Optical Communication and Networks

ECC801
Dr. Ranjan bala jain
Professor
Department of EXTC
VESIT

RBJ@VESIT
Welcome to the
world of Optical
Communication
and Networks
RBJ@VESIT
©RBJ VESIT
● W hen you

● E nter this class

● L earning is Fun And

● C ooperation is Expected

● O ur Positive Attitude and

● M utual respect are part of

● E verything We do and Say....

RBJ@VESIT
©RBJ VESIT
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©RBJ VESIT
Module 2: Transmission Characteristic of Optical Fiber

● 2.1 Transmission losses in the optical fiber: Attenuation

mechanisms (Absorption losses, Radiation losses and linear
scattering losses), Measurement of attenuation, OTDR.
● 2.2 Dispersion in Optical fiber: Types of Dispersion and their
compensation, Dispersion compensated, Dispersion shifted
and dispersion flattened Fibers

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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?
• Signal attenuation (fiber loss) largely determines the maximum
repeater less separation between optical transmitter & receiver.
• 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.

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Attenuation (Fiber loss)
● Power loss along a fiber: Z= l

− α pl
−α p z
Z=0
P ( l ) =P ( 0 ) e
P ( z ) =P ( 0 ) e
P(0) mW

● The parameter αp is called fiber attenuation coefficient in a units

of for example [1/km] or [nepers/km].
● A more common unit is [dB/km] that is defined by:

α [ dB/km ]=
10
l
log
[ ]
P( 0 )
P (l)
=4 . 343 α p [1/ km ]

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Optical Fiber Attenuation vs Wavelength

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Basic Attenuation Mechanisms
• Absorption: Atomic defects
Extrinsic Absorption
Intrinsic Absorption
• Scattering Losses: Rayleigh Scattering
Mie Scattering
• Radiative losses: Macroscopic bends
Microscopic bends
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Atomic defects
• are the imperfections present in the atomic structure of fibre
material.
• are Missing molecules, high density clusters of atom groups.
• These losses are very small in comparison to intrinsic and
extrinsic losses.
• These losses are significant if fibre is exposed to ionizing
radiations as occur in nuclear environment, in medical
radiation therapy, or in accelerator instrument.
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Intrinsic Absorption
• Associated with fibre materials ie pure silica.
• It is defined as that absorption, when the material is in a
perfect state with no density variations, impurities or
material inhomogeneities.
• Puts fundamental lower limit
• Electronic absorption band (UV region) & atomic bond
vibration band (IR region) in basic SiO2.

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Intrinsic Absorption
● The electronic absorption bands are associated with the band
gap of the amorphous glass materials.
● Peak absorption level is at 0.8 um.
● In near infrared region, interaction between vibrating bond
and optical signal results in transfer of energy from field to
bond.

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Extrinsic absorption
● Presence of Impurities in fibre 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.
● The presence of OH ion impurities in fiber preform results mainly
from the oxyhydrogen flame used in the hydrolysis reaction of
chlorides of Si, Ge and P (Starting materials).
● These OH ions are bounded into glass structure and have vibrations
at wavelengths between 2.7um- 4.2 um.

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Attenuation due to OH ions

● 0.72, 0.95 and

● 1.38 um

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Scattering Loss
Are due to Small (compared to wavelength) variation
- in material density
- chemical composition
- structural inhomogeneity
- Defects occurring during fiber manufacturing

• Scatter light in other directions and absorb energy from

guided optical wave.

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Rayleigh Scattering
● The essential mechanism is the Rayleigh scattering. Since the black
body radiation classically is proportional to λ-4 (this is true for
wavelength typically greater than 5 micrometer), the attenuation
coefficient due to Rayleigh scattering is approximately proportional
to

[ ]
−1
−5 hc
α scat ∝ λ exp ( )
λk B T

−34 −23 -1
h= 6 .626×10 Js, k B =1 . 3806×10 JK , T : Temperature

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Mie Scattering
• Is due to Structural inhomogeneity and defects created during
fibre manufacturing.
• These defects may be in the form of tapped gas bubbles , un
reacted starting materials and crystallized regions in the glass.
• These result
- non perfect cylindrical structure of the fiber
- irregularities in the core cladding interface
- core cladding refractive index difference
- diameter fluctuationsRBJ@VESIT
etc.
Absorption & Scattering losses in fibers

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Typical spectral absorption & scattering
attenuation for a single mode-fiber

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Bending / Radiative Losses
● Optical Fibers suffer radiative losses, whenever it undergoes a bend of
finite radius of curvature.
● Two Types of Bends

● Macroscopic Bends: When radius of curvature of bend is large compared

to the fibre diameter
○ Ex: Fibre turns a corner

● Micoscopic Bends: When radius of curvature of bend is small compared to

the fibre diameter
○ EX: Fibres are incorporated into the cables
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Bending Losses
● The degree to which fiber optic cables are susceptible to bend losses
depends on a number of factors.
● These include the diameter of the fiber core, the wavelength of the light
being transmitted, and the material properties of the fiber itself.
● In general, smaller diameter fibers are more susceptible to bend losses
than larger diameter fibers because they have a smaller area for the light
to travel through, which increases the amount of light that comes in contact
with the fiber's cladding.
● And also, shorter wavelengths of light are more susceptible to bend losses
than longer wavelengths as they have a higher refractive index and
experience more bending when traveling through the fiber.
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Macro-bending Loss
• These losses occur when the fiber is bent over a large radius, such as
around a corner or a tight bend.
• It happens when the fibers are bent to a degree that exceeds the critical
angle. In this case, the bend radius is much larger than the diameter of the
fiber or the curvature of the bend is much larger than fiber diameter.
• Bending a fiber can change the incident angle at core-cladding interface to
be less than the critical angle. This causes the light propagating in a core
region to be coupled to a cladding region or to be transmitted out of the
fiber through cladding depending on the bend radius. Thus Light wave
suffers severe loss due to radiation of the evanescent field in the cladding
region.
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Macro-bending Loss
● This can result in a
decrease in network
performance or even
complete signal failure.
The higher
order modes are not as
tightly bound to the fiber
core as the lower order
modes, thus they will be
the first to radiate out of
the fiber.
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Macro-bending Loss
● The biggest problem with macro bending loss is that it can be
difficult to detect. In some cases, the fiber may look perfectly fine,
but still be bent at a large radius to cause significant signal loss.
● As the radius of the curvature decreases, the loss increases
exponentially until it reaches at a certain critical radius.
● For any radius a bit smaller than this point, the losses suddenly
becomes extremely large. Higher order modes radiate away faster
than lower order modes.

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Macro-bending Loss
● Attenuation coefficient depends on Radius of curvature.

● Large bending losses occur at critical value of radius.

● Losses may be reduced by-

- Design the fiber with large relative index difference.
- Operating at the shortest wavelength

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Microbending Loss
Microscopic bends of the fiber axis
that can arise when the fibers are
incorporated into cables.
- Micro bends are tiny bumps or
curves that happen in the radius
of curvature of the fiber axis. They
can be caused by unevenness
when making the fiber or from
uneven pressure when the fiber is
put together.
- Here, the bend radius is
comparable to the diameter of the
entire optical fiber. i.e., fiber is
having sharp bends.
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Microbending Loss
● This can happen as a result of poor
cabling or manufacturing defects.
● The power is dissipated through the
micro bended fiber, because of the
repetitive coupling of energy
between guided modes & the leaky
or radiation modes in the fiber.
● Micro bending causes more signal
loss because the fiber curves
repeatedly, which makes energy
transfer between different modes
in the fiber again and again.

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So….
● It's important to note that the impact of bending losses can be
mitigated by using fibers with designs that minimize these effects,
such as by using fibers with larger core sizes, optimized refractive
index profiles, or bend-resistant materials.
● Additionally, careful handling and installation practices are crucial to
minimize bending-induced losses in optical fiber systems.

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Time to revise : Quiz
1) The maximum repeater less distance between transmitter and receiver is
determined by which parameter ?
2) Attenuation Mechanism
3) The losses due to atomic defects are significant, when ?
4) What are the atomic defects in the fiber material ?
5)When there is no density variations, impurities or material in homogeneities
in the fiber the which loss exists ?
6)In basic silica, in UV region which absorption band exists ?
7)In basic silica, in IR region which vibration band exists ?
8)Peak absorption level occurs at which wavelength ?
9)Define Extrinsic absorption.
10) What are the starting materials used for Fiber preform ?
11) Which flame is used for fiber preform manufacturing process ?
12) What are the impurities present in the fiber, which causes absorption of the
optical signal ? RBJ@VESIT
Fiber modes --- single mode and multi-mode fibers
V-number
2πa 2 2 1/ 2 2πa
V= ( n1 −n2 ) , V cutoff = ( n 21 −n 22 )1 / 2 =2 . 41 ,
λ λc

Number of modes when V>>2.41

V2
M≈ ,
2
Normalized propagation constant
2 2
n eff − n2 2
b= 2 2
, b ≈(1 . 1428− 0 . 996 / V ) , for V between 1.5 – 2.5.
n1 −n 2

Mode field diameter (MFD)

1
2w≈2a ( 1+ ),
V
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HW
● Calculate the mode field diameter of a single mode fiber that has
the core index of 1.458 and the cladding index of 1.452 at the
wavelength of 1.3m.

2w 0 =2a(1+1/V )≈10.1μm ,

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Think &Reflect

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Dispersion in Optical Fibers

• Pulse broadening: A pulse of light sent into a fiber broaden in time as it

propagates through Fiber. This phenomenon is called as Dispersion.

• Higher is the dispersion, lower is the bit rate ?

• There are 3 dispersion types in the optical fibers, in general:

1. Intermodal Dispersion

2. Intramodel Dispersion/ Chromatic Dispersion

-Material Dispersion & Waveguide Dispersion

3. Polarization-Mode Dispersion
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Intermodal Dispersion
• Also called as Multi-
mode dispersion or
Modal dispersion.
• It occurs in Multi-
mode fibers.

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 m=0

m=1

m=2

m=3

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Multimode step index fiber: Ray paths
- Assume step
index fiber
- An impulse like
fiber input pulse
- Energy is equally
distributed
between rays
with paths lying
between axial ray
and extreme Time taken by axial ray : To = L/ c/n1
meridional rays. Time taken by extreme meridional ray:
Tm = (L/cos) / (c/n1)
RBJ@VESIT We know that : sin φc = n2/ n1 = cos θ
Pulse Broadening in step index multimode fiber

● Time taken by axial ray : To = L/ c/n1 = Ln1/ c

● Time taken by extreme meridional ray: Tm = (L/cos) / (c/n1)
● We know that : sin φc = n2/ n1 = cos θ ,
● Tm = (Ln1/n2) / (c/n1) = Ln12/ c n2
● The delay difference T between the extreme meridional ray and the
axial ray may be obtained by subtracting T0 from Tm
● Hence T = Tm - T0 = Ln12/ c n2 - Ln1/ c
● = ( Ln12/ c n2 ) (n1- n2/ n1)
● when  << 1, NA = (n1- n2/ n2), T = ( Ln1/ c ) (n1- n2/ n1)
● Delay Difference T = ( Ln1/ c
RBJ@VESIT )  = (L/2cn1) (NA)2
Bandwidth of Fiber
• Essentially BW for step index optical fiber is 1/ ΔT
• BW is inversely proportional to length & NA of the fiber.

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HW: Think & Reflect
- Determine the pulse spread and BW for the following fibers,
- For plastic fiber: NA = 0.4, n 1 = 1.5, L=1km,

- For fiber with n1 =1.5, n2=1

- For NA = 0.275, n1= 1.487

What will happen, If we transmit a signal of data rate B = 10 Mb/sec in these fibers ?
- Each pulse will spread up to 100 ns ~ pulse duration !!! every km
- The broaden pulses overlap (ISI) , Hence limits the bit rate of fiber optic link.
Modal dispersion limits the bit rate of step index fiber to 10 Mbps
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Time to Revise : Quiz time
1) The maximum information carrying capacity between transmitter
and receiver is determined by which parameter ?
2) Types of dispersion?
3) Modal dispersion takes place in which fiber ?
4) List the factors on which modal dispersion depends.
5) Pulse broadening takes place when different modes travel different
path length in multimode fiber. (true/ false)
6) Modal dispersion is also known as ---------?
7) Two fibers whose NAs are 0.45 and 0.78 , which fiber will have more
dispersion , more BW and more delay spread ?
8) Fiber is operating at wavelength 1550 nm and later on 800 nm,
Modal dispersion will be more at which wavelength ?
9)Define modal dispersion.
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Think & Reflect !
So how to increase the BW /
bit rate/ information
carrying capacity ?
• Reduce ΔT
• Reduce the no. of modes.

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Use of Graded Index Fiber
● Ray (a) follows a longer path, but much of the path remains in low
refractive index part of the fiber.
● Ray (b) follows shorter path, but much of the path remains in
higher refractive index part of the fiber.

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Multimode Graded Index Fiber
Time
Delay
Between
all
rays
is
equalized
!!

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Model dispersion in GI fiber
● Very involved analysis
● In SI fiber the modal dispersion is calculated by the
maximum time difference between two extreme
modes.
● Delay Difference T (SI Fiber) = ( L  n1 2 / c n2)
● Delay Difference T (GI Fiber) = ( L 2 n1/ 8c )
●  <<1, therefore modal dispersion is very small
in GI fiber.
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Multimode Graded Index Fiber
● Recall..The profile parameter (α)
● For a graded Index fiber, the profile parameter dictates the shape of
refractive index profile.

● The optimum value of profile parameter that maximizes the BW is

given by :

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Multimode Graded Index Fiber
● At α=1.96, pulse
dispersion reduces
to 100 times more.
● Thus BW of graded
index fiber is higher
than step index
fiber.

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HW

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HW

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Modal dispersion in Single mode fiber

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Intramodal dispersion/ Chromatic dispersion

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Intramodal dispersion/ Chromatic dispersion

● In practice it is almost
impossible to create
monochromatic light.
● Light energy is
composed of
superposition of a
group of plane waves
with very similar but
different frequencies
and wave packet
results.

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Wave packet

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Intramo
dal
dispersi
on/
Chroma
tic
dispersi
on
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Spectral width
● Spectral width is defined as either rms or FWHM value.

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Time to revise , who am I ?
● I travel with ------ velocity in wave packet.
● I am having more spectral width of the order of 100nm.
● Different spectral components of a pulse travel at different velocities, this
dispersion is known as…..
● Name the different chromatic dispersion.
● I am the fiber in which modal dispersion is zero, but chromatic dispersion
is present.
● I am present in the optical fiber due to finite spectral width of optical
source.
● I am the fiber whose Bw and delay spread is between single mode and
step index multimode fiber.
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Material Dispersion
In a dispersive medium velocity of individual components are
dependent on wavelengths.
Shape of the wave packet changes.

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If four things are followed - having a
Great aim,
Acquiring knowledge,
Hard work, and
Perseverance –
then anything can be achieved….
-A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

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Time to revise : Who I am ?
● Zero dispersion wavelength ?
● Wavelength at which material dispersion parameter is zero.
● I am the dispersion parameter which is both positive and negative.
● I am the dispersion parameter, which is always positive.
● I am the dispersion which can be controlled.
● The factors on which material dispersion depends….
● The factors on which waveguide dispersion depends….
● Waveguide dispersion is caused by….
● Material dispersion is caused by …..

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Quiz : Identify the fiber and type of dispersion

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Representative Fiber Characteristics

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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. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)

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Polarization Mode Dispersion
• The effects of fiber-birefringence on the polarization states of an
optical signal 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 v gx
and vgy then the differential time delay τpol between
these two polarization over a distance LLis, L
Δτ pol=∣ − ∣
v gx v gy
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Polarization Mode Dispersion
● The rms value of the differential group delay can be approximated
as:
〈 Δτ pol 〉≈ D PMD √L

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Optical Fiber measurements
(a) Transmission characteristics; Attenuation & Dispersion
(b) Geometrical and optical characteristics;
(c) Mechanical characteristics

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Fiber attenuation measurements

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Cut back or Differential Method
● A commonly used technique for determining the total fiber
attenuation per unit length is the cut-back or differential method.
● It consists of a ‘white’ light source, usually a tungsten halogen or
xenon are lamp.
● The focused light is mechanically chopped at a low frequency of a
few hundred hertz.
● The chopped light is then fed through a monochromator which
utilizes a prism or diffraction grating arrangement to select the
required wavelength at which the attenuation is to be measured.

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Cut back or Differential Method contd

● By contrast, a mode scrambler may be necessary for lens-less excitation

with laser sources, as this technique produces more lower order modes
than are contained in the equilibrium mode distribution in most
multimode fibers.
● Hence both strategies are employed to achieve equilibrium mode power
distributions in multimode fibers.
● Finally, the electrical output from the photodetector is fed to a lock-in
amplifier, the output of which is recorded.
● The cut-back method involves taking a set of optical output power
measurements over the required spectrum using a long length of fiber
(usually at least a kilometer).
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Cut back or Differential Method contd

● Hence the light is filtered before being focused onto the fiber by means of
a microscope objective lens.
● A beam splitter may be incorporated before the fiber to provide light for
viewing optics and a reference signal used to compensate for output
power fluctuations.
● The fiber is also usually put through a cladding mode stripper, which may
consist of an S-shaped groove cut in the Teflon and filled with glycerine.
● This device removes light launched into the fiber cladding through
radiation into the index-matched (or slightly higher refractive index)
glycerine

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Cut back or Differential Method contd

● The optical power at the receiving end of the fiber is detected using
a PIN or avalanche photodiode.
● A mode scrambler increases the power in the higher order modes
relative to the lower order ones, whereas a mode filter typically
reduces the power in the higher order modes without seriously
affecting the power in the lower order modes.
● Mode filters are usually required with LED sources because more
higher order mode excitation than the equilibrium mode distribution
is obtained in most multimode fibers.

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Cut back or Differential Method contd

● The fiber is then cut back to a point 2 m from the input end and,
maintaining the same launch conditions, another set of power
output measurements is taken.
● L1 and L2 are the original and cut-back fiber lengths respectively, and
P01 and P02 are the corresponding output optical powers at a specific
wavelength from the original and cut-back fiber lengths. Hence
when L1 and L2 are measured in kilometers, α dB has units of dB
km−1

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Disadvantages
● Although widely used, the cut-back measurement method
has the major drawback of being a destructive technique.
● Therefore, although suitable for laboratory measurement.
● it is far from ideal for attenuation measurements in the field.

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Dispersion Measurement (In time domain)

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Dispersion Measurement (In time domain)

● Short optical pulses (100 to 400 ps) are launched into the fiber from
a suitable source (e.g. A1GaAs injection laser) using fast driving
electronics.
● The pulses travel down the length of fiber under test (around 1 km)
and are broadened due to the various dispersion mechanisms.
● The pulses are received by a high-speed photodetector (i.e.
avalanche photodiode) and are displayed on a fast sampling
oscilloscope.
● A beam splitter is utilized for triggering the oscilloscope and for
input pulse measurement
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Dispersion Measurement (In time domain)

● After the initial measurement of output pulse width, the long fiber
length may be cut back to a short length and the measurement
repeated in order to obtain the effective input pulse width.
● The fiber is generally cut back to the lesser of 10 m or 1% of its
original length.
● As an alternative to this cut-back technique, the insertion or
substitution method similar to that used in fiber loss measurement

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Dispersion Measurement (In time domain)

where τi(3 dB) and τo(3 dB) are the 3 dB pulse widths at the fiber input
and output, respectively, and τ (3 dB) is the width of the fiber
impulse response again measured at half the maximum amplitude.
Hence the pulse dispersion in the fiber (commonly referred to as the
pulse broadening when considering the 3 dB pulse width) in ns
km−1 is given by

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Dispersion Measurement (In time domain)

● where τ(3 dB), τ i(3 dB) and τo(3 dB) are measured in ns and L is
the fiber length in km.
● It must be noted that if a long length of fiber is cut back to a short
length in order to take the input pulse width measurement, then L
corresponds to the difference between the two fiber lengths in km.
● The 3 dB optical bandwidth for the fiber Bopt may be calculated
using

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Dispersion measurement in Frequency domain

● Frequency domain measurement is the preferred method for acquiring the

bandwidth of multimode optical fibers. This is because the baseband frequency
response H(ω) of the fiber may be obtained directly from these measurements
using Eq.

● where ω is the baseband angular frequency. ,without the need for any
assumptions of Gaussian shape, or alternatively, the mathematically complex
deconvolution of Eq. (14.8) which is necessary with measurements in the time
domain.
● Thus the optical bandwidth of a multimode fiber is best obtained from frequency
domain measurements.
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Dispersion measurement in Frequency domain

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Dispersion measurement in Frequency domain

● A similar pulsed source that employed for the time domain

measurements is used here.
● However, the sampling oscilloscope is replaced by a spectrum
analyzer which takes the Fourier transform of the pulse in the time
domain and hence displays its constituent frequency components.
● Comparison of the spectrum at the fiber output Po(ω) with the
spectrum at the fiber input Pi (ω) provides the baseband frequency
response for the fiber under test following Eq.

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OTDR
● A measurement technique which is far more sophisticated and
which finds wide application in both the laboratory and the field is
the use of optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR).
● This technique is often called the backscatter measurement
method. It provides measurement of the attenuation on an optical
link down its entire length giving information on the length
dependence of the link loss.
● It relies upon the measurement and analysis of the fraction of light
which is reflected back within the fiber’s numerical aperture due to
Rayleigh scattering.
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RBJ@VESIT
OTDRcontd
● A light pulse is launched into the fiber in the forward direction from
an injection laser using either a directional coupler or a system of
external lenses with a beam splitter.
● The backscattered light is detected using an avalanche Photo diode
receiver which drives an integrator in order to improve the received
signal-to noise ratio by giving an arithmetic average over a number
of measurements taken at one point within the fiber.
● The signal from the integrator is fed through a logarithmic amplifier
and averaged measurements for successive points within the fiber
are plotted on a chart recorder.
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RBJ@VESIT
OTDRcontd
● This provides location-dependent attenuation values which give an overall
picture of the optical loss down the link.
● A possible backscatter plot shows the
1) Initial pulse caused by reflection and backscatter from the input coupler.
2) Followed by a long tail caused by the distributed Rayleigh scattering from the
input pulse as it travels down the link.
3) Also shown in the plot is a pulse corresponding to the discrete reflection from
a fiber joint,
4) As well as a discontinuity due to excessive loss at a fiber imperfection or fault.
5) The end of the fiber link is indicated by a pulse corresponding to the Fresnel
reflection incurred at the output end face of the fiber.

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OTDRcontd
● The OTDR instrument has a dynamic range of 30– 45 dB and the
output optical signal power from the optical sources remain stable
within a range from −5 to −10 dBm.
● Dynamic range : This parameter reveals the maximum optical loss
an OTDR can analyze from the backscattering level at the OTDR port
down to a specific noise level. In other words, it is the maximum
length of fiber that the longest pulse can reach.
● Furthermore, it is capable of providing OTDR optical tests using
short pulses from 5 to 260 ns over distances of 1.25–260 km with
sampling resolution of 0.04–5.0 m from up to 52000 sampling points.
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OTDRcontd
● Such a plot yields the attenuation per unit length for the fiber by
simply computing the slope of the curve over the length required.
● Also the location and insertion losses of joints and/or faults can be
obtained from the power drop at their respective positions on the
link.
● Finally the overall link length can be determined from the time
difference between reflections from the fiber input and output end
faces.
● Dynamic range determines the total optical loss that the optical
time domain reflectometer can analyze and hence the total length
of the fiber link over which it will operate.
RBJ@VESIT
Optical Fiber Fabrication

Optical fiber is used worldwide for transmission of voice, data, and

content because of its ability to transmit at speeds in excess of 10
GB/second over very long distances. Optical fibers consist of:

1. A core, having high refractive index.

2. Cladding.
3. Buffer, protective polymer layer.
4. Jacket, protective polymer
layer.

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Fiber Material Considerations
• Glass or Polymers: low loss at 0.8-1.7 um: All glass fiber, All plastic
fiber, PCS
• Refractive Index
• Low losses (in infrared region )
• Material & Fabrication technique must be capable of producing a
graded refractive index.
• Compatible thermal and mechanical properties, so that dielectric
material can be drawn in to a fiber.

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High Silica Glasses: High Temp Glass
• It has Doped Silica core and pure Silica cladding
• An ultra pure glass rod (Preform) is prepared.
• It is prepared by vapor phase reaction of oxygen with mixture of
compounds such as chlorides of Si, Ge and P.
• The concentration of dopant is varied radially to obtain the desired
variation of refractive index of core.
• The preforms are pulled into fibers at high temperature around
2000°C

RBJ@VESIT
Compound Silicate Glasses: Low Temperature Glass

• It is prepared by very pure powder raw material processed using

glass making techniques.
• Two glasses (Core & cladding ) of different chemical composition are
melted separately at relatively low temperature 850-1100°c and fed
into two concentric crucibles, with a hole at the bottom, through
which a fiber is pulled. (Double Crucible Method )

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Methods to manufacture optical glass fiber:

1. Draw the fiber from molten glasses, which are placed in two
concentric
crucibles (Double Crucible method)
2. Draw from a glass rod called preform.
Nowadays most optical fibers are made from the preform.
There are three steps in this method:
• Fabrication of the preform
• Drawing the fiber from the preform
• Coating and jacketing process

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Preform Fabrication: Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD

1. Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD)

2. Plasma Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition
(PMCVD)
3. Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition (PCVD)
4. Outside Vapor Deposition (OVD)
5. Vapor-phase Axial Deposition (AVD)

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Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD)

RBJ@VESIT
MCVD Process
1. This method was developed by Bell Laboratories.
2. The gaseous mixture of reactants is fed at the end of a rotating silica tube.
3. This tube is heated by a traversing oxygen-hydrogen burner.
4. As a result of chemical reactions glass particles, called soot, are formed.
5. These particles are deposited on internal wall of the tube.
6. The soot is then vitrified by the traversing burner to provide a thin glass layer.
7. The process is repeated many times as the cladding layers and core layers
are formed.
8. When the deposition is finished, the temperature of the burner is increased
to collapse the tube into a solid preform.
9. The entire process is highly automated and all process parameters are
precisely controlled.

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