PC481 Fiber Optics

Fall 2010
Instructor: Dapeng Zhou

Lecture 1
Introduction

Chapter

to PC481

1:
Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Introduction to PC481

Course Description:
Types of optical fibers. Basic theory: characteristics, numerical aperture,
losses, dispersion, modes. Passive fiber devices: couplers, connectors,
splices. Light sources: LED, solid and semiconductor lasers. Modulators.
Detectors. Systems design. The major emphasis is on fundamentals and
on individual devices which make up the system rather than on detailed
design of optical communication networks.

Contents:

1.

Overview of optical fiber communications (Chapter 1)

Optical fibers: structures, waveguiding, fabrication and optical cable
(Chapter 2)
Signal degradation in optical fibers (Chapter 3)
Optical sourses: Laser diodes and LEDs (Chapter 4)
Power launching and coupling (Chapter 5)
Photodetectors (Chapter 6)
Photonic transmission systems (Chapter 7)
Wavelength-division multiplexing (Chapter 8)

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Instructors
Lecture

Dapeng Zhou, Science Building, Room N2079

(519)884-0710, ext. 2974
d4zhou@uwaterloo.ca
Office hour: Fridays 13:00 pm-15:00 pm

Lab

instructor:

instructor:

Hasan Shodiev, Science Building, Room N2086

(519)884-0710, ext. 2461
hshodiev@wlu.ca

Text Book

Optical fiber communications, by Gerd Keiser, 4th edition,

McGraw Hill, 2011. (The 3rd edition is no long in print; it is
OK if you already have it.)

Evaluation
Assignment:
Lab:
Midterm:
Final

exam:

20%
25% (At least 12.5% to pass)
20% (End of October 2010)
35%

Chapter 1
Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Optics

Optics is an old subject involving the generation,

propagation & detection of light.
Quantum Optics
Optical theory development:
Electromagnetic Optics

Ray optics: short wavelength

Wave
Optics

Ray Optics
Wave optics: scalar approximation

Electromagnetic optics: complete classical treatment

Quantum optics: explanation of all optical phenomena

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Photonics

Optoelectronics: refers to devices & systems that are

essentially electronics but involve lights, such as LED, liquid
crystal displays & array photodetectors.
Quantum Electronics: is used in connection with devices &
systems that rely on the interaction of light with matter, such
as lasers & nonlinear optical devices.
Quantum Optics: Studies quantum & coherence properties of
light.
Lightwave Technology: describes systems & devices that are
used in optical communication & signal processing.
Photonics: in analogy with electronics, involves the control of
photons in free space and matter.

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

The Scope of Photonics:

1- Generation of Light (coherent & incoherent)
2- Transmission of Light (through free space, fibers,
imaging systems, waveguides, )
3- Processing of Light Signals (modulation, switching,
amplification, frequency conversion, )

4- Detection of Light (coherent & incoherent)

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

At sending end: Data are transferred over the communication channel by

superimposing the information onto an EM wave ( known as Carrier)

At the destination, the information is removed from the carrier wave

and processed as desired

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Basic components of optical fiber link

Optical fibers
Step/Graded-index; single-mode/multimode

Sources for optical transmitters

Semiconductor/fiber lasers; LEDs

Detectors for optical receivers

Pin photodetector/Avalanche photdiodes

Signal processing equipments

Modulators; multiplexer/demultiplexer; couplers

Optical amplifiers
Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA)

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Elements of an optical fiber transmission link

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Milestones
Three major developments are responsible for
rejuvenation of optics & its application in
modern technology:
1- Invention of Laser
2- Fabrication of low-loss optical Fiber
3- Development of Semiconductor
Optical Device

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Evolution of fiber-optic systems

1950s:Imaging applications in
medicine & non-destructive testing,
lighting
1960s:Research on lowering the fiber
loss for telecom. applications.
1970s:Development of low loss fibers,
semiconductor light sources &
photodetectors
1980s:single mode fibers (OC-3 to
OC-48) over repeater spacings of 40
km.
1990s:Optical amplifiers (e.g. EDFA),
WDM (wavelength division
multiplexing) toward dense-WDM.

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Unit

Decibels (dB) ratios or relative units

In designing and implementing an optical fiber link, it is
convenient to reference the signal level either to some absolute
value or to a noise level.
Power ratio in dB = 10 log

P2
P1

P1 and P2 are optical powers in mW

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Unit

The dBm absolute value

Decibel power level referred to 1 mW
Power level =

10 log

P1
1mW

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

3dB loss

Examples
3 dB = 10 log(

P2
)
P1

P2
= 103/10 0.5
P1

200 W in dBm unit

6

200 10 W
P (W )
] = 10 log[
] = 7.0dBm
P = 10 log[
3
1mW
1 10 W

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Basic fiber optic system model

System performance
Bit

Error Rate (BER)

Probability of error per bit
Receiver Sensitivity
Minimum number of photons per bit necessary
to guarantee that the BER is smaller than a
prescribed rate
Design Strategy
Attenuation/dispersion-limited performance

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

WDM: wavelength-division multiplexing
WDM technology: The technology of combining a number of
wavelegnth onto the same fiber is known as WDM

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Conceptual WDM systems
TX1
SMF
TX2
MUX

OA

OA

TXn
RX1

components for todays typical

optical fiber communication
TX: optical transmitter e.g. laser, modulator etc
RX: optical receiver e.g. photodiode etc
OA: optical amplifier e.g. EDFA, SOA etc
SMF: single mode fiber
MUX: optical wavelength multiplexer
DeMUX: optical wavelength demultiplexer

OA

De
MUX

RX2

RXn

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Optical Networks
Point-to-point

links VS Complex networks

Basic

Topologies: Logical manner in which

nodes are linked together

Standards

(SONET/SDH) : Specify formats for

optical signals so they can be shared between
networks

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

Early application of fiber optic communication

Digital link consisting of time-division-multiplexing (TDM) of 64 kbps voice

channels (early 1980).

Digital transmission hierarchy used in the North American telephone network

The fundamental building block is a 1.544 Mb/s transmission rate known as a T1

rate. At any level, a signal at the designated input rate is multiplexed with other
input signals at the same rate.

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

SONET & SDH Standards

SONET (Synchronous Optical NETwork) is the network standard used in north

America & SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) is used in other parts of the
world. These define a synchronous frame structure for sending multiplexed digital
traffic over fiber optic trunk lines.

The basic building block of SONET is called STS-1 (Synchronous Transport Signal)
with 51.84 Mbps data rate. Higher-rate SONET signals are obtained by byteinterleaving N STS-1 frames, which are scramble & converted to an Optical Carrier
Level N (OC-N) signal.

The basic building block of SDH is called STM-1 (Synchronous Transport Module)
with 155.52 Mbps data rate. Higher-rate SDH signals are achieved by
synchronously multiplexing N different STM-1 to form STM-N signal.

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

SONET & SDH transmission rates

SONET level

Electrical level

Line rate (Mb/s) SDH equivalent

OC-1

STS-1

51.84

OC-3

STS-3

155.52

STM-1

OC-12

STS-12

622.08

STM-4

OC-24

STS-24

1244.16

STM-8

OC-48

STS-48

2488.32

STM-16

OC-96

STS-96

4976.64

STM-32

OC-192

STS-192

9953.28

STM-64

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

SONET multiplex hierarchy

STS: Synchronous transport signal

SPE: Synchronous payload envelope
VT: Virtual tributary

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications

DWDM employment

Chapter 1 Overview of Optical Fiber Communications