered by using fused

silica Two fused silica elements are designed with a grating like teethed area on each of

them. One of them is used as a fixed base plate and the other moves in response to

external pressure. These two are held between two stainless steel flanges. The optical

fiber goes through holes drilled in the flanges and base plate and between the two

corrugated areas. When pressure acts on the moveable silica plate, the fiber is bent and

there is a loss in the transmitted intensity. This loss is a measure of the pressure. This
sensor can work up to 500°C with less than 1% measuring error.
 It is also possible to attach a reflecting fresnel zone plate to a member moving in

relation to the pressure. The frequency of light received by a fiber kept at the focal point

of the zone plate gives an indication of the pressure.

ACCELERATION SENSORS:

Acceleration sensors based on Optoelectronic techniques are commonly used for

vibration sensing in process plants. In addition to the small size, one important reason for

this is the possibility of multiplexing sensors placed at various places in the plant.

The first type of acceleration sensor to be discussed is based on the

straightforward principle of a shutter attached to the vibrating member modulating the

beam.

The input beam from a fiber is expanded by a grin lens and is converged into the

output fiber by another grin lens.

 The mechanical shutter is held in place by spring loaded holders. It is connected

to the vibrating member via a dead weight inertia system. If the vibrating frequency is

W and the natural frequency of the inertia system is Wn, the amplitude of vibration of the

shutter g(t) is given by (W/Wn) ² h(t) where h(t) is the amplitude of the vibrating

member. The intensity of the out put beam will then be proportional to d2/dt2(h(t) which

is the acceleration.

In zero position, the shutter is arranged to cut off exactly half of the incident

beam. To eliminate parasitic variations the a.c. signal obtained at the output has to be

normalised by the d.c. signal at the input.

This system can measure vibrational acceleration from 0.98 m/s) ² to 390m/s) ²

with sufficient accuracy, the sensitivity being that at frequencies up to 1KH2.

PHOTO ELASTIC ACCELERATION SENSOR:

 It is well known that phase or polarisation modulation, which can detect changes

as low as a microradiam, is much more sensitive than simple intensity variation.

Keeping this in mind a vibrational sensor using stress dependent birefringence in a

material has been designed. The photo elastic material normally used is a BK7 glass.

The input beam is linearly polarised in a direction at 45° relative to the two

orthogonal axes. When it passes through the birefringence material, a phase difference is

introduced between the two orthogonal polorisation components and a elliptically

polarised beam comes out. It an analyser is placed in the path of the beam, the out put

intensity is dependant on the elliplicity of the beam. The elliplicity is a function of the

birefringence. The birefringence is a function of the stress. Stress depends on force and

force depends on the acceleration. Here also a dead weight inertia system is used to

increase the stress at any acceleration.

Instead of using discrete polariser and analyser, the photo elastic glass is cut at

angles equal to the Brewster angle on either side deposition of dielectric multilayers on

these surfaces helps in having the required value for the brewster angle. The input and

out put beams from and to optical fibers are coupled into the system using GRIN lenses.

The functioning of the sensor shows good linearity up to 3 KHZ.

Photoluminescence acceleration Sensor:

The process of normalisation of the input and out put signals is achieved

in this sensor by using a photo luminescent material to generate a reference signal. The

sensor consists of a single cantilever vibrating in response to the test vibration and

neodymium doped glass acting as a photo luminescent material. The light beam of

wavelength λ s from the input fiber travels through the neodymium doped glass to the

cantilever. The vibrating cantilever returns an intensity modulated signal of wave length

λ s. In addition, the neodymium doped glass generates a reference beam of wave length λ

r which is not intensity modulated. Both the signals are received by the same fiber

which brought the original signal. At the end of the fiber the two wavelengths are

separated using two interference filters. The two signals converted into analogue

electrical signals by detectors are processed to give the vibration acceleration.

This sensor gives a range of 0.1 to 700m/s ² with a resolution of 0.1 m/s² over a

frequency range of 5-800H2.

Flow Sensors:

Flow Sensors are required in process industry for several applications. The first

one is a direct measurement of the flow velocity. The second is for the monitoring two

phase fluid mixtures, for example distinguishing between liquid droplets and gas bubbles.

The third is again for two phase systems but now distinguishing between liquid particles

and solid particles as in the case of slurries. When the liquids and gases are highly

inflammable as in oil wells and coalmines, use of fiber optic sensors greatly reduces fire

hazards.

Direct flow measurement :

 This instrument combines the vortex shedding characteristics of fluid flow with

the microbending losses of an optical fiber.

 As is well known, an obstruction inserted in a fluid stream creates a periodic

turbulence. The frequency of the turbulent vortices is directly proportional to the flow

velocity. In our flow sensor a thin metallic obstruction and a down stream metallic bar

are used as shown in fig (a). Consequential to the shedding of turbulent vortices, the

metallic bar vibrates. This vibration frequency is also proportional to the flow velocity.

This metallic bar is connected to a multimode fiber microbend sensor, through a

diaphragm in the pipe wall. The diaphragm serves as both a seal and a pivot for the bar.
The microbend sensor converts the oscillations of the metallic bar into a corresponding

intensity modulation of a light beam. Thus the time varying mechanical force caused by

the vortices is converted into a time varying light intensity. This intensity is further

converted into electric voltage at the detector. The structure of the sensor and the

complete instrument are shown in the fig (b). This type of sensor is independent of any

changes in temperature, viscosity or density. It is also independent of any changes in the

light source intensity since we are measuring only the percentage loss due to

microbending. The Optoelectronic part of the instrument consists of source and its power

supply, detector and its power supply, amplifier and signal processing, and display unit.

Typical systems can operate in temperature ranges between-100 to 600° C and

flow rates ranging in Reynolds Number 5X10³ to 6000 X 10³ can be measured.
Two Phase Flow Measurement :

1. Liquid - gas Mixtures:

There are a number of instances in process instrumentation where there is a

significant amount of gas in the form of bubbles flowing along with the flowing liquid.

This can be in oil wells or in fermentation in food industry or distillation in food and

pharmaceutical industry and so on. In these cases it becomes necessary to monitor the

exact amount of gas and liquid. It is normally called the void fraction measurement.

Fiber optic sensors can very easily distinguish between moving bubbles and liquid

droplets and display the void fraction. The principle uses the fact that the refractive index

the refractive index of oil or other liquid is normally higher than that of air. While a light

beam coming out of a fiber would be transmitted into the liquid, it is more likely to be
totally reflected if it meets a gas bubble.

The structure of the instrument is shown in figure. The light source is a simple

LED. The light emitted by the LED is guided through a fiber. The end of the fiber is
mounted in a stainless steel needle of 2.8mm outer diameter. The needle goes into the

flow chamber. When the fiber end is in contract with the liquid, very little light is

reflected back into the fiber. On the other hand if a gas bubble is in contact with the fiber,

a significant fraction is reflected back. Therefore, whenever an air bubble comes, there

will be a light pulse returning through the fiber. This pulse, inturn will be converted into

a voltage pulse by the detector. The detector gives an analogue output. This output can

be converted into a TTL output using a signal processor. An integrator following the

signal processor sums up all the bubbles and gives a void fraction out put, which can also

be displayed by a display unit.

The small diameter of the fiber end enables bubbles as small as 50 micron in

diameter to be detected with an accuracy of better than 5%. The response time is also

very short, of the order of 10μ S.

2) Liquid with sold particles

Slurries in chemical processes and places like coalmines have to be tested some

times for the actual amount of solid they are carrying. In this case it will be the speed

with which these solid particles are moving, along with the number of solid particles,
which has to be measured. If the solid particles are moving too slowly, this may cause

blockage of the pipes.

 For this measurement, the instrumentation uses two Y guide probes incorporated

at different points A & B in the flow path. Light from an LED source is fed along one

arm of the Y. This light, when it meets a solid particle will be retroreflected back into the

Y and reaches a detector placed at the other arm of the y and is converted into a voltage

pulse. The particle, after reaching B will activate the second y guide and give raise to

another pulse there. The time difference between these two pulses is an indication of the

velocity of the particles. The pulses, fed to a signal processing circuit will result in an out

put which gives the speed as well as the volume fraction of the solid.

Liquid Level Sensors:

Sensing and monitoring of liquid level is an important measurement in process

instrumentation. If the liquid under examination happens to be inflammable, it is often

advisable to use non-electrical methods of measurement. In these scenarios, use of

optical fiber sensors is advantageous.

 Optical fiber sensors for liquid level almost universally use the refractive index

difference between the liquid and the air space above it. One simple instrument uses the

phenomenon of total internal reflection. This set up is shown in figure. Light from an

external source is transmitted through a fiber and enters the hypotenuse face of a prism,

kept in the tank. The refractive index and the angles of the prism are so chosen that when

the prism is surrounded by air, the angle of incidence at the side of the prism is greater

than the critical angle. When the prism is surrounded by the liquid, the angle of

incidence is less than the critical angle the critical angle when there is air will be

Sin θ c air = N air/ Ng = 1/Ng

The critical angle when there is liquid will be Sin θ c liq = Nliq / Ng

Obviously Sin θ c liq sin θc air since N liq 1 Ng must be S chosen that Ng, N1

iq and the angle of the prism must be between the two critical angels.

When the liquid level is lower than the point at which the light beam meets the

side of the prism, there will be total internal reflection and the beam, after reflection at

the two sides of the prism, enters the return fiber. There will be a signal from the detector

at the end of the fiber. When the liquid reaches the point where the light beam meets the
side, there will not be any total reflection and most of the light will enter the liquid.

Consequently the signal at the detector will be very feeble and negligible. This fall in the

signal level can be connected to an indicator relay or alarm.

 Essentially this method is a go-no go technique and monitors whether the liquid

reached a particular level or not. This we can call it a liquid level switch. The sensitivity

of the instrument depends upon the contrast ratio between the pulses obtained with air

and liquid. This contrast ratio depends on the refractive index of the liquid. For a liquid

of refractive index 1.333 (water) the loss in light intensity would be around 2dB. The

loss gradually increases with the refractive index and saturates at 33 dB for values greater

than 1.4 A well designed sensor can detect changes in liquid level as low as 1mm.

The basic problem with the system is that the prism is immersed in the liquid and

is likely to be contaminated in time. Another problem is that the surface of the liquid will

have some fluctuations as the liquid level increases. Both these problems can be solved

to a large extent by enclosing the prism in a wire mesh enclosure. Even then, it will be

necessary to take out the prism and clean it at regular intervals.

A second design of fiber optic liquid level sensor uses the dispersion

characteristics of a prism. When white light falls on a prism, each wavelength is

deflected by a different angle and we get a spectrum at the other side. The exact extent
To which a particular colour is deflected depends upon the refractive index.
 For this sensor, a hollow prism, with only two sides, is used, as shown in the

figure. As long as there is no liquid and only air inside the hollow, the red and green rays

are in one particular position. Once the liquid comes up to this level and fills the hollow,

the positions of the red and green change. With suitable adjustment and using an

aperture, we can set the instrument such that in the absence of liquid, green light passes

through the aperture and when liquid comes to the level of the prism, red light posses

through it.

A number of the hollow prisms can be located at different levels in the tank and

the combined system can be used to monitor as the tank fills up. We can operate this

sensor upto a temperature of 370 ° C and pressures as high as 3200 p sig.

Leak detectors for oils and gases:

In explosive and noxious environments like oil refineries and chemical factories,

it is imperative that any leak of inflammable or poisonous liquids and gases are detected

at the earliest and corrected in order to avoid calamities. Different methods are used to
detect liquid and gas leakage's.

The porous nature of the cladding of a PCs fiber can be turned to our advantage

for this purpose. Optical fiber oil leak sensors can provide intrinsically safe operation.

When there is an oil leak in the vicinity of a PCs fiber, the oil slowly seeps in to the pores

of the polymer. Consequently there is a raise in the cladding refractive index. As a result

light being transmitted through the fiber leaks into the cladding and transmitted
intensity decreases. An alarm circuit connected to the detector is set to trigger when there

is a fall in the intensity to a preset level. Therefore whenever the leak exceeds a certain

level the alarm automatically operates.

This type of oil leak sensor has the advantage that it is simple and can be used as a

distributed sensing system. The use of OTDR techniques will help in pinpointing the

actual location of the leak.

However, in a number of cases it becomes essential to identify the exact liquid

that has leaked. Thus it is necessary to distinguish a particular liquid from others as well

as to detect the location of the leak. For this purpose we use a discrete sensor system,
shown in the figure.

The heart of this sensor is a prism. Light from a fiber delivery system is made to fall on

one of the sides of the prism. After reflection at the base of the prism, the light beam

exits through the other side of the prism, to the collected by another fiber and then to a

detector. Grin lenses may be used to collimate the beam. When there is an oil leak, the

oil spreads below the prism. As a result, there is a change in the reflectivity at the base.

This change is obviously dependant on the refractive index of the oil. Figure(b) shows the

change in reflectivity due to various liquids. This information helps us to find out which

liquid has leaked. Also the particular sensor where this change has occurred gives

information about the location of the leak. Normally a BK-7 prism with refractive index

1.51 and multi mode fibers of 100 micron core diameter are used.
Gas Sensors:

In gas and petrochemical plants it is essential to detect leakage of inflammable

gases such as methane, propane, ethylene etc. as early as possible to avoid serious

accidents. It is also essential in chemical plants to detect leakage of poisonous gases.

The conventional method of detecting the presence of a gas in atmosphere is

absorption spectroscopy. Gases leave their signature in individual absorption spectra.

Therefore if light passing through a gaseous environment is analysed using a spectra

photometer, we can find out whether a particular gas is present or not. Normally samples

of the air in the environment are collected and carried back to the laboratory for analysis.

This is a time consuming process and an off line procedure. The alternative is to provide

a number of spectrophotometers at various locations. This is an extremely costly

procedure.

However, most of these inflammable gases have their absorption lines in the near

infrared region. A commercially available ultra low loss silica fiber shows minimal

transmission loss in these regions, 0.8 microns to 1.8 microns. So if we transmit light

after passing through the gaseous environment through these fibers, any loss at specific

wavelengths will only be due to the absorption by the gas and not by the
fiber. The analysis can be at the end of the fiber which can be at a comfortable distance.

This technique can detect gases at concentrations as low as 0.5% of the lower explosion

limit at a distance of 10km. This allows a sufficiently early warning of an impending

disaster.

Instrumentation which uses this principle would ideally look at analysing the

environment at a number of locations simultaneously as also test for a number of gases.

Commercially available systems commonly provide for 30 detection cells at various

locations end test for at least three gases, typically CH4, C3 H8 and C2 H2 as shown in

figure.

The source of light is a continuous wave halogen lamp, which is a very good

infra-red source. The light from this source is distributed into 30 identical optical fibers.

Each fiber takes the light to a different detection area. After passing through the cells, the

light is taken to the control room by another set of 30 fibers. The receiving unit consists

of three optical switches, each switch consisting of ten different positions. Thus, we can

select any one of the thirty independent locations. After the optical switch, the instrument

has a rotating sector consisting of four interference filters. The peak transmission wave

lengths of three of the interference filters are 1.666 microns for CH4 gas 1.690 microns
for C3H8 gas 1.625 microns for C2 H2. The fourth filter is for a reference wavelength

1.600 microns. The light coming out of the three rotating sectors is detected by three

germanium photo detectors, selected for sensitivity at these wavelengths. The out puts

are amplified and then go to an A-D converter and computer. Here the gas signals are

normalised with the reference signal and compared with concentration-absorption curves

for each gas stored in the computer. The computer output data can be fed to a) a CRT

display b) a Prinler or © a warning or alarm unit.

Operation of the optical switches and the rotating sectors is automated by the use

of timer circuits so that a continuous monitoring / recording of all the thirty locations is

made on a time scale. More locations can be covered by using more units or more optical

switches.

--------
Point Sensor Multiplexing and Networking:

Multiplexing and networking are techniques by which a number of single fiber

optic sensors are combined into a sensor 'network'. In a point sensor network, at least

two sensors which are discretely distributed in space according to a suitable topological

pattern are operated and controlled by a single central control unit. The main

requirements of networking are as follows.

(1) There must be an unambiguous scheme of addressing any one particular sensor.

This is known as multiplexing.

(2) There must be an unambiguous scheme of interrogation and evaluation. This is

known as decoding, demultiplexing or demodulation.

The central control unit has several functions. The first one is to power the

network with an optical flux of required intensity, spectral distribution and state of

polarisation. The second one is to detect the returned signal that is modulated or encoded

by the sensor. The third one is identifying the information regarding the measurands sent

by various sensors by suitable addressing, interrogation and decoding. The fourth one is

evaluating the separated sensor signal into electrical output signals.

The term multiplexing involves these four main functions, powering, detecting,

identifying and evaluating. The topological arrangement of the point sensors depends on

the method of sensor addressing and demodulation. Interconnection is realised using

fiber links, splices, connectors, couplers and other components.

In a fiber optic sensor network, the encoded information about the measurand is

transported from the sensor to the transceiver in a link loss insensitive manner. The

topology of a FOS network is strongly dependant on the desired method of interrogation.

The interrogation may be performed in space, time, frequency or wavelength domains.

These are refered to as space division multiplexing (SDM) . Frequency division

multiplexing (FDM), Time division multiplexing (TDM) and wavelength division

multiplexing (WDM). The WDM is unique to the optical sensors, whereas the others are

used with electrical sensors also. If there is no need for external electric power for
sensing, as is the case with most FOS systems, the technique is known as passive

multiplexing.

A key advantage of sensor multiplexing is a reduction in the cost per sensor, since

many sensors are powered and interrogated by the same transceiver unit. The increasing

need to install increasing numbers of sensors in automated factories, off shore plat forms,

air, sea, land and space vehicles, energy distribution systems, medical patient surveillance

systems and so on gives a major thrust to multiplexing applications. This trend is also

closely related to the development of local area networking ( LAN )

Network topologies :

The basic topologies are shown in figure. These are

1) the linear array with access coupled reflective sensors

2) The ring with in-line transmissive sensors 3)

The star with reflective sensors.

4) If one or more sensors in a star network are replaced by a separate star network,

we get the tree network

5) The star network operation with transitive sensors which requires two star

couplers.

6) The ladder network is equivalent to the one shown in (5) but here access couplers are

used instead of star couplers. The 'transmit' and 'return' fibers, which are also known as

fiber high ways generally, share a single fiber path.

The choice of a suitable fiber optic network topology needs consideration of the

following points.

1) Sensor type and encoding principle

2) Multiplexing scheme, required number of sensors and power budget.

3) Allowable level of cross talk

4) System cost and complexity

5) Effect of component failure on system performance.

Optical Power budgeting :

In an FOS network, the optical source power coupled into the bus fiber is

distributed over the network via several splices, connectors, couplers, switches,

wavelength Multiplexers and so on. Each of these elements, including the sensors
themselves, contributes to a loss in the optical power, called the insertion loss. This can

be any where from 0.1dB to a few dB. The loss in the fiber is minimal unless it is very

long or bent at any place. Calculating the network power budget leads to the power

margin available at each sensor and the maximum number of sensors that can be operated

within a network. let us consider the ladder network shown below

Let the input power be O dBm, ie 1mW. Let the coupling ratio of the coupler Ck

= Ck. The measurands modulating the sensor I to N are Xı to X . Each of these sensors

transmit a fraction F of the sensor input intensity through the second coupler. Let us

assume, for simplicity, that both the input and output couplers have the same coupling

ratio. Let us also assume that F is 1 for the max value of the measurand, decreasing with

its value let the losses at the K sensor be l .

At the 1st sensor, the output power reaching the detector, P is given by

At the N th sensor
to give numerical values, suppose the total noise loss in sensors and detectors is

70dBm. Let the dynamic range of all the sensors is 20dB. If a 1% accuracy is needed,

minimum power available at each sensor must be at - 50 dBm. Setting F = 1. Let the

coupling ratio be 0.5 dB. Then it can be calculated that 20 sensors can be operated. If

the coupling loss increases to 0.5 only 7 sensor s can be operated.

In access coupled networks, the maximum number of sensors can be increased by

starting out with a small value of C and increasing the coupling ratio until C=1 is

reached at the last sensors. This can lead to an almost constant optical power available at

the detector from each of the sensors.

Spatial division Multiplexing :

A number N of fiber optic sensors, each with individual input and return fiber link

may be combined into a topologically simple network by operating these sensors with a

common light source and a multiple detector array or with multiple sources and common

detector. Alternatively, instead of multiple source and detector arrange ments, a single

source or detector in combination with fiber switches or one to N and N to one couplers

may be used, as shown . Synchronous fiber switching, i.e, successively connecting a

single source and single detector to individual sensors can also be done. This way of

addressing sensors via separate fiber links is termed spatial division multiplexing.

A spatial multiplexing network requires a good number of fibers, connecting

elements and distributing elements. On the other hand it has the advantage of being

totally free of cross talk.

If the switching functions are performed on a time sharing basis, as shown in the

figure, we can add time division multiplexing feature to the system. Instead of using

fiber couplers, fiber bundles branching into n subbundles may also be used. Here sensor

addressing and interrogation is performed via a motor driven fiber switch, which

sequentially connects the transducers to a decoder. One type of spatial multiplexing we

have already considered is binary on-off encoding, where each bit of information is sent

along a separate fiber.

Time division multiplexing:

In the simplest case time division multiplexing involves active switching from

one sensor to the other in a time dependence manner. This has the advantage of being

free from cross talk. However each sensor can be monitored only for a short period

within the time sharing switching sequence. A more elegant method of TDM sensor

network operation consists of launching short light pules into a transmitted or reflective
array and detecting the returning pulses that are delayed by t = nLi/c where Li is the

fiber link length of the ith sensor, n the core refractive index, and c the free space

velocity of light. The transceiver instrument for reflective TDM operation is known as

the optical time domain reflectometer or OTDR, which is essentially a fiber guided

LIDAR system. In a typical fiber (n=1.5) light travels a distance of 1 meter in

approximately 5 n s. The pulse duration tp, pulse period T and the set [ Li ] of sensor

links have to be chosen such that T is larger than the echo return time from the most

remote sensor and care should be taken that parasitic signals such as multiple echoes do

not overlap with the sensor signals. For example, in a network where the farthest sensor

is at 500m, T must be larger than about 5 /us, to allow for two way propagation delays.

This requirement places a limit on the capability of monitoring any fast time variations of

the measurand.

The technique is also limited in dynamic range by the maximum optical peak

power that can be obtained from semiconductor light sources.

Optical Time Domain Reflectometry :

The OTDR technique is widely used in optical communication to localise spots

of enhanced absorption or reflection along a fiber link. Since the technique diagnoses
absorptive and reflective properties at every fiber location, it is also well suited to detect

measureands.

There are three ways to use an OTDR for operating a point sensor network.

(1) A series of absorption sensors are arranged in a transmissive linear array, in the back

scattered signal. Quite obviously the losses in this system are considerable and if we

want high resolution only a few sensors can be used. If we want a resolution of

0.1dB, the total available range of 30 dB will be consumed by only three sensors of

1% accuracy. A greater disadvantage is that if the first sensor fails, the total

configuration will fail.

(2) Instead of absorption sensors reflection sensors can be used in a reflective linear

array. The reflected signal Pri from the I th sensor is given by Pri = P P where P

is the reflection coefficient. Since P is typically in the range of 0.1 to a fewpercent,

Pri is in the range of about 15 to 30d B below P . This is a signal level much higher

than in the previous case. The addition the failure of any one sensor is limited to

only that sensor and does not effect the rest of the system.

(3) A series of absorption sensors can be connected via a ladder network rather than a

linear network. If the transmission factor is F, the optical power P transmitted

through the sensor is P = F P C , where c is the coupling coefficient. This

method is known as optical time domain transmission ( OTDT)

 Unlike in the communications applications where OTDR is used for localising fiber

faults, in point sensor networks, the sensor positions and distance are known. This prior

information allows as to send long light pulses and use lower band width electronics,

since low range resolution is sufficient when the sensors are widely separated. This gives

us a higher dynamic range of operation. Similarly since the

positions of the sensors are known, it becomes possible to use narrow range gating to

reduce noise and cross talk.

Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry :

In order to obtain resolution down to the millimeter range, the propagation delay t

can be converted into a beat frequency rather than using time gating. This is known as

optical frequency domain reflectometry. The basic idea here is using a chirped or

variable frequency optical source. The frequency of the semiconductor laser is

modulated in a saw tooth fashion (or ramp fashion) as shown in the figure(a) This is

known as a chirped frequency laser. What we are in effect doing is frequency modulating

the laser signal.

Part of the injected light is reflected at the fiber-input face and combined with the

return light at the detector.

Referring to figure(a) ∆ f is the variation in the frequency of the source in a time

period T (= 1/fc). ∆f is known as the peak frequency deviation Tdi( =2n ll/c) is

the round trip time deviation corresponding to the ith sensor at a distance Li. F is the

beat frequency obtained between the return signal and the input reference signal reflected

at the fiber input face. We can write.

An electrical spectrum analyser is used to separate the beat frequency of each

sensor, according to the time delay. The electrical amplitudes of the fB lines represent the

optical intensity that is modulated by the measurand of each sensor.

The main advantage of OFDR over OTDR is in the greater average optical

channel power and narrower allowable receiver bandwidth. Both of these result in a
better signal to noise ratio and hence higher sensitivity and resolution. The resolution is

inversely proportional to the peak frequency deviation ∆f

Frequency division multiplexing :

In this technique each sensor is allowed a frequency channel within which the

signal is modulated by the measurand in amplitude frequency or phase. It must be noted

that phase modulataion is possible only with coherent light sources. The most common

method used for FDM is the sub carrier FDM. In this, a network of N intensity coded

reflective or transmittive sensors is modulated at N different frequencies

Figure shows a ladder network of three trasmittive sensors powered by an LED

modulated at three different frequencies. The sum signal returned by the network is

given by

Where A ĸ and Ø are the amplitude and phase of the Kth sensor.
Sensor location and Vg is the group velocity of light identifies the Kth sensor.

The system is operated simultaneously at N (three) different frequencies, so that

the measured components Ri form a set of N (equal to 3 in this case) linear equations.

From these we can determine the unknown amplitudes Ak which as the

measurands Xk. The equations are

The set can be written as a matrix equation R=A S

 Where S is the system matrix. The elements cos Øi of the system matrix are

determined by the system and calibration routine. The unknown vector A is calculated

from the relationship A= Sˉ¹ R. For this the inverse matrix Sˉ¹ is stored in the

microprocessor. The frequencies Wi must be chosen such that the determinant S is non

zero.

Frequency modulated continuous wave technique (FMCW)

This method is widely applied in the case of interferometric fiber optic sensors or

IFOs. Here the measurand modulates the phase of the incoming signal resulting in a

phase change. The signal I seen by the detector of an IFOS is given by

Where V F is the fringe visibility Øx (t) is the optical phase which is modulated in

the time domain by the measurand and p is a function of the input power which includes

various transmission losses.

 The experimental technique uses a chirped frequency laser and is exactly similar

to the OFDR technique. The only difference is the phase change being considered is the

sum of the trasmission delay and the modulation by the measurand.

Wavelength division multiplexing :

In wavelength division multiplexing, a separate wavelength is assigned to each

sensor channel of the network. A sensor number K is addressed at a wavelength λk,

according to the relation Xk = X[ I(λk) ] This technique is obviously a special case of

FDM. Instead of assigning a frequency band to each sensor, we are assigning a single

frequency. This is a feature that is unique to fiber optic sensors as against conventional

sensors which can only be multiplexed in time or frequency domain.

WDM is normally a multi source concept as shown in figure. The figure shows a

system of N transmittive sensors. Light from a set of N narrow band sources via a

combiner and a single input fiber is fed to a wavelength dispersive component like a

prism or a grating which distributes the optical power, according to its wavelength to the

appropriate sensor. The intensities Ik = I(λk), modulated by the sensors are recombined

and subsequently selected by a second demultiplexer and a detector array.

An improvement over this would be to use the power from a single broadband

source such as an incandescent lamp with a spectral distribution Ps(λ) is split into
channels by flitters or a dispersive component. The signals from the sensors are taken up

by a return fiber and fed to a detector array after demultiplexing. This spectral

distribution of the combined sensor intensities has the form shown

It can be seen that in general, there will be a cross talk between the signals. This

may place a limitation on the number of sensors that can be used. This problem is solved

by using thin film interference filters, which have extremely narrow bandwidth, around

10 Angstroms. The use of interference filters is also advantageous in that after the

frequency selection, the remaining power is transmitted practically without any loss.

If reflective sensors are to be used instead of transmittive sensors, the lay out will

be as shown.

It can be seen that two demultiplexers and a single coupler are used A practical

WDM sensor network is as shown.

In this layout Fı, F2, F3 are interference filters and C1,C2,C3 are couplers. Upto

40 channels can be accommodated in visible region using narrow band filtering. The
electronic signal processing of WDM systems is relatively simple. Its band width

requirement is dependant only on the time variation of the measurand.

The progress in the development of WDM components is closely linked to the

evolution of fiber optic communication local area networks. Since each sensor in these

systems is powered by its own separate source or by a spectral slice, the power balance is

as simple as in the one fiber per sensor case of spatial division multiplexing. At the same

time it gives much better resolution than TDM and FDM methods. Therefore, from the

optical power budget point of view, WDM is much superior.

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