Optical Fiber

Communications
(BECE308L )
Dr. Sangeetha R.G
Professor
School of Electronics
Engineering (SENSE)

1
Module :2 Signal Degradation (5)

Attenuation-Absorption, Scattering, Bending losses, Dispersion-Material,

Waveguide
Dispersion, Polarization Mode Dispersion, Intermodal dispersion, Mode
Transit time, Dispersion-Induced Limitations, Nonlinear Optical Effects- SRS,
SBS, SPM, CPM, FWM.

2
 Signal Degradation in Optical fiber

Attenuation and Dispersion

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

Signal Attenuation & Distortion in Optical Fibers

✓ What are the loss or signal attenuation mechanism in a fiber?

✓ Why & to what degree do optical signals get distorted as they

propagate down a fiber?

o Signal attenuation (fiber loss) largely determines the maximum

repeater less separation between optical transmitter & receiver

o Signal distortion cause that optical pulses to broaden as they

travel along a fiber, the overlap between neighboring pulses,
creating errors in the receiver output, resulting in the limitation
of information-carrying capacity of a fiber.

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Attenuation

Basic mechanisms are

Absorption :– due to fiber material and atomic defects,

impurity atoms

Scattering :– material and structural imperfection

Radiative loss :- perturbation of fiber geometry (both at

macroscopic and microscopic levels)

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Attenuation (fiber loss)

Z=0 Z= l
−α p l
P(0) mW P (l ) = P (0)e mw
Attenuation units

10 ⎡ P (0) ⎤ -1
α (dB/km) = log ⎢ ⎥ = 4.343α P km
z ⎣ P ( z ) ⎦
 Fiber loss in dB/km

z=0 Z=l
P(0)[dBm]

P(l )[dBm] = P(0)[dBm] − α [dB/km] × l[km]

Where [dBm] or dB milliwat is 10log(P [mW]).
Problem
 Attenuation

Power
100 10 2 1 0.5 0.1 0.01 0.001
(mW)
dBm 20 10 3 0 -3 -10 -20 -30
 Absorption

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- Extrinsic absorption due to impurity atoms and Radiation

defects

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

• Atomic defects are imperfections like
eg.: Missing molecules
high density clusters of atom groups
oxygen defects in glass structure
Absorption due to atomic defects is negligible compared to
2 other mechanisms

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Material Absorption Losses
• Material absorption is caused by absorption of photons
within the fiber.

– When a material is illuminated, photons can make the valence

electrons of an atom transition to higher energy levels
– Photon is destroyed, and the radiant energy is transformed into
electric potential energy. This energy can then
• Be re-emitted (scattering)
• Frees the electron (photoelectric effects) (not in fibers)
• Dissipated to the rest of the material (transformed into heat)

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Extrinsic Absorption

• Dominant absorption factor in Silica fibers is

due to:
– Presence of impurities such as iron, chromium,
cobalt and vanadium
– Also dissolved OH- (water) ion in glass causes
losses 1 to 10 dB/km
– Transition metal imp. levels in the range of 1ppm
in glass fibers made in 1970s results in 1 - 4 dB/
km
– Losses are due to electron transfer between
energy levels of ions or charge transitions between
ions
 Extrinsic Absorption..

• Impurity levels in vapour deposition process

are - usually 1-2 order of magnitude lower

• The absorption peaks of various transition

metal impurities tend to be broad and several
peaks may overlap, which further broadens
the absorption region

• OH- ion concentration of few ppb are required

if attn. to be less than 20 dB/km
 Extrinsic Absorption..

• Early optical fibers had high levels of OH- ions

– resulted in large absorption peaks
occurring at 1240, 1380, 950, 725nm

• The peaks and valleys in the attn. curve

resulted in designation of transmission
Windows

• By reducing OH- content (around 1 ppb)

0.4 dB/km - 1310nm
> 0.25 dB/km - 1550nm
© Dr. Sangeetha R.G
 Intrinsic Absorption
Less significant than extrinsic absorption. For a pure (no impurities)
silica fibre a low loss window exists between 800 nm and 1600 nm.
• Graph shows attenuation spectrum for
pure silica glass.
• Intrinsic absorption is
very low compared to
other forms of loss.
• It is for this reason that
fibres are made up of silica
and optical communications
systems work between
about 800 to 1600 nm.

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Scattering
• When some of the power in one
propagation mode is transferred into a
different mode  Loss of power in the
core
• Power Scattering
– Linear : Po is proportional to Pi, and there is
no frequency change – thus the power
propagated is proportional to mode power
• Two types: Rayleigh and Mie
– Nonlinear : The power propagation results in
frequency change
• Type types: Stimulated Brillouin Scattering &
Stimulated Roman Scattering
 Nonlinear Scattering
• Nonlinearity is primarily due to high power level, high bit-rate
(when we have to transmit over long distances)
– Resulting in frequency change
• Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS)
– A backward gain (emission is stimulated), opposite to direction of
propagation when a threshold power is reached depleting the
transmitted power
– The stimulated light has a shorter wavelength  creating
interfering with similar possible wavelengths
– Exists only above a certain power threshold
• Interaction between light (typically a laser)
and acoustic phonons (density waves) in the
medium (such as optical fibers or solids).
• The scattered light results in a frequency
shift due to the interaction with these
phonons.
• It is a scattering of light by acoustic waves
(phonons), and the frequency shift is
typically in the GHz range.
• An incident photon interacts with an
acoustic wave in the medium,
transferring energy to the wave, which
then scatters the photon at a slightly
lower frequency (Stokes shift).
• The resulting scattered light has a
lower frequency than the incident light
(re shifted).
 Nonlinear Scattering
• Stimulated Roman Scattering (SRS)
– Power from lower wavelength channels is
transferred to higher wavelengths
– Exists only above a certain power
threshold
• Interaction between light (again
typically a laser) and molecular
vibrations (rotational and vibrational
modes) in the medium.
• The scattered light results in a
frequency shift due to the interaction
with molecular vibrations, which are
usually in the THz range.
• The incident photon is absorbed by the
material, exciting a vibrational mode,
and then a scattered photon has a lower
frequency (Stokes shift) or higher
frequency (anti-Stokes shift) depending
on the energy exchange.
• SRS is primarily driven by the
vibrational modes of molecules, unlike
SBS, which involves acoustic phonons.
 Applications
SBS:
•Optical Fiber Communications: Can cause signal distortion in fiber
optic systems, so it's important to control or avoid SBS in high-power
systems.
•Laser Beam Sharpening: SBS can be used in high-power laser systems to
improve the spatial coherence of the beam.
•Acoustic Wave Generation: SBS can be used for generating and
controlling acoustic waves in certain applications.
SRS:
•Raman Spectroscopy: SRS is used in Raman spectroscopy for analyzing
molecular vibrations, which can help identify chemical compositions.
•Fiber Lasers: In some fiber lasers, SRS can be used for efficient
conversion of light into different wavelengths.
•High-Energy Pulse Compression: In ultrafast optics, SRS can be used to
create short, high-energy pulses for scientific and medical applications.
Summary
 Absorption & scattering losses in fibers

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G Optical Fiber communications, 3rd ed.,[Link],McGrawHill, 2000

 Bending losses
• Radiative losses occur when fiber
undergoes a bend of finite radius of
curvature
• Types of bends
– Macroscopic bends (corners)
•Bends with radii large compared with fiber
diameter
– Random microscopic bends
•Cause - by non-uniformities in the fiber or non
uniform pressure during cabling of fiber
•Effect - Radiation loss from mode coupling
Macrobending Losses
Microbending losses
To avoid microbending losses
Core and cladding losses
Dispersion
 Dispersion for Digital Signals
Fiber

Digital signal
Emitter Photodetector
Information Information
t Input Output
Input Intensity Output Intensity
² τ1/2
Very short
light pulses t t
0 T 0
~2² τ1/2

An optical fiber link for transmitting digital information and the effect of
dispersion in the fiber on the output pulses.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
Signal distortion in fibers
 Signal distortion..
• Causes of signal distortion
– Intermodal delay
•Each mode has a different group velocity at a
single frequency
– Intramodal/ Chromatic/ Group velocity
dispersion
•Material dispersion
•Waveguide dispersion
– Polarization mode dispersion
– Higher-order dispersion effects
NOTE: Group velocity is the speed at which energy in a particular mode
travels.

Material & waveguide dispersions are main causes of Intramodal Dispersion –

Pulse spreading in a single mode (Chromatic)
 Intramodal Dispersion
• Two main reasons – (i)Material (ii)Waveguide
Material Dispersion (or) Chromatic Dispersion
- Variations in refractive index of the core
material
- Prism spreads out of spectrum
- Pulse spectrum
Waveguide dispersion
- Part of optical power propagation along the
fiber (80%)
- Shorter wavelengths enter into the core than
longer wavelengths

39
 Group Velocity
Wave Velocities:
1. Plane wave velocity: For a plane wave propagating along the z-axis in an
unbounded homogeneous region of refractive index n1 , which is represented
by exp( jωt − jk1 z ) , the velocity of constant phase plane is:
ω c
v= =
k1 n1
2. Modal wave phase velocity: For a modal wave propagating along z-axis
represented by exp( jωt − jβz ), the velocity of constant phase plane is:
ω
vp =
β
3. For transmission system operation, the most important & useful type of
velocity is the group velocity, V . This is the actual velocity which the signal
g
information & energy is traveling down the fiber. It is always less than the
speed of light in the medium. The observable delay experiences by the optical
signal waveform & energy, when traveling a length of l along the fiber is
commonly referred to as group delay.

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Intermodal Dispersion/Modal Delay

• Appears in MMF
• Each mode having a different group velocity @ single frequency

• Steeper the angle-higher the mode number slower the axial group
velocity

• [Link] broadening arises from the modal delay is the difference

between the travel time Tmax (longest ray –Higher order mode) to
Tmin (shortest ray – Lower order mode)

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Modal Dispersion
High order mode Low order mode

Broadened
Cladding light pulse
Light pulse

Intensity Core
Intensity

Axial
Spread, Δτ

t t
0

Schematic illustration of light propagation in a slab dielectric waveguide. Light pulse

entering the waveguide breaks up into various modes which then propagate at different
group velocities down the guide. At the end of the guide, the modes combine to
constitute the output light pulse which is broader than the input light pulse.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
Modal Dispersion..
 Material dispersion

• Material
dispersion is due
to to n (index of
refraction)
varying wrt λ
shown in fig
• Pulse spread for a
source of2 spectral
Lσ λ d n
σwidth,
≈ λ σ 2 is
= Lσ λ Dmat (λ )
g
c λ
dλ
 Material Dispersion
Input Cladding
vg(λ 1 )
Core Output
Emitter vg(λ 2 )
Very short
light pulse

Intensity Intensity Intensity

Spectrum, ² λ
Spread, ² τ

λ t t
λ1 λo λ2 0 τ

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

spectrum, ² λ, 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)
 Material dispersion for Silica

Material
dispersion
can be
reduced by
either
choosing
sources with
narrower
spectral
output
widths or by
operating at
longer
wavelengths
 Material dispersion for Silica

Material
dispersion
can be
reduced by
either
choosing
sources with
narrower
spectral
output
widths or by
operating at
longer
wavelengths
 Waveguide dispersion

Due to
difference
in RI of
core and
clad,
power
propagatin
g in clad is
faster than
in core,
hence
pulse
spread
occurs
even for
same
wavelengt
h
Example 3.10 A manufacturer’s data sheet lists the material dispersion Dmat of
a
GeO2-doped iber to be 110 ps/(nm km) at a wavelength of 860 nm. Find the
rms
pulse broadening per kilometer due to material dispersion if the optical source
is a
GaAlAs LED that has a spectral width σλ of 40 nm at a peak output wavelength
of
860 nm.
Chromatic dispersion
Polarization Mode dispersion
53

• If Light signal energy occupies two orthogonal polarization

states then it causes PMD
• Each polarization mode will encounter different refractive
index
• Each mode will travel with different velocity

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Polarization Mode dispersion
Intensity
t
Output light pulse
z Δτ
n1 y / /y Core Ex

Δτ = P u l s e s p r e a d
Ey
Ex
n1 x / / x Ey

t
E
Input light pulse

Suppose that the core refractive index has different values along two orthog
directions corresponding to electric field oscillation direction (polarizati
t a k ex a n dy a x e s a l o n g t h e s e d i r e c t i o n s . A n i n p u t l i g h t w i l l t r a v e l a l oEnxg t h
a n d Ey p o l a r i z a t i o n s h a v i n g d i f f e r e n t g r o u p v e l o c i t i e s a n d h e n c e a r r i v e a t t
different times

© 1 9 9 9 S . O . K aOs pa pt o, e l e c t r o (nPi cr es n t i c e H a l l )
© Dr. Sangeetha R.G
 56
Design Optimization of SMF

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Dispersion compensation

Two methods
(i)Insertion of dispersion compensating fiber
(ii)Chirped fiber grating
Pre-Compensation Techniques
Post Compensation Techniques

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G 57

 Dispersion compensation example
Transmission fiber Dispersion compensating fiber
(DCF)

Positive dispersion
(Negative dispersion)
+ Negative dispersion
(Positive dispersion)
Longer wavelength Slow (Fast) Longer wavelength Fast (Slow)

Shorter Fast (Slow) Shorter Slow (Fast)

wavelength wavelength
40 Gb/s optical signal
25 ps

Transmitter output After fiber transmission After dispersion comp.

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G 58
© Dr. Sangeetha R.G 59
 DC allocations and dispersion maps
Post-
comp. Fiber#1 Fiber#2 +

R.D. [ps/
nm]
0
Distanc
DC DC e [km]
-
Pre-comp.
Fiber#1 Fiber#2 +

R.D. [ps/
nm]
0
Distan
DC DC ce
- [km]

Post- &
Pre- Fiber#1 Fiber#2 +
comp. R.D. [ps/
nm]
0
Distan
DC DC DC ce
- [km] 60
© Dr. Sangeetha R.G
© Dr. Sangeetha R.G 61
© Dr. Sangeetha R.G 62
Chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G Optical Networks A Practical Perspective-Ramaswami & Sivaraj

 Chirped fiber Bragg grating dispersion

2n
D=
cΔλ
where Δλ is the difference between Bragg
wavelengths at ends of grating.
For n=1.45 and Δλ=0.2 nm, D=4.8x107 ps/
(km-nm) as compared to 18 for fiber

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Special Fibers
Fiber Type Application
Erbium-doped fiber Gain Medium for optical fiber
amplifiers
Photosensitive fibers Fabrication of FBG
Bend-insensitive fibers Tightly looped connections in
device packages
Termination fiber Termination of open optical
fiber ends
Polarization-preserving fibers Polarization sensitive devices,
sensors
High-index fibers Fused couplers, short
wavelength sources, DWDM
devices
Photonic crystal fibers Switches, Dispersion
compensation 65
© Dr. Sangeetha R.G
 Solitons
What is soliton?
•A soliton is a special kind of wave that can
propagate undistorted over long distances and
remain unaffected after collisions with each
other

•Solitons are very narrow high-intensity optical

pulses that retain their shape through the
interaction of balancing pulse dispersion with
the non-linear properties of an optical fiber

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Properties: one soliton

• Behaves like a particle

• Travels with constant shape and velocity
• Animation

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Solitary Wave: 2 solitons
• When two solitary waves get closer,
they gradually deform
• Finally merge into a single wave packet
• This packet soon splits into two solitary
waves with the same shape and velocity
before "collision".

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Solitary Wave: 2 solitons
Two solitons travel to the right with different
speeds and shapes

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Animation

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Non-linearities
• Nonlinear inelastic scattering processes. (i) stimulated
Brillouin scattering (SBS) and (ii) stimulated Raman
scattering (SRS)
• Nonlinear effects arises from intensity-dependent
variations in the refractive index in a silica fiber, which is
known as the Kerr effect
• These effects include self-phase modulation (SPM), cross-
phase modulation (XPM), and four-wave mixing (FWM)
• In the literature, FWM is sometimes referred to as four-
photon mixing (FPM), and XPM is also designated by
CPM Note that certain nonlinear effects are independent
of the number of WDM channels

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 Classification

• SBS, SRS, and FWM result in gains or losses in a wavelength channel. The power
variations depend on the optical signal intensity
• These three nonlinear processes provide gains to some channels while depleting
power from others, thereby producing crosstalk between the wavelength channels
• In analog video systems, SBS significantly degrades the carrier-to-noise ratio when
the scattered power is equivalent to the signal power in the fiber
• SPM and XPM affect only the phase of signals, which causes chirping in digital pulses

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

• When any of these nonlinear effects contribute to
signal strength reduction, the amount of optical
power reduction (in decibels) is known as the power
penalty for that effect

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

• The effects of nonlinearities increase with the light
intensity in a fiber. For a given optical power, this
intensity is inversely proportional to the cross-
sectional area of the fiber core

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

Self and Cross Phase Modulation (SPM & XPM )
The refractive index changes induced by the kerr effect
cause phase changes in different parts of the optical
pulse to travel at different speeds, resulting in new
frequencies being introduced into the pulse

The kerr effect inducing phase changes of a signal due

to its own intensity variation is known as self-phase
modulation

The kerr effect induces phase modulation in a signal

due to intensity variations in other channels; this effect
is known as cross-phase modulation

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 SPM

As the pulse travels, the phase of the carrier wave is shifted by an

amount proportional to the intensity

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 SRS

• Raman scattering or the Raman effect is the inelastic scattering of photons

by matter

• There is an exchange of energy and a change in the light's direction

• Typically this involves vibrational energy being gained by a molecule as incident

photons from a visible laser are shifted to lower energy.

• This is called normal Stokes Raman scattering.

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

 SBS

Brillouin scattering (also known as Brillouin light scattering or BLS),

named after Léon Brillouin, refers to the interaction of light with the material
waves in a medium. It is mediated by the refractive index dependence on
the material properties of the medium.

If the medium is a solid crystal, a macromolecular chain condensate or a

viscous liquid or gas, then the low frequency atomic-chain-deformation waves
within the transmitting medium (not the transmitted electro-magnetic wave)
in the carrier (represented as a quasiparticle) could be for example:

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G