UNIT II – Transmission Characteristics of Optical Fibers

Attenuation – Attenuation units, Absorption, Scattering

losses, Bending losses, microbending and macro bending
losses, Core cladding losses

Signal distortion in optical waveguides, Types of

dispersion-Intramodal and Intermodal dispersion, Material
dispersion, Waveguide dispersion Signal distortion in single
mode fibers, Polarization mode dispersion, Pulse Broadening
in Graded Index Waveguides, Mode Coupling , Design
Optimization of Single Mode Fibers, Solving Problems
 Signal Degradation in the Optical Fiber
Signal Attenuation

It determines the maximum unamplified or repeaterless distance between

transmitter and receiver.

Signal Distortion

•Causes optical pulses broaden.

•Overlapping with neighboring pulses, creating errors in the receiver output.
•It limits the information carrying capacity of a fiber.
 Attenuation
The Basic attenuation mechanisms in a fiber:

1. Absorption:
It is related to the fiber material.

2. Scattering:
It is associated both with the fiber material and with the structural
imperfections in the optical waveguide.

3. Radiative losses/ Bending losses:

It originates from perturbation (both microscopic and macroscopic) of
the fiber geometry.
Example: Absorption by Atmospheric
 Example: Scattering of light by Atmospheric

The colours of the sky are caused by the scattering of light

 Attenuation Units

If P(0) is the optical power in a fiber at the origin (at z=0), then the power
P(z) at a distance z

P(z) =P (0) e -αpz

αp = (1/z) ln [P(0) / P(z)] Fiber attenuation coefficient

Attenuation coefficient in units of decibels per kilometer, denoted by dB/ Km, then

α(dB/km) = (10/z) log [P(0) / P(z)]=4.343 x αp (km-1)

Q: Fiber has an attenuation of 0.4 dB/km at a wavelength of 1310 nm.
Then after it travels 50 km, what is the optical power loss in the fiber ?

Q: Optical powers are commonly expressed in units of dBm, which is the

decibel power level referred to 1 mW. Consider a 30 km long optical fiber
that has an attenuation of 0.4 dB/km at 1310 nm.
Find the optical output power Pout, if Pin is 200 μW
 Absorption
Absorption is caused by three different mechanisms:
Absorption is caused by three different mechanisms:

1- Impurities in fiber material: from transition metal ions (must be in order

of ppb) & particularly from OH ions with absorption peaks at
wavelengths 2700 nm, 400 nm, 950 nm & 725nm.

2- Intrinsic absorption (fundamental lower limit): electronic absorption

band (UV region) & atomic bond vibration band (IR region) in basic
SiO2.

3- Radiation defects
 Absorption
1. Absorption by atomic defects

Atomic defects are imperfections in the atomic structure of the fiber material.
Examples:
•Missing molecules
•High density clusters of atom groups
•Oxygen defects in the glass structure.

•Absorption losses arising from these defects are negligible compared with intrinsic
and impurity absorption.

•Can be significant if the fiber is exposed to ionization radiations.

 Absorption
2. Extrinsic absorption by impurity atoms

The dominant absorption factor in silica fibers is the presence of minute

quantities of impurities in the fiber material.
•These impurities include
•OH- (water) ions dissolved in the glass.
•Transition metal ions, such as iron, copper, chromium and vanadium

Origin :
OH ion impurities in a fiber preform results mainly from the oxyhydrogen
flame used in the hydrolysis reaction of the SiCl 4, GeCl4 and POCl3 starting
materials.
Optical fiber attenuation as a function of wavelength yields nominal values of 0.5 dB/km at 1310 nm and 0.3
dB/km at 1550 nm for standard single mode fiber. Absorption by the water molecules causes the attenuation
peak around 1400nm for standard fiber. The dashed curve is the attenuation for low water peak fiber.
 Absorption

3. Intrinsic absorption by the basic constituent atoms

Intrinsic absorption is associated with the basic fiber material (e.g pure SiO2).

Intrinsic absorption results from:

1. Electronic absorption bands in the ultraviolet region
2. Atomic vibration bands in the near infrared region
 Absorption

1. Electronic absorption (EA) occurs when a photon interacts with an electron in

the valance band and excites it to a higher energy level. The electronic absorption
is associated with the band gap of the material. The UV edge of EA follow the
empirical formula
 uv = Ce E/E o

Ultraviolet absorption decays exponentially with increasing wavelength and is

small compared with scattering loss in the near infrared region. UV loss in dB/km at
any  as a function of mole fraction x of GeO2 is
154.2 x  4.63 
 uv = −2
10 exp  
46.6 x + 60   
2. The inherent infrared absorption is associated with the vibration
frequency of chemical bond between the atoms of which the fiber is
composed.

An interaction between the vibrating bond and the electromagnetic field of the
optical signal results in a transfer of energy from the field to the bond and
thereby giving rise to absorption.

This absorption is quite strong because of many bonds present in the fiber.
Example: GeO2-SiO2.
 − 48.48 
 IR = 7.81 10  exp 
11

  
**Optical fiber attenuation characteristics and their limiting mechanisms for a GeO2
doped low loss water content silica fiber.
A comparison of the infrared absorption induced by various doping materials in
low-loss silica fibers.
 Absorption

Extrinsic Intrinsic
Atomic Defects
(Impurity atoms) Absorption

Absorption in Absorption in
Ultraviolet region Infrared region
 Scattering Losses

Scattering losses in glass arise from microscopic variation in the material density from:

[Link] fluctuations
[Link] or defects occurring during fiber manufacture

These two effects give rise to refractive index variation, occurring

within the glass over distances that are small compared with the
wavelength.
These index variation case Rayleigh-type scattering of the
light and inversely proportional to wavelength.
It decreases dramatically with increasing wavelength
 Scattering Losses

Rayleigh scattering in an optical fiber

Combining the infrared, ultraviolet, and scattering losses for single mode fiber.
 Scattering Losses

Compositional fluctuations Inhomogeneities or defects

in material in fiber
 Radiative losses / Bending Losses

Radiative losses occur whenever an optical fiber undergoes a bend of finite radius of
curvature.

Fiber can be subject to two types of bends:

1. Macroscopic bends
2. Microscopic bends

Macrobending: Light lost from the optical core due to macroscopic effects such as
tight bends being induced in the fiber itself.

Microbending. Light lost from the optical core due to microscopic effects resulting
from deformation and damage to the core cladding interface.
 Radiative losses / Bending Losses

• For the slight bends losses are unobservable

• By decreasing radius of curvature we will come to the critical value after which
these losses increase drastically, shown as xc in the fig.

• As we know that the electric/magnetic field have a tail in the cladding region so by
bending the cable we come to the extent where cladding field should move faster to
keep up with the core field.

• As this is not possible so the energy in that region radiates away

• Radiation losses depend on the value of xc and radius of curvature R

• As the lower order modes remain close to the core axis and the higher modes are
closer to the cladding so the higher modes will radiate out of the fiber first.
 Radiative losses / Bending Losses

Macrobending losses are normally produced by poor

handling of fiber .
Poor reeling and mishandling during installation can
create severe bending of the fiber resulting in small but
important localized losses
Power loss in a curved fiber
 Radiative losses / Bending Losses
Microbending losses:
It is the radiation loss in optical waveguide results from mode coupling by
random microbends.

Fiber curvature causes repetitive coupling of energy between the guided

modes and the leaky or nonguided modes in the fiber.

Microbending is a much more critical feature and can be a major cause of

cabling attenuation.

These stresses are very difficult to define, however, they can be caused by:
• nonuniformities in the manufacturing of the fiber
• nonuniform lateral pressures during cabling
• Low temperatures
• High pressures
Microbending losses
 Minimizing microbending losses:

A compressible jacket extruded over a fiber reduces

microbending resulting from external forces.
Macrobending due to poor reeling
Minimum safe bend radius —shown full size
Bends are shown full size — and may have caused damage to the fiber
 Radiative losses / Bending Losses

Making use of bending losses

There are many uses of bending losses which are based on either the increase in
the attenuation or on making use of the light which escapes from the optic fiber.

A fiber optic pressure sensor

This makes use of the increased attenuation experienced by the fiber as it bends.

Active fiber detector

This uses the escaping light.
Pressure causes loss at the bends
 Radiative losses/
Bending losses

Macroscopic bends Microscopic bends

 Core-Cladding Losses
• The core and cladding have different refractive indices because they are having
different composition.
• Core and cladding have different attenuation coefficients denoted as α1 and α2
respectively

Step Index Fiber:

• The loss for a mode of order (v,m) is given by

𝑷𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑷𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈
𝜶𝒗.𝒎 = 𝜶𝟏 + 𝜶𝟐
𝑷 𝑷
• For low order modes, the power relation between core and cladding is given as

𝑷𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑷𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈
=𝟏−
𝑷 𝑷
• The total loss of the waveguide can be found by summing over all modes weighted by the fraction power in
that modes
𝑷𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈
𝜶𝒗.𝒎 = 𝜶𝟏 + (𝜶𝟐 − 𝜶𝟏 )
𝑷
Graded Index Fiber:

• The attenuation coefficients and modal power are functions of radial coordinate.

• Loss at radial distance r from the core axis is expressed as

𝑛2 (0) − 𝑛2 (𝑟)
𝛼(𝑟) = 𝛼1 + (𝛼2 − 𝛼1) 2
𝑛 (0) − 𝑛22

• The loss at particular graded index fiber mode is given by

∞
‫𝒓𝒅𝒓)𝒓(𝑷)𝒓(𝜶 𝟎׬‬
𝜶𝒈𝒊 = ∞
‫𝒓𝒅𝒓)𝒓(𝑷 𝟎׬‬

• P(r) is the power density of that mode at distance r. The loss increases
with an increasing mode number
 Attenuation

Scattering Radiative
Absorption Losses losses/ Bending
losses

Extrinsic
Intrinsic Atomic
(Impurity
Absorption Defects
atoms)

Absorption Absorption Inhomogeneities Compositional

in in Microscopic Macroscopic
or defects fluctuations
Infrared Ultraviolet bends bends
in fiber in material
region region
 Signal Distortion in Fibers

Optical signal weakens from attenuation mechanisms and broadens due to

distortion effects.

Eventually these two factors will cause neighboring pulses

to overlap.
After a certain amount of overlap occurs, the receiver can no
longer distinguish the individual adjacent pulses and error
arise when interpreting the received signal.
Pulse broadening and attenuation
 Dispersion

The basic need is to match the output waveform to the

input waveform as closely as possible.

Attenuation only reduces the amplitude of the output

waveform which does not alter the shape of the signal.

Dispersion distorts both pulse and analog modulation

signals.
 Dispersion

❑ Dispersion results when some components of the input

signal spend more time traversing the fiber than other
components.
❑ In a pulse modulated system, this causes the received
pulse to be spread out over a longer period.
❑ It is noted that no power is lost to dispersion, the
spreading effect reduces the peak power.
Dispersion
 Dispersion

❑ Pulse dispersion is usually specified in terms of

“Nanoseconds-per-kilometer”.
❑ The difference in width of an input pulse with the width
of the same pulse at the output, measured in time, is the
dispersion characteristic for that piece of fiber.
 Dispersion
▪ Dispersion of optical energy within an optical fiber falls into following
categories:
➢ Intermodal Delay or Modal Delay)

➢ Intramodal Dispersion or Chromatic Dispersion

➢Material Dispersion
➢Waveguide Dispersion

➢ Polarization –Mode Dispersion

 Dispersion
Intermodal delay/ modal delay

Intermodal distortion or modal delay appears only in multimode fibers.

This signal distortion mechanism is a result of each mode having a different

value of the group velocity at a single frequency.

The amount of spreading that occurs in a fiber is a function of the number of

modes propagated by the fiber and length of the fiber

Group Velocity: It is the speed at which energy in a particular mode travels

along the fiber.
 Intermodal delay/ modal delay

The maximum pulse broadening arising from the modal delay is

the difference between the travel time Tmax of the longest ray and
the travel time Tmin of the shortest ray .

This broadening is simply obtained from ray tracing for a fiber of

length L:
∆T= Tmax – Tmin = n1/c ( L/sinøc –L) = (Ln12/cn2)∆

∆T= Tmax – Tmin = (Ln12/cn2)∆

 Intermodal delay/ modal delay
Fiber Capacity:
Fiber capacity is specified in terms of the bit rate-distance product BL.
(Bit rate times the possible transmission distance L)

For neighboring signal pulses to remain distinguishable at the receiver, the pulse spread
should be less than 1/B.
Or
Pulse spread should be less than the width of a bit period.

∆T < 1 /B General requirement

∆T ≤ 0.1 /B For high performance link

Bit rate distance product BL < n2 c/ n12 ∆

Light rays with steep incident angles have longer path lengths than lower-angle rays.
 How to minimize the effect of modal dispersion?

Answer is

1. Graded index fiber

2. Single mode fiber

How to get one mode and solve the problem

V = 2πa / λ x (n12 – n22)1/2 = 2πa / λ x (NA)

 How to get one mode and solve the problem

we could decrease the number of modes by increasing the wavelength of the

light.

Changing from the 850 nm window to the 1550 nm window will only reduce the
number of modes by a factor of 3 or 4.

Change in the numerical aperture can help but it only makes a marginal
improvement.

We are left with the core diameter. The smaller the core, the fewer the modes.

When the core is reduced sufficiently the number of modes can be reduced to
just one.
Step Index Multi-mode

Graded Index Multi-mode

Q: Consider a 1 Km long multimode fiber in which n1= 1.480 and ∆ = 0.10 , so that
n2= 1.465.
Then find ∆T= ?

Where:
L = 1 Km
n1 = 1.480
n2= 1.465
∆ = 0.10

∆T = (Ln12/cn2)∆
 How to characterize dispersion?
• Group delay per unit length can be defined as:

g d 1 d 2 d
= = =−
L dω c dk 2c d

• If the spectral width of the optical source is not too wide, then the delay difference per
unit wavelength along the propagation path is approximately d g
d
• For spectral components which are apart, symmetrical around center wavelength,
the total delay difference over a distance L is:

d g L  d 2 d  
2
 =  = −  2 + 
2 
d 2c  d d 
d d  L   d 2 
=  =   = L 
d d V   d 2
 g   
 d 2
• 2  is called GVD parameter and shows how much a light pulse broadens as it travels along an
d 2
optical fiber. The more common parameter is called Dispersion and can be defined as the delay
difference per unit length per unit wavelength as follows:

1 d g d  1 
 = − 2c  2
D= =
L d d  V g 
  2

• In the case of optical pulse, if the spectral width of the optical source is characterized by its rms value
of the Gaussian pulse  g , the pulse spreading over the length of L,   can be well approximated
by:

d g
g    = DL 
d
• D has a typical unit of [ps/([Link])].
 Dispersion
Intramodal Dispersion or Chromatic Dispersion

This takes place within a single mode.

Intramodal dispersion depends on the wavelength, its effect on signal distortion
increases with the spectral width of the light source.
Spectral width is approximately 4 to 9 percent of a central wavelength.

Two main causes of intramodal dispersion are as:

1. Material Dispersion
2. Waveguide Dispersion
 Material Dispersion
Input Cladding
v g ( 1 )
Core Output
Emitter v g ( 2 )
Very short
light pulse

Intensity Intensity Intensity

Spectrum, ² 
Spread, ² 

 t t
1 o 2 0 

All excitation sources are inherently non-monochromatic and emit within a

spectrum, ² , of wavelengths. Waves in the guide with different free space
wavelengths travel at different group velocities due to the wavelength dependence
of n1. The waves arrive at the end of the fiber at different times and hence result in
a broadened output pulse.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
 Intramodal Dispersion or Chromatic Dispersion
Material Dispersion:

This refractive index property causes a wavelength dependence of the group

velocity of a given mode; that is,

Pulse spreading occurs even when different wavelength follow the

same path.

Material dispersion can be reduced:

•Either by choosing sources with narrower spectral output widths OR
•By operating at longer wavelengths.
LASER source will produce far less spectral dispersion or intramodal
dispersion than an LED source since it is more nearly monochromatic
 Material Dispersion

• The refractive index of the material varies as a function of wavelength, n ( )

• Material-induced dispersion for a plane wave propagation in homogeneous
medium of refractive index n:

d 2 d 2 d  2 
 mat = L =− L =− L n (  )
dω 2c d 2c d   

L dn 
= n −  
c d 

• The pulse spread due to material dispersion is therefore:

d mat L  d 2 n
g   =  2 = L  Dmat ( )
d c d

Dmat ( ) is material dispersion

Material dispersion as a function of optical wavelength for pure silica and 13.5 percent GeO 2/ 86.5
percent SiO2.
 Intramodal Dispersion or Chromatic Dispersion

Waveguide Dispersion:

It causes pulse spreading because only part of the optical

power propagation along a fiber is confined to core.

Dispersion arises because the fraction of light power propagating in the cladding
travels faster than the light confined to core.

Single mode fiber confines only 80 percent of the power in the core for V values
around 2.

The amount of waveguide dispersion depends on the fiber design.

 Waveguide Dispersion

• Waveguide dispersion is due to the dependency of the group velocity of the fundamental mode as well as
other modes on the V number. In order to calculate waveguide dispersion, we consider that n is not dependent
on wavelength. Defining the normalized propagation constant b as:

 / k − n2
2 2 2
 / k − n2
b= 
n1 − n2
2 2
n1 − n2

• solving for propagation constant:

  n2 k (1 + b)

• Using V number: V = ka(n 2 − n 2 )1/ 2  kan 2

1 2 2
 Waveguide Dispersion
• Delay time due to waveguide dispersion can then be expressed as:

L d (Vb) 
 wg = n2 + n2 
c dV 
 Signal Distortion in single mode fibers

• For single mode fibers, waveguide dispersion is in the same order of material dispersion. The pulse spread
can be well approximated as:
dwg n 2 L d 2 (Vb)
 wg   = L D wg () = V
d c dV 2

Dwg ( )
 Polarization Mode dispersion Intensity
t
Output light pulse
z 
n1 y // y Core Ex

 = Pulse spread
Ex Ey
n1 x // x Ey

t
E
Input light pulse

Suppose that the core refractive index has different values along two orthogonal
directions corresponding to electric field oscillation direction (polarizations). We can
take x and y axes along these directions. An input light will travel along the fiber with Ex
and Ey polarizations having different group velocities and hence arrive at the output at
different times

© 1999 S.O. K asap,Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)

Polarization Mode dispersion
• The effects of fiber-birefringence on the polarization states of an optical are another source of pulse
broadening. Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) is due to slightly different velocity for each polarization
mode because of the lack of perfectly symmetric & anisotropicity of the fiber. If the group velocities of two
orthogonal polarization modes are vgx and vgy then the differential time delay  pol between these two
polarization over a distance L is

L L
 pol = −
v gx v gy

• The rms value of the differential group delay can be approximated as:

 pol  DPMD L
 Chromatic & Total Dispersion
• Chromatic dispersion includes the material & waveguide dispersions.

Dch ( )  Dmat + Dwg

 ch = Dch ( ) L 

• Total dispersion is the sum of chromatic , polarization dispersion and other dispersion types and the total
rms pulse spreading can be approximately written as:

Dtotal  Dch + D pol + ...

 total = DtotalL 
 Chromatic & Total Dispersion
• Chromatic dispersion includes the material & waveguide dispersions.

Dch ( )  Dmat + Dwg

 ch = Dch ( ) L 

• Total dispersion is the sum of chromatic , polarization dispersion and other dispersion types and the total
rms pulse spreading can be approximately written as:

Dtotal  Dch + D pol + ...

 total = DtotalL 
 Total Dispersion, zero Dispersion

Fact 1) Minimum distortion at wavelength about 1300 nm for single mode silica fiber.
Fact 2) Minimum attenuation is at 1550 nm for sinlge mode silica fiber.
Strategy: shifting the zero-dispersion to longer wavelength for minimum attenuation and
dispersion.
Variation in the polarization states of an optical pulse as it passes through a fiber that has
varying birefringence along its length.
 Signal Distortion/
Dispersion

Intermodal Delay/ Intramodal Dispersion/ Polarization-mode

Modal Delay Chromatic Dispersion Dispersion

Material Waveguide
Dispersion Dispersion
 Signal Degradation
in the Optical Fiber

Signal Distortion/ Attenuation

Dispersion

Scattering Radiative
Absorption Losses losses
Intramodal
Intermodal Polarization
Dispersion/
Delay/ -mode
Chromatic
Modal Delay Dispersion Extrinsic
Intrinsic Atomic
Dispersion (Impurity
Absorption Defects
atoms)

Material Waveguide
Absorption Absorption Inhomogeneities Compositional
Dispersion Dispersion in in Microscopic Macroscopic
or defects fluctuations
Infrared Ultraviolet bends bends
in fiber in material
region region
 Pulse broadening in GI Fibers
• The core refractive index varies radially in case of graded index fibers, hence it supports multimode propagation with a
low intermodal delay distortion and high data rate over long distance is possible.

• The higher order modes travelling in outer regions of the core, will travel faster than the lower order modes travelling in
high refractive index region.

• If the index profile is carefully controlled, then the transit times of the individual modes will be identical, so eliminating
modal dispersion.

• The r.m.s pulse broadening is given as :

where,

σintermodal – R.M.S pulse width due to intermodal delay distortion.

σintramodal – R.M.S pulse width resulting from pulse broadening within each mode.

• The intermodal delay and pulse broadening are related by expression given by

Where τg is group delay.

 Pulse broadening in GI Fibers

From this the expression for intermodal pulse broadening is given as:

The intramodal pulse broadening is given as :

Where σλ is spectral width of optical source. Solving the expression gives :

 Mode Coupling

➢ After certain initial length, the pulse distortion increases less rapidly because of mode coupling. The energy from one mode
is coupled to other mods because of:
• Structural imperfections
• Fiber diameter variations
• Refractive index variations.
• Microbends in cable

➢ Due to the mode coupling, average propagation delay become less and intermodal distortion reduces

➢ Suppose certain initial coupling length = L c, mode coupling length, over Lc = Z.

➢ Additional loss associated with mode coupling = h (dB/ km).

➢ Therefore the excess attenuation resulting from mode coupling = hZ.

➢ The improvement in pulse spreading by mode coupling is given as :

where,
C is constant independent of all dimensional quantities and refractive indices.
σc is pulse broadening under mode coupling.
σ0 is pulse broadening in absence of mode coupling.
 Mode Coupling

➢ For long fiber length’s the effect of mode coupling on pulse distortion is significant. For a graded index fiber, the effect
of distance on pulse broadening for various coupling losses are shown in Fig.

Fig: Mode Coupling effects on pulse broadening

➢ Significant mode coupling occurs of connectors, splices and with other passive components of an optical link
 Design Optimization

Features of single mode fibers are : Basic design – optimization includes the following :
➢ Longer life ➢ Cut-off Wavelength
➢ Low attenuation ➢ Dispersion
➢ Signal transfer quality is good ➢ Mode field diameter
➢ Modal noise is absent ➢ Bending loss
➢ Largest BW-distance product ➢ Refractive index profile.

Refractive Index Profile

• Dispersion of single mode silica fiber is lowest at 1300 nm while its attenuation is minimum at 1550 nm.

• For achieving maximum transmission distance the dispersion null should be at the wavelength of minimum attenuation.

• The waveguide dispersion is easier to control than the material

• Therefore a variety of core-cladding refractive index configuration fibers, such as 1300 nm – optimized fibers, dispersion
shifted fibers, dispersion – flattened fibers and large effective core area fibers.
 1300 nm Optimized Fibers

➢ These are most popularly used fibers. The two configurations of 1300 nm – optimized single mode fibers are :

❑ Matched cladding fibers - have uniform refractive index throughout its cladding.
Typical diameter is 9.0 µm and ∆ = 0.35 %.

❑ Dressed cladding fibers - have the innermost cladding portion has low refractive index than outer cladding region.
Typical diameter is 8.4 µm and ∆1 = 0.25 %, ∆2 = 0.12 %.

Fig: 1300 nm Optimized Refractive Index Profile

 Dispersion Shifted Fibers

• The addition of wavelength and material dispersion can shift the zero dispersion point of longer wavelength.

• Two configurations of dispersion shifted fibers are :

❖ Step index dispersion shifted

❖ Triangular dispersion shifted

Fig: Dispersion Shifted Fibers

 Dispersion Flattened Fibers

• Dispersion flattened fibers are more complex to design.

• It offers much broader span of wavelengths to suit desirable characteristics.
• Two configurations are :

Fig: Dispersion Flattened Fiber Profiles

Fig: Total Resultant Dispersion

 Dispersion Calculations
• The total dispersion consists of material and waveguide dispersions.

• The resultant intermodal dispersion is given as,

where, τ is group delay per unit length of fiber.

• The broadening σ of an optical pulse is given as,

where, σλ is half power spectral width of source.

➢ As the dispersion varies with wavelength and fiber type. Different formulae are used to calculate dispersions for
variety of fiber at different wavelength.

➢ For a non – dispersion shifted fiber between 1270 nm to 1340 nm wavelength, the expression for dispersion is
given as :

λ0 is zero dispersion wavelength. S0 is value at dispersion slop at λ 0.

 Dispersion Calculations (cont..,)

• Fig. shows dispersion performance curve for non-dispersion shifted fibers in 1270 – 1340 nm region.

➢ Maximum dispersion specified as 3.5 ps/(nm . km) marked as dotted line in the above Fig
 Cut-off Frequency of an Optical Fiber

❖ The cut-off frequency of an optical fiber is determined not only by the fiber itself (modal
dispersion in case of multimode fibers and waveguide dispersion in case of single mode fibers)
but also by the amount of material dispersion caused by the spectral width of transmitter.

Bending Loss Limitations

• The Macrobending and microbending losses are significant in single mode fibers at 1550 nm region, the
lower cut-off wavelengths affects more. The below Fig. shows macrobending losses

Fig: Fiber attenuation due to macrobending and microbending

 Bending Loss Limitations

• The bending losses are function of mode-filed diameter, smaller the mode-field diameter, the smaller the bending loss.
The fig. shows loss due to mode-field diameter.

• The bending losses are also function of bend-radius of curvature. If the bend radius is less, the losses are more and
when the radius is more, the bending losses are less.

Fig: Loss due to mode field diameter variation