Dispersion in optical fibres
Broadening of the transmitted light pulses take place as the light rays move along the optical fibre.
This broadening of light pulses is known as dispersion. Let's understand the dispersion with help of
diagram given below-
You can see in this diagram that the light pulses that are sharp before transmission, gets
broadened after travelling through the optical fibre. This Increase in width of the pulses makes it
very difficult to distinguish them at the receiving end. Because of this light pulse broadening, these
pulses overlap with its neighboring light pulses and it becomes hard to identify them as separate
pulses at the receiving side. Now observe the same diagram carefully. Due to this dispersion effect
(broadening of light pulses) the digital bit pattern 1011 at the input side is not indistinguishable at
the output side as the same bit pattern. Because of this effect, '0' level is missing at the output
side.
Types of Dispersion in optical fibers
Dispersion in optical fibers can be categorized into two parts -
Intramodal Dispersion (Chromatic dispersion) and
Intermodal Dispersion (Modal or Mode dispersion)
Intramodal Dispersion (Chromatic Dispersion)
Intramodal dispersion may occur in all types of optical fibers. As we know that optical sources
emit a band of frequencies so do not emit just a single frequency. Therefore different spectral
components present in the optical source take different propagation delay while travelling
through the optical fiber. This phenomena results in the broadening of each transmitted mode and
is responsible for the intramodal dispersion. Intramodal dispersion is also popular by another
name 'chromatic dispersion'. It is found more in LED sources in comparison to LASER sources.
This delay difference may be caused by the dispersive properties of the material of the waveguide
(material dispersion) and also guidance effects within the fibre structure (waveguide dispersion).
Material Dispersion
Pulse broadening because of material dispersion is caused due to different group velocities of
various spectral components that are launched into the fibre from the optical source.
It occurs when the phase velocity of a plane wave that is propagating in the dielectric medium
varies non-linearly with wavelength.
Waveguide Dispersion
Intramodal dispersion may also be caused due to wave guiding of the optical fibre. As the group
velocity varies with change in wavelength for a particular mode, the waveguide dispersion takes
place. When the angle between the ray and the fibre axis varies with wavelength then it results in
different transmission times for the rays which is responsible for dispersion.
Intermodal Dispersion (Modal or Mode Dispersion)
Intermodal dispersion is found in multimode optical fibres. Multimode fiber are the fibres that
allow various modes to propagate through it. Therefore it is not observed in single mode fibers as
only a single mode is allowed to propagate through the single mode fibre. But single mode fibres
suffer from the intramodal dispersion (chromatic dispersion). The intermodal dispersion results
due to propagation delay difference between various modes propagating through the optical fibre.
Intermodal Dispersion in Step Index Fibers is shown above. Intermodal dispersion is found more in
case of multimode step index fibres in comparison to graded index fibres. As in case of multimode
step index fibres, the refractive index of the core is uniform. Because of this same refractive index
throughout the core of the multimode step index fibre, different modes propagating through the
core travel with same speed. Because of this same speed, different light rays launched into the
optical fibre at different angles at the transmitting end takes different times to reach to the other
end of the optical fibre as their propagation path (path length) changes with change in angle while
launching.
