Escola Srgio Porto de ptica Aplicada (Unicamp, Oct 31 - Nov 3, 2002)

UNICAMP
UNICAMP --- IFGW
UNICAMP IFGW
IFGW

Instituto de Fsica Gleb Wataghin

Campinas, 13083-970 - SP, Brazil

Fiber-Optic communications

Hugo L. Fragnito
Optics and Photonics Research Center
UNICAMP-IFGW

Tel. (xx55-19) 3788-5430

Sponsors: HUGO@IFI.UNICAMP.BR

FAPESP
Ericsson
Corning
CNPq/MCT
 Advantages of Optical Fibers for
Telecommunications

Low transmission loss

Enormous bandwidth

Immune to electromagnetic noise

Low cost

High chemical stability

Natural abundance of material

Light weight and small dimensions

Strong, flexible material
 Agenda

I Fundamentals of Optical Fibers

II System Issues

III State of the Art

 Optical Fibers
Optical fibers are cylindrical dielectric waveguides
Core (Ge, Al,.. doped silica)
Cladding (pure silica)
n2
2b 2a n1 (n1 > n2)

Typical dimensions
Core diameter 2a = 9 to 62.5 m
Cladding diameter 2b = 125 m

Typical values of refractive indices

Core: n1 = 1.461
Cladding: n2 = 1.460
 Index profile

Protection cladding
Plastic (250 or 900 m)
Cladding
pure silica (125 m)

Core
Doped silica (9 62.5 m)

Index step typical values:

n1 n = 0.001 - 0.01
n Index Profile
n2
Main fiber types
n2
Step Index
n1 Multimode

n2
Gradual Index
n1(r) Multimode

n2 Step Index
n1 Single Mode
 Communications:
Photonics versus Electronics

Capacity of transmission lines:

Coaxial Cable: 10 Mb/skm, Limited by attenuation

Optical fiber: > 10 Tb/skm, Limited by DISPERSION (?)

Implications in high speed signal processing:

Assuming that an electronic chip could process at 10 Tb/s, it
could not transmit information to another chip 1mm apart (!)

Implications in $$ (telecom services):

Metallic line (10 Mb/s): 0.2 M$/month

Optical Fiber (10 Gb/s): 200 M$/month (!!)

(at 1/min per voice channel used 8 h/day)
Substitute cables and electronics by fibers and photonics
 Fiber optic guiding principles

Guiding by total internal reflection

Critical angle

Numerical Aperture

Fiber Modes

Concept of waveguide modes

Fiber types

Multimode fibers

Single mode fibers
 Guiding by Total Internal
Reflection
n2 Critical Angle
= 0

n1 (n2 < n1) c n1

(Snells law) n1 cos = n2 cos cos c = n2 / n1 (critical angle)

If < c , ray is totally reflected

Ex: n1 = 1.47 and n2 = 1.46 c = 6.7

 Numerical Aperture
Acceptance angle for a ray to be guided

n2

n=1

n1

Total internal reflection ( c ) sin

where:
NA = Numerical Aperture = n12 n22 sin c = NA / n1

Ex: n1 = 1.47 and n2 = 1.46 = 9.9 and NA = 0.17

 Evanescent Wave
Wave penetrates the lower index medium in total internal reflection

x
Penetration depth
Evanescent wave
n2
n2 < n 1 z
< c
n1

Cladding material must be highly transparent in low loss fibers

Evanescent waves can be used to couple light from one fiber to another
 Planar waveguides
Slab waveguide: one-dimensional confinement

Channel waveguide: two-dimensional confinement

Glass substrate

(made by ion-exchange or ion-implantation methods)

 Waveguide modes

Waves must satisfy boundary conditions at interfaces

Allowed angles depend on wavelength () and waveguide dimensions (d)

n2
r
k kT d
n1 d


n2
Wavevector
Planar or slab waveguide: k = kT2 + k z2 = 2n1 /
must be such that kT d = 2N
kT = k sin = 2N / d
sin = N / n1d (N = 1, 2, M )
k z = k cos
Metallic waveguide: sin < 1
Dielectric waveguide: sin < sinc = NA/n1 Propagation constant along waveguide
 Cutoff Wavelength
= sin 1 ( N / n1d )
c finite number of modes
18
NA = 0.17
16
d = 20 m; = 1 m
14
angle, (deg)

12

10 Critical angle: c dNA / N c / N

c = 6.7
8

4 not guided If > c only the fundamental mode

2 guided mode (N = 1) is allowed to propagate
0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Ex.: NA = 0.17 (n1 = 1.47; n2 = 1.46);

Mode order, N
d = 10 m fi c = 1.71 m

V = dNA / Normalized Frequency (planar waveguide)

In planar waveguides the condition for single mode operation is

V <
LP21

Cylindrical waveguide

z Bessel functions
Elm = AJ l (kT r ) cos(l)e iz [r a ]

r Normalized frequency V = 2aNA /

a Cutoff frequency LP02

Condition for single
mode operation:
V < 2.405
 Spatial distribution of modes
LP02
LP01

LP11 LP31

LP21
LP12

J.A. Buck, Fundamentals of optical Fibers, Wiley, New York, 1995

 Fundamental mode

approximately gaussian

2a u01( r ) exp( r 2 / w2 )
J.A. Buck, Fundamentals of optical Fibers, Wiley, New York, 1995

2w = Mode Field Diameter (MFD)

. V 1.5 + 2.88 V 6 )
w a ( 0.65 + 162
 Attenuation

Absorption
Scattering
Bending
 Decibel units
Input power Output power

Pin System Pout

System Transmission: T = Pout/Pin

- 10 dB means Pout = Pin/10
TdB = 10 log(Pout/Pin) - 3dB means Pout = Pin/2
- 40 dB means Pout = 10-4 Pin

dBm: Power in dB relative to 1 mW

- 10 dBm means P = 0.1 mW
PdBm = 10 log(P/1 mW) 3 dBm means P = 2 mW
40 dBm means P = 10 W

TdB = Pout - Pin (Pin and Pout in dBm)

 Attenuation
Optical Power at a distance L: P( L ) = P( 0) 10 L/10
Loss coefficient: (dB/km) PdBm ( L ) = PdBm ( 0) L
4
1st window 2nd 3rd
820 nm 1.3 m 1.55 m
2
IR absorption
Loss, (dB/km)

1.0
0.8
Rayleigh OH overtones
scattering
0.4 = C/4

0.2 UV absorption tail

0.1
0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
Wavelength, (m)
 Attenuation in Multi- M
ode (MM)
and Single
- Mode (SM) fibers
Multimode (MM) fibers attenuate more than single mode (SM) fibers

Light in higher order modes travels longer optical paths

Lower order mode
Higher order mode
4

2 Multimode fibers
Loss, dB/km

0.4

0.2 Singlemode fibers

0.1
0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8

Wavelength, m
 Macrobending loss

Shedding of power by the effect of bending

Power
Loss

In multimode fibers bending causes

mode coupling. Higher order modes are
scattered out of fiber. In single mode
fibers, bending losses are appreciable
for curvature radii < 1 cm.
 Microbending loss

Scattering loss caused by rugosity of fiber

Power Loss

Small axial distortions along the fiber axis

Causes mode mixing and/or loss of optical power

Can be induced by fiber jacketing, cabling, or environment

 Dispersion

Intermodal dispersion
Multimode fibers
Intramodal dispersion
Multimode and singlemode
 Modal Dispersion
Input pulse Output pulse
MM fiber - step index

time time

Transmitted Byte Received Byte

1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1
1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1

time time

Dispersion limits the transmission capacity of fiber

Capacity of MM-step-index fibers 20 Mb/s km

 Dispersion in step index MM fibers
At a given frequency, optical field is a
superposition of modes, each one with a
Relation between the propagation different propagation constant
constant and frequency is called the
Dispersion Relation: = () 1.0

Normalized propagation constant, b

01

Single mode region

0.8
11
Normalized Propagation Constant
21
( / k0 ) n22
2 02
0.6
b= 31

n12 n22 12 41

22
0.4 32 61
Normalized frequency 51 13
03
V= ak 0 ( n12 n22 ) 0.2 42 71
23
04

[k 0 = / c = 2 / ] 81 52
33
0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Normalized frequency, V
Cutoff: V = 2.405
Dispersion in graded index MM fibers
Input pulse Graded Index MM fiber Output pulse
1 2

time time

Mode 1 travels a longer physical path than mode 2, but through regions
of lower index (higher speed);

The propagation delay is approximately the same for both modes.

Capacity of MM- graded index fibers 2 Gb/skm

 Dispersion in single mode fibers

Chromatic dispersion

Material dispersion

Waveguide dispersion

Group Velocity Dispersion

Dispersion shifted fibers
 Dispersion parameter
Measurement of Group Velocity Dispersion (GVD):

Input pulses Received pulses

(different wavelength) Single mode fiber,
length L

+ +

time time

1
D= Dispersion parameter [ps/nm/km]
L
 Chromatic dispersion
Group velocity (vg) depends on
F I = 2 c d
GH JK d
2
d 1
Dispersion parameter: D=
d v g 2 2

D = DM + DW
20 DM

D (ps/nm/km)
DM (Material Dispersion):
D (total)
n depends on
0
2n
DM = DW
c 2
-20
DW (Waveguide dispersion): 1.2 0 1.4 1.6
vg depends on waveguide geometry
FG IJ

DW =
H K
2 2 nc w 2
Zero dispersion wavelength
 Material dispersion

Electronic transitions

Vibrational bands
( ) = n( ) / c Rotational bands

FIR IR VIS UV
Refractive index
()

n()

1
0

Frequency,
 GVD in silica

Optical fibers for communications are made of silica

Group velocity dispersion, D (ps/nm/km)

0

-200

-400 Synthetic fused silica

-600
Normal GVD Anomalous GVD
-800 region region

-1000

0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8

Wavelength, (m)

Transparent materials exhibit a particular ZD where D(ZD) = 0.

In pure silica, ZD = 1.27 m (Zero Dispersion Wavelength).
 Dispersion Shifted Fibers
Index profile 20

n2
n1

D (ps/nm/km)
2 /k
m
10 m
p s/n Standard Fiber (SMF)
.0 9
Standard Fiber (SMF) =0
S
0

/nm /km
2
n2 S = 0. 07 5 ps

n1 Dispersion Shifted Fiber (DSF)

-10
1.3 1.4 1.5

Dispersion Shifted Fiber (DSF) Wavelength, (m)

Zero dispersion wavelength (ZD):

Dispersion slope: S = dD/d
Standard fiber: ZD = 1310 nm
Dispersion Shifted Fiber: ZD = 1550 nm
 Review

Multimode fibers

Used in local area networks (LANs)

Capacity limited by intermodal dispersion:

20 Mb/sxkm (step index)

2 Gb/sxkm (graded index)

Single Mode Fibers

Used for long distance

25 THz bandwidth in 1.55 m window

Capacity limited by chromatic dispersion

Dispersion (D) can be positive, negative or zero

D = 0 @ 1.3 m in standard silica fibers

Waveguide dispersion can be adjusted by index profile

Dispersion shifted fiber (DSF): D = 0 @ 1.55 m

DSF: combines D = 0 and minimum loss
 Optical Couplers
Planar waveguide device

Input 1 Mode coupling

l 3
through evanescent
4 field

Fiber device
fibers

Fuse and stretch

 Fiber connectors

Various Types
FC/PC, SC, LC, SMA, ST

Polishing quality
SPC (Super), UPC (Ultra)
Alumina ferrule
PC = Physical Contact
Insertion loss 0.2 dB
Back reflection 20 dB
Fiber

APC = Angled Physical Contact

Insertion loss 0.2 dB
Back reflection 40 dB
8
 Optical cables for the lab
Simplex
2mm

Duplex
Patch cords

Duplex connectors

DSC

ESCON
Cables
 Where to get more Information

 B.E.A. Saleh and M.C. Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics, Wiley,

New York, 1991.
 G. Keiser, Optical Fiber Communications, 2nd ed., Mc Graw Hill,
New York, 1993.
 G.P Agrawal, Fiber-Optic Communication Systems, Wiley, New
York, 1992. (2nd ed. 1997).
 J.A. Buck, Fundamentals of optical Fibers, Wiley, New York, 1995.