Optical Communications

Overview
• Brief introduction to Optical Fibre
communication
• Single mode fibre (SMF) based FO links
• Multimode fibre (MMF) based FO links
• Short haul, high speed applications
• Modern trends in MMF based
communications
– Glass optical fibres (GOF)
– Plastic optical fibres (POF)

2
Introduction: Major milestones in
Electrical Communication
• 1838 – Samuel F.B. Morse invented Telegraphy
• 1866 – first transatlantic telegraph cable
• 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell invented
Telephone
• 1905 – Triode based Electronic amplifier
• 1940 – first coaxial-cable system (3 MHz –
3,000 voice channels or ONE
television channel)
• 1948 – first microwave system (4 GHz)
• 1975 – the most advanced coaxial system with a
bit rate of 274 Mb/s
3
 History of Optical Fibre Communications
• 1966 – suggestion to use optical fiber (Kao &
Hockham)
• 1970 – Corning Glass optical fiber with 20 dB/km
near 1 μm
• 1970 - Semiconductor Laser with CW operation
at room temp.
• 1980 onwards – wide spread use of Optical
Fiber Communication using SMF and MMF
• 1990 – used Optical amplification (for increased repeater
spacing) and Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM)
for increased data rate.
– Resulted in a data rate of 10 Tb/s by 2001.
4
Communication Systems of the 20th
Century
• Wire – Telegraphy (2 wires for telegraph
transmission – simplex & duplex)
• Wire – Telephony (2 wires for telephone
transmission of 1 channel)
• Carrier telephony (long-distance telephony
for multiple channels – 4,8,16)
• Coaxial cable systems (for 32 channel
PCM systems – 32x64kb/s = 2.048 Mb/s)
5
Problems of Electrical Communication
systems
• Affected by EMI
• Low bandwidth (4 kHz – telephone,
100-500 MHz per km – coaxial cable )
• High attenuation (20 dB/km – typically)
• High system cost
– due to too many repeaters for a given Bandwidth/
data rate
– Eg. 32 channel (2.048 Mbps) PCM link required one
repeater every 2 km
• Prone to tapping
• Bulky
6
 Why Optical Communications?
• Optical Fiber is the backbone of the modern
communication networks
• The Optical Fiber Carries:
– Almost all long distance phone calls

‘Triple Play’
– Most Internet traffic (Dial-up, DSL or Cable)
– Most Television channels (Cable or DSL)
• One fiber can carry up to 6.4 Tb/s (1012 b/s) or
100 million conversations simultaneously
• Information revolution wouldn’t have
happened without the Optical Fiber
 Why Optical Communications?
Lowest Attenuation: 0.2 dB/km at 1.55 µm band
resulting in 100s of km links without repeaters (very
useful in under-see communication)
Highest Bandwidth of any communication channel:
Single Mode Fiber (SMF) offers the lowest dispersion
→ highest bit rate → rich content (broadband
multimedia)
Upgradability: Via Wavelength Division Multiplexing
(WDM)
Low Cost: Fiber is made of Silica (earth), much low cost
than copper
 Advantages of Optical Fiber
Communication (Fiber Optics)
• Very high bandwidth (10 - 500 GHz, typ.)
• Very low attenuation (lowest 0.16 dB/km)
• Immune to EMI
• Data security (almost impossible to tap
information)
• Lower system cost (fewer repeaters due to low
attenuation of fibers)
• Small size and low weight
• Very low Bit Error Rate ( < 10-10 typically)
Source: Nobel Lecture, 2009, CK Kao, “Transmission of Light in
Fiber for Optical Communication”
Source: Nobel Lecture, 2009, CK Kao, “Transmission of Light in
Fiber for Optical Communication”
Basics of Optical Fibre
Communication
An Optical Fiber Communication System
consists of
• Transmitter
– Optical source (LED or Laser diode) + driver
circuit
• Optical Fibre
– Single mode fibre, or
– Multimode fibre
• Receiver
– Photodetector PIN or APD + receiver circuit
 A Modern Optical Communication
System for Telecom with WDM and
Optical Amplifiers

Source: Gerd Keiser, Optical Fiber

Communications, 4th ed.,
McGraw-Hill, 2008: Chapter 10.
 Transmission windows and
bandwidths

Transmission-bandwidths in the O Source: Gerd Keiser, Optical Fiber

(1300nm)- and C(1550nm)-bands Communications, 4th ed.,
McGraw-Hill, 2008: Chapter 10.
Source: Nobel Lecture, 2009, CK Kao, “Transmission of Light in
Fiber for Optical Communication”
Source: Nobel Lecture, 2009, CK Kao, “Transmission of Light in
Fiber for Optical Communication”
 Fibre Optics
• Telecom applications
– Primarily SMFs
• Networking applications
– Mostly SMFs (FTTH)
• Fibre optic Sensing
– SMF and MMF
• Medical applications
– Mostly MMF, or bundle fibres (light pipes
• Industrial applications
– Mostly MMF
17
 SMF vs MMF
• Single mode fibres – today’s work horse
for long haul telecom as well as optical
networks
• Multimode fibres – not widely used for
communications as single mode fibres.
any advantages?

18
Capacity of Today’s SMF Links
• Typically for one SMF
– 40 Gb/s x (20 to 40) wavelengths - DWDM
– Repeater spacing, 200 km (with EDFA)
– Could be up to 1000 km with Raman amplifiers
• One SMF cable can have
– 24 to 144 SMFs
• Most of the SMFs in a cable are left un used
as spare
• A major revolution waiting to happen to tap
the huge unused bandwidth already available
– Optical networks – FTTH services yet to become
widespread, esp in our country 19
 Requirements
• Small physical dimensions to suit the
fiber
• Narrow beam width to suit fiber NA
• Narrow spectral width (or line width) to
reduce chromatic dispersion
• Fast response time (high bandwidth) to
support high bit rate
• High output power into the fiber for long
reach without repeaters
 Considerations …
• Ability to directly modulate by varying
driving current
• Linearity (output light power proportional to
driving current) → important for analog
systems
• Stability → LED better than LASER
• Driving circuit issues → impedance
matching
• Reliability (life time) and cost
Solid State (Semiconductor) Light
Sources
• Light Emitting Diode (LED) → Simple
forward biased PN junction
hc1.24
E g = h = = eV
  ( m)
• LASER → Enhanced LED to achieve
stimulated emission that provides:
– Narrow line and beam widths, high output
power and coherent light
 Energy-Bands
k B = 1.38 10 −23 JK -1

• Pure Group. IV (intrinsic semiconductor) material has equal

number of holes and electrons.
• Thermal excitation of an electron from the valence band to the
conduction band enable it to freely move.
 n-type material

• Donor level in an n-type (Group V) semiconductor.

• The ionization of donor impurities creates an increased electron
concentration distribution.
 p-type material

• Acceptor level in an p-type (Group III) semiconductor.

• The ionization of acceptor impurities creates an increased
hole concentration distribution
Intrinsic & Extrinsic Materials
Intrinsic material: A pure material with no impurities.
Eg
n = p = ni  exp(− )
2 k BT
n & p & ni are the electron, hole & intrinsic concentrations respective ly.
Eg is the gap energy, T is Temperature.

• Extrinsic material: donor or acceptor type semiconductors.

pn = ni
2

• Majority carriers: electrons in n-type or holes in p-type.

• Minority carriers: holes in n-type or electrons in p-type.
• The operation of semiconductor devices is essentially based on the
injection and extraction of minority carriers.
 Indirect Band Gap
Semiconductors
E E E

CB
Indirect Bandgap, Eg
Ec CB
Direct Bandgap Eg Photon CB Ec Er Ec
Ev kcb Phonon
Ev Ev
VB
VB kvb VB
–k k –k k –k k
(a) GaAs (b) Si (c) Si with a recombination center

(a) In GaAs the minimum of the CB is directly above the maximum of the VB. GaAs is
therefore a direct bandgap semiconductor. (b) In Si, the minimum of the CB is displaced from
the maximum of the VB and Si is an indirect bandgap semiconductor. (c) Recombination of
an electron and a hole in Si involves a recombination center .
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
Direct-bandgap materials (often III-V semiconductors)
ensure high quantum efficiency,.
 Semiconductor Physics
• LEDs and laser diodes consist
of a pn junction constructed of
direct-bandgap III-V materials.
• When the pn junction is forward
biased, electrons and holes are
injected into the p and n regions,
respectively.
• The injected minority carriers
recombine either,
1. radiatively (a photon of energy E = The pn junction is
h is emitted) or known as the active or
2. nonradiatively (heat is emitted). recombination region.
Wavelength
Bands and
Materials
Band Description Wavelength
range
O band original 1260–1360 nm
E band extended 1360–1460 nm
S band short 1460–1530 nm
wavelengths
C band conventional 1530–1565 nm
(“erbium
window”)
L band long 1565–1625 nm
wavelengths
U band ultralong 1625–1675 nm
wavelengths
 Physical Design of an LED
• An LED emits incoherent, non-directional,
and unpolarized spontaneous photons.
• An LED does not have a threshold current.
• Double hetero structure (2 p type and 2 n
type materials) is used to improve light
output
• Each region shall also have the right
refractive index to guide the light (optical
property)
• Light exits via the surface (SLED) or the
Double-Heterostructure
configuration
 Light-Emitting Diodes
LED features:
• Made of GaAlAs (850 nm) or InGaAsP (S-L bands)
• Broad spectral output (50 to 150 nm)
• Optical output powers less than -13 dBm (50 μW)
• Can be modulated only up a few hundred Mb/s
• Less expensive than laser diodes
• Edge-emitter or surface emitter structures
 Ratio between
Semiconductors
Relationship between the
crystal lattice spacing, Eg,
emission λ at room temp.
The shaded area is for the
quaternary alloy
In1–xGaxAsyP1–y

E g = 1.35 − 0.72 y + 0.12 y 2

y = 2.2 x 0  x  0.47
For Ga1− x Al x As
E g = 1.424 + 1.266 x + 0.266 x 2
 Bandgap Energy
The source emission wavelength depends on the
bandgap energy of the device material.

34
 Bandgap Energy
For In1–xGaxAsyP1–y compositions that are lattice-
matched to InP, the bandgap in eV varies as
E g = 1.35 − 0.72 y + 0.12 y 2

y = 2.2 x 0  x  0.47

Bandgap wavelengths from 920 to 1650 nm are

covered by this material system.

35
Surface and Edge Emitting LED

36
Generally an LED is a broadband light source
Rate equations and Quantum Efficiency of
LEDs
When there is no external carrier injection, the excess density
decays exponentially due to electron-hole recombination.

n(t ) = n0e−t / n(t)

n is the excess carrier density,

n0 : initial injected excess electron density

 : carrier lifetime.
dn n t
Bulk recombination rate R: R = − =
dt 
With an external supplied current density of J the rate equation for the electron
-hole recombination is:
J
dn(t )
=
J n
− In equilibrium condition: dn/dt=0 n=
dt qd  qd
 Bulk recombination rate (R) = Radiative recombination rate (Rr)
+ Nonradiative recombination rate (Rnr)

For exponential decay of

excess carriers:
Radiative recombination n(t)
lifetime τr=n/Rr
Nonradiative recombination
lifetime e − t /  nr
τnr=n/Rnr
e −t /  r
R = Rr + Rnr = 1/τ = 1/τ r + 1/τ nr
e −t / 

t
For high quantum efficiency, Rr >> Rnr → τr << τnr
 Quantum Efficiency
Internal quantum efficiency is the ratio between
the radiative recombination rate and the sum
of radiative and nonradiative recombination
rates
Rr  nr 
 int = = =
Rr + Rnr  r +  nr  r

Rr =  int ( Rr + Rnr ) = I / q

Where, the current injected into the LED is I, and q is

the charge of an electron.
 Example Lifetimes
Material Rr (cm3/s) τr τnr τ ηint

Si 10-15 10 ms 100 ns 100 ns 10-5

GaAs 10-10 100 ns 100 ns 50 ns 0.5

*assuming a lightly doped n-type material with a carrier concentration of 1017 cm-3 and
a defect concentration of 1015 cm-3 at T = 300 K

• Si is an indirect bandgap material resulting in a small

internal quantum efficiency.
• The radiative transitions are sufficiently fast in GaAs,
(direct bandgap), and the internal quantum efficiency is
large.
Internal Quantum Efficiency & Optical
Power
Optical power generated internally in the active region in the
LED is equal to the number of photons/seconds (I/q) times
energy per photons (hv) times the internal quantum efficiency

I hcI I
Pint =  int h =  int = 1.24 int
q q 
[4-9]

Pint : Internal optical power,

I : Injected current to active region
 External Efficiency
• Only a small portion of internally generated
the light exits the LED due to:
– Absorption losses α exp(-αl), where α is the
absorption coefficient and l is the path length
– Fresnel reflection losses, that increases with
the angle of incidence
– Loss due to total internal reflection (TIR) which
results in a small ‘escape cone’
# of photons emitted from LED
 ext =
# of internally generated photons
 Fresnel Reflection
• Whenever light travels from a medium of refractive index
n1 to a medium of index n2, then Fresnel reflection will
happen.
• For perpendicular incidence
2 the F. R. is given by,
 n1 − n2  4n1n2
R =   T=
 n1 + n2  (n1 + n2 ) 2

• R is the Fresnel reflectivity at the fiber-core end face;

• T is the Fresnel transmissivity (Note R+T = 1)

Note: When the amplitudes of the light is considered, the reflection

coefficient r = (n1 – n2)/(n1 + n2) relates the incident and reflected wave.
Fresnel Reflection Example

In general At the surface of any two material with n1

and n2 ref indices, there will be Fresnel Loss
Fresnel Loss = -10 Log (T)
44
 n2 LED Light
emission
cone
n1

c
1
ext = 
4 0
T ( )(2 sin  )d

4n1n2
T ( ) : Fresnel Transmissi on Coefficien t  T (0) = [4-12]

(n1 + n2 ) 2
1
If n2 = 1  ext  [4-13]
n1 (n1 + 1) 2
Pint
LED emitted optical powr, P = ext Pint  [4-14]
n1 (n1 + 1) 2
The fraction of light lies within the escape cone from a
point source:
Half Power Beam Width (θ1/2)

• The angle at
which the
power is half of
its peak value
B (1/ 2 ) = Bo /2
• L = 1 For
Lambertian
source
B( ) = Bo CosL ( )
 Source-to-Fiber Power
Launching
• Assume a surface-emitting LED of radius rs less than the fiber-core radius a.
• The total optical power Ps emitted from the source of area As into a hemisphere
(2π sr) is given by

In terms of Ps the optical

power coupled into a step-
index fiber from the LED is

48
 Modulation of an LED
• The response time of an optical source determines how
fast an electrical input drive signal can vary the light
output level
• If the drive current is modulated at a frequency ω and P0
is the power emitted at zero modulation frequency, the
optical output power of the device will vary as
 3-dB bandwidths
P( f ) = Po / 1 + (2f ) 2

Optical Power  I(f); Electrical Power  I2(f)

Electrical Loss = 2 x Optical Loss

 Modulation of LED
• The frequency response of an LED depends on:
1- Doping level in the active region
2- Injected carrier lifetime in the recombination region,  i .
3- Parasitic capacitance of the LED
• If the drive current of an LED is modulated at a frequency of ω, the
output optical power of the device will vary as:
 p()   I() 
Electrical BW = 10log   = 20 log  
[4-15]

 p ( 0 )   I ( 0) 
p : electrical power, I : electrical current
• Electrical current is directly proportional to the optical power, thus we
can define electrical bandwidth and optical bandwidth, separately.
[4-16]

 P( )   I ( ) 
Optical BW = 10 log   = 10 log  I (0) 
 P ( 0)   
 Electrical and Optical
Bandwidths
Electrical signal (photocurrent)

Fiber 1
0.707

Sinusoidal signal f
1 kHz 1 MHz 1 GHz
Emitter Photodetector fel
t Sinusoidal electrical signal
Optical Optical
f = Modulation frequency Input Output
Pi = Input light power Po = Output light power Po / Pi
0.1
0.05
t t f
0 0 1 kHz 1 MHz 1 GHz
fop
An optical fiber link for transmitting analog signals and the effect of dispersion in the
fiber on the bandwidth, fop.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
 Drawbacks of LED

• Large line width (30-40 nm)

• Large beam width (Low coupling to the
fiber)
• Low output power
• Low E/O conversion efficiency
Advantages
• Robust
• Linear
 Source-to-Fiber Power Coupling
Comparison of the optical powers coupled into two step-index fibers

54
 Lenses for Coupling
Improvement
If the source emitting area is smaller than the core
area, a miniature lens can improve the power-
coupling efficiency.
Efficient
lensing
method

Requires
more precise
alignment

55
 Fiber-to-Fiber Joints
• Different modal distributions of the optical beam
emerging from a fiber result in different degrees of
coupling loss.
All modes in the
emitting fiber are
equally excited.
Achieving a steady-state
in the receiving fiber
results in an additional
loss.

A steady-state modal
equilibrium has been
established in the emitting
fiber.
56
 Mechanical Misalignment
• For a receiving fiber to accept all the optical power
emitted by the first fiber, there must be perfect
mechanical alignment between the two fibers, and
their geometric and waveguide characteristics must
match precisely.
• Mechanical alignment is a major problem in joining
fibers.

57
 Axial Displacement
• Axial or lateral displacement results when the axes of the two
fibers are separated by a distance d.
• This misalignment is the most common and has the greatest
power loss.
• For the step-index fiber, the coupling efficiency is simply the
ratio of the common-core area to the core end-face area:

58
 Optical Fiber Connectors
Principal requirements of a good connectors:
1. Low coupling losses. The connector assembly must maintain stringent
alignment tolerances to assure low mating losses. These low losses must
not change significantly during operation or after numerous connects and
disconnects.
2. Interchangeability. Connectors of the same type must be compatible from
one manufacturer to another.
3. Ease of assembly. A technician should be able to install the connector easily
in a field environment. The connector loss should also be fairly insensitive
to the assembly skill of the technician.
4. Low environmental sensitivity. Conditions such as temperature, dust, and
moisture should have a small effect on connector-loss variations.
5. Low cost and reliable construction. The connector must have a precision
suitable to the application, but its cost must not be a major factor in the
fiber system.
6. Ease of connection. One should be able to mate the connector by hand 59
Optical Fiber Connector Types
(1)

60
Optical Fiber Connector Types
(2)

61
 Angular Misalignment
• When two fiber ends are separated longitudinally by a
gap s, not all the higher-mode optical power emitted in
the ring of width x will be intercepted by the receiving
fiber.
• The loss for an offset joint between two identical step-
index fibers is

62
 Why MMF?
• Easy to use and couple light
• Large alignment tolerances ( typically a few
µm) compared to SMF (sub µm)
• Cost effective (cheaper tools, and connectors)

• Lot of interest today for short-haul

communications

63
Fibre types – how do they differ?

Source: [Link], “Plastic Optical Fibers Branch Out”, IEEE Commn.

Mag., Sep.2006, pp. 140-148. 64
 MMF Types
• Glass Optical Fibres (Graded-index)
– 50/125 µm, 62.5/125 µm, 100/140 µm
• Plastic Optical Fibres
– PMMA or PF
– Step index or Graded index
– A variety of dimensions

65
 MMF – Glass (GOF)
• Very extensively used for short haul (up to 10
km) high data rate (up to 10 Gb/s) links
• The preferred choice for LAN applications
(1300nm, 62.5/125 µm GI MMF)
• Many other MMF experiments have been
reported with much higher data rates

66
2007: 40 Gb/s, 3.4 km, BL product of 136 Gb/s km

Scott S-H. Yam1, and Frank Achten, Toward 100 Gbits/s Ethernet with
broad wavelength window multimode fiber, [Link]., Vol. 6, No. 5,
pp.527-534, May 2007. 67
 2008: 10x 20 Gb/s, 62.5/125 μm silica MMF,
WDM using 10 DFB lasers.
I. Gasulla, J. Capmany, 1 Tb/s·km WDM Transmission over Multimode
Fibre Link, ECOC, 2008, Paper Tu.3.E.5. 68
Use of MMFs with different bandwidth
grades for 10 Gb/s
• OM1 grade fiber
– 62.5/125 µm; called legacy or original fiber that was
designed for use with LEDs (larger core dia); typically up to
100 Mb/s
• OM2 grade fiber
– 50/125 µm; improved bandwidth over OM1; used for
1Gb/s (750m) or 10 Gb/s (82m)
• OM3 grade fiber
– 50/125 µm; higher bandwidth than OM2; can support
10Gb/s up to 300m; used with VCSELs
• OM4 grade fiber
– 50/125 µm; bandwidth much higher than OM3; can be
used for both 1 Gb/s and 10 Gb/s with 850 nm VCSELs for
distances up to 550 m; suitable for future 40 and 100 Gb/s
Source: Gerd Keiser, Optical Fiber Communications,
5e, Chap 13, McGraw Hill, New Delhi
 MMF – Plastic (POF)
• Emerging as a lower-cost alternative to glass fiber
or copper at medium distances and bit rates of 10
Gb/s.
• Manufacturers form POFs out of plastic materials
such as polystyrene, polycarbonates, and
polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).
• These materials have transmission windows in
the visible range (520–780 nm).
• The loss of light transmitted at these wavelengths
is high, ranging from 150 dB/km for PMMA to
1000 dB/km for polystyrene and polycarbonates.
71
 POF
• Glass fibres have losses
– of 0.2 dB/km for a single-mode fiber and
– less than 3 dB/km for multimode fibers.
– Used extensively for long length applications
• Plastic fibers have been relegated to short-
distance applications, typically of a few
hundred meters or less

72
 Typical POF Applications
• Data applications
– Industrial control
– automobiles,
– Home networks
– Short data links
• Non-data applications
– sensors for detecting high energy particles
– Signs
– illumination,
• Today, the surge in POF production and use stems
from its use in data transmission.

73
Advantages of POF (over Glass Fibre or
Copper Wire)
• Simpler and less expensive components.
• Lighter weight.
• Operation in the visible spectrum.
• Greater flexibility, and resilience to bending, shock, and
vibration.
• Immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI).
• Ease in handling and connecting (POF diameters are 1 mm
compared with 8–100 μm for glass).
• Use of simple and inexpensive test equipment.
• Greater safety than glass fibers or fiber slivers;
• glass requires a laser light source
• Transceivers require less power than copper transceivers.

74
 Disadvantages
• High loss during transmission
• Bandwidths lower than SMFs
• A small number of providers of total systems
• A lack of standards
• A lack of awareness among users of how to install and
design with POFs
• Limited production, and Small number of systems and
suppliers
• Applications research is incomplete
• Incomplete certification programs from POF installers
• Lack of high temperature fibers (125°C)

75
Source: [Link], “Plastic Optical Fibers Branch Out”, IEEE Commn.
Mag., Sep.2006, pp. 140-148.
76
 History of POF
• POFs using poly methacrylates (PMMA) had their origin
in the early 1960s
• Losses in the 70s: 1000 dB/km
• Late 80s: PMMA fibers to close to the theoretical limit
of 150 dB/km at 650 nm.
– This was a step index fiber with a bandwidth of 50 Mb/s
over 100 m.
• 1990: graded index POFs (GI-POFs) using PMMA
material (Prof Koike - Keio Univ)
– bandwidth of 3 GHz-km with losses of 150 dB/km at 650
nm.
• 1995: Graded index – POFs using perfluorinated
polymer 50 dB/km over a range of 650–1300 nm
(theoretical limit 10 dB/km)
77
 POF Data Link Developments
• The first commercially available data link using
graded index fiber
– by Fuji Photo Film in 2005.
– 30 m DVI link operating at 1 Gb/s using a 780 nm
VCSEL
– Used PMMA GI-POF
• TWO major considerations in any data link
– Attenuation (loss spectrum)
– Bandwidth (pulse spread or dispersion)

78
 Loss Curve for a PMMA Fibre
• Three transmission windows
– 530, 570, and 650 nm (all in the visible range).
• The window at 650 nm is narrow, and hence could cause
problems if a 650-nm source shifted with temperature.
• The windows at 530 and 570 nm are broader, and thus less
sensitive to shifts in source wavelength resulting from
temperature changes.
• Losses
– at 650 nm , 125 dB/km
– at 530 and 570 nm, less than 90 dB/km
• PMMA plastic fiber based data links have lengths less than
100 m.

79
Source: [Link], “Plastic Optical Fibers Branch Out”, IEEE Commn.
Mag., Sep.2006, pp. 140-148.
80
 Loss Curve of Perfluorinated (PF)
Polymers
• PF polymers exhibit greater transmission of light over a
wider wavelength range
• Two notable features of PF fibres compared with the
loss spectrum of PMMA
– its spectrum ranges from 650 to 1300 nm;
– the loss is less than 50 dB/km over this wavelength range.
• This reduction in loss allows fiber links of up to several
hundred meters
• Perfluorinated fiber overcomes the distance limitation
of PMMA,
• Can operate using the less expensive components
developed for glass optical fibers at 850–1300 nm
81
 Fibre Bandwidth
• An optical fiber’s bandwidth can be thought of
roughly as the highest number of pulses from a
modulated light source that a receiver can detect.
• Light pulses can suffer broadening (modal
dispersion) because of the different paths that
light rays can take as they move along the fiber.
• There are two ways to characterize light
transmission in a fiber:
– classical ray tracing, and
– the wave nature of light.

82
 Fibre Bandwidth
• Containment of light in a fiber results from the
reflection of light at the core cladding interface.
• Each ray is considered a mode.
• Fiber bandwidth can be increased by reducing the
number of modes or by changing the index of
refraction profile.
• Reducing the diameter of a fiber allows it to
transmit only a few modes,
• a single-mode fiber, has very small core diameter,
and has zero modal dispersion, and hence the
largest bandwidth.
83
 POF Types
• Most POFs have a uniform, or step, index of refraction
that is the same across the width of the fiber,
– step index fibers have the lowest bandwidth among
multimode fibers.
• In a graded index fiber, the index of refraction is
highest at the center of the fiber, and thus, its profile
has a parabolic shape.
• A graded-index fiber has a medium bandwidth.
• Various types of POF can be manufactured with
– step index or graded index cores
– using PMMA or perfluorinated (PF) polymers

84
 Light Sources for POF
• LEDs
– light emitting diodes (LEDs) – edge emitting and
surface emitting,
– resonant cavity LEDs (RCLEDs),
• Laser diodes
– laser diodes, (Fabry-Perot and Distributed Feedback)
– vertical-cavity surface emitting laser diodes (VCSELs).
• Source comparison for use with PMMA fibres
shown in Table
85
Source: [Link], “Plastic Optical Fibers Branch Out”, IEEE Commn.
Mag., Sep.2006, pp. 140-148. 86
 Typical Data rates with PMMA Fibres
• The three transmission windows are 530, 570,
and 650 nm.
• LEDs,
– can be modulated at speeds of up to 250 Mb/s and
– laser diodes up to 4 Gb/s.
• VCSELs at 650 nm are still in the development
stage,
• Resonant cavity sources
– can be modulated at speeds 600 Mb/s to 1.2 Gb/s

87
 Typical Data rates with PF Fibres
• Wavelength of operation: 650 to 1300 nm,
• Can work with
– the light sources developed for 650 nm POFs and
– the 850 and 1300 nm laser diodes used with glass
optical fibers,
• Data rates up to 10 Gb/s.

88
 POF over GOF
• POFs have larger diameters (~1 mm) than glass fibers
(8–100 μm),
• POF connectors
– less complex,
– cost less, and
– less likely to suffer damage than connectors for glass
optical fibers.
• POF allows larger angular and lateral misalignments
• POF connectors can be made from inexpensive plastics
rather than the precision- machined stainless steel or
ceramics that glass fibers require.
89
2006: 425 m, 10-Mb/s Ethernet/IEEE 802.3 data over a large-
core (1 mm) step-index polymer optical fiber (SI-POF)

Daniel Cárdenas, et al., A Media Converter Prototype for 10-Mb/s Ethernet

Transmission Over 425 m of Large-Core Step-Index Polymer Optical Fiber, J.
Lightw. Technol., vol. 24, no. 12, pp. 2923–4951, Dec. 2006.
90
 2010: 300 m, 100 Mb/s ,
8-PAM, Green 520 nm, 1
mm SI-POF, PIN
photodiode

• 8B-9B Line
coding/decoding
• FEC Encoder and
decoder
• 8-PAM
• Pre-equalizer and
adaptive post
equalizer

[Link], et al., High-Speed Communications Over Polymer Optical Fibers

for In-Building Cabling and Home Networking, IEEE Photonics Journal, Vol.2,91
No.3, pp.347-358, June 2010.
[Link], et al., High-Speed Communications Over Polymer Optical Fibers
for In-Building Cabling and Home Networking, IEEE Photonics Journal, Vol.2,92
No.3, pp.347-358, June 2010.
 2010: 200m, 200
Mbps, 1 mm SI-
POF, PIN
photodiode

• Discrete
Multitone
(OFDM)
approach

[Link], et al., High-Speed Communications Over Polymer Optical Fibers

for In-Building Cabling and Home Networking, IEEE Photonics Journal, Vol.2,93
No.3, pp.347-358, June 2010.
2011: 100m, 25 Gbps, 80 µm GI-POF, 850 nm VCSELPIN photodiode

• Directly modulated
• Good launch offset tolerance

C. C. Caputo, et al. VCSEL-based 100m 25Gb/s Plastic Optical Fiber Links,

OSA/OFC 2011, Paper OWB2. 94
C. C. Caputo, et al. VCSEL-based 100m 25Gb/s Plastic Optical Fiber Links,
OSA/OFC 2011, Paper OWB2. 95
C. C. Caputo, et al. VCSEL-based 100m 25Gb/s Plastic Optical Fiber Links,
OSA/OFC 2011, Paper OWB2. 96
 2013: 1mm PMMA POF, 1 to 10m, 42 – 36 Gb/s
• 4-PAM
• 400 µm GaAs MSM photodetector
• 4-PAM preferred over DMT
S Loquai, et al. 42-Gb/s Transmission Over Large-Core 1-mm PMMA Graded-
Index Polymer Optical Fiber, IEEE Phot. Tech. Lett., Vol. 25, N0. 6, pp. 602-605,
March 2013. 97
S Loquai, et al. 42-Gb/s Transmission Over Large-Core 1-mm PMMA Graded-
Index Polymer Optical Fiber, IEEE Phot. Tech. Lett., Vol. 25, N0. 6, pp. 602-605,
March 2013. 98
S Loquai, et al. 42-Gb/s Transmission Over Large-Core 1-mm PMMA Graded-
Index Polymer Optical Fiber, IEEE Phot. Tech. Lett., Vol. 25, N0. 6, pp. 602-605,
March 2013. 99
 Normalized frequency response of the POF link

R Kruglov, et al., Comparison of PAM and CAP Modulation Schemes for Data
Transmission Over SI-POFIEEE Phot. Tech. Lett., Vol.25, No.23, pp. 2293-2296,
Dec 2013 100
 Maximal bit rates at BER of 10−3 achieved over 20-m fiber
link and measured at different levels of the fiber-coupled
power.
R Kruglov, et al., Comparison of PAM and CAP Modulation Schemes for Data
Transmission Over SI-POFIEEE Phot. Tech. Lett., Vol.25, No.23, pp. 2293-2296,
Dec 2013 101
 Maximal bit rates at BER of 10−3 achieved over the
fiber link with a constant fiber-coupled power of 0
dBm.
R Kruglov, et al., Comparison of PAM and CAP Modulation Schemes for Data
Transmission Over SI-POFIEEE Phot. Tech. Lett., Vol.25, No.23, pp. 2293-2296,
Dec 2013 102
 Maximal bit rates at BER of 10−3 achieved over the
fiber link with a constant fiber-coupled power of +6
dBm.
R Kruglov, et al., Comparison of PAM and CAP Modulation Schemes for Data
Transmission Over SI-POFIEEE Phot. Tech. Lett., Vol.25, No.23, pp. 2293-2296,
Dec 2013 103
Thank you

104