Optical Fiber
Mukund Ramani
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What is Optical Fiber?
An Optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made of high quality glass
(silica) or plastic, slightly thicker than a human hair.
It either functions as a waveguide or light pipe that transmits light between two ends of
the fiber or fiber cable.
Optical fibers are widely used in fiber-optic communications, which permits transmission
over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than other forms of
communication
Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss
and are also safe to electromagnetic interference.
The field of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application
of optical fibers is known as fiber optics.
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History of Fiber Optics
Fiber optics is not really a new technology, its fairly old.
Guiding of light by refraction, the principle that makes fiber optics
possible, was first demonstrated by Daniel
Colladon and Jacques Babinet in Paris in the early 1840s
.
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Uses of Optical Fiber
Fiber optic can accommodate variety of needs.
It can be used in Communication, fiber optic sensors, illumination, medical.
And also in other places where bright light needs to be shone on a target without a clear
line-of-sight path.
Used in building to route sunlight from the roof to other parts of the building.
And many more usages.
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In Communication
Optical fiber can be used as a medium for telecommunication
and computer networking because it is flexible and can be bundled as cables.
It is especially advantageous for long-distance communications, because light
propagates through the fiber with little attenuation compared to electrical cables.
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Benefits of Optical Fiber
For short distance application, such as a network in an office building, fiber- optic cabling
can save space in cable ducts. This is because a single fiber can carry much more data
than electrical cables such as
standard category 5 Ethernet cabling, which typically runs at 100 Mbit/s or 1 Gbit/s
speeds.
Fiber is also immune to electrical interference; there is no cross-talk
between signals in different cables, and no pickup of environmental noise.
Non-armored fiber cables do not conduct electricity, which makes fiber a good solution
for protecting communications equipment in high
voltage environments, such as power generation facilities, or metal
communication structures prone to lightning strikes.
They can also be used in environments where explosive fumes are present, without
danger of ignition.
Structure of optical fiber
Core- central tube of very thin size made up of
optically transparent dielectric medium and carries
the light form transmitter to receiver. The core
diameter can vary from about 5um-100 um.
Cladding- outer optical material surrounding the
core having reflecting index lower than core. It helps
to keep the light within the core throughout the
phenomena of total internal reflection.
Buffer Coating- plastic coating that protects the
fiber made of silicon rubber. The typical diameter of
fiber after coating is 250-300um.
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Structure of single-mode fiber
1. Core: 8 µm diameter
2. Cladding: 125 µm dia.
3. Buffer: 250 µm dia.
4. Jacket: 400 µm dia.
10 Structure of Optical Fiber
Optical fiber is comprised of a light carrying core surrounded by a cladding which traps
the light in the core by the principle of total internal reflection.
Most optical fibers are made of glass, although some are made of plastic.
The core and cladding are usually fused silica glass which is covered by a plastic
coating called the buffer or primary buffer coating which protects the glass fiber from
physical damage and moisture.
There are some all plastic fibers used for specific applications.
Glass optical fibers are the most common type used in communication applications.
Working principle
Total Internal Reflection(TIR)
When an ray of light travels from a denser to a rarer medium such that
the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, the ray reflects
back into the same medium this phenomena is called TIR.
In the optical fiber the rays undergo repeated total number of
reflections until it emerges out of the other end of the fiber, even if
fiber is bend.
11 Modes of propagation
Single mode – there is only one path for light to take down the
cable
Cladding
Multimode – if there is more than one path
Cladding
13 Loss in Optical Fiber
Losses vary greatly depending upon the type of
fiber
Plastic fiber may have losses of several
hundred dB per kilometer
Graded-index multimode glass fiber has a loss of
about 2–4 dB
per kilometer
Single-mode fiber has a loss of 0.4 dB/km or
less
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What is it made of?
Silica
Plastic
Fluoride
Phosphates
15 Optical fiber cables
In practical fibers, the cladding is usually coated with a
tough resin buffer layer, which may be further surrounded by a jacket layer, usually glass.
These layers add strength to the fiber but do not contribute to its optical wave guide
properties
Modern cables come in a wide variety of sheathings and armor, designed for applications
such as direct burial in trenches, high voltage isolation submarine installation, and
insertion in paved streets.
Fiber cable can be very flexible, but traditional fiber's loss increases greatly if the fiber is
bent.
16 Types of Optical fiber cable
Loose Tube Cable
Outer Jacket
Steel Tape Armor
Interstitial Filling
Inner Jacket
Central Member
Aramid Strength Member (Steel Wire or Dielectric)
Interstitial Filling
Binder Coated Fiber
Loose Tube Cable
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Tight buffered Cable
PVC Jacket (Non- Plenum)
or Fluoride Co- Polymer
Aramid Strength Jacket (Plenum)
Member
Glass Fiber
Fiber Coating
Thermoplastic
Overcoating or
Buffer
Tight-buffered Cable
18 Types of Optical fiber cable
Fiber Connectors
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Optical Fiber Communication System
Information source- it provide an electrical signal to
a transmitter comprising an electrical stage.
Electrical transmitter- It drives an optical source to
give an
modulation of the light wave carrier.
Optical source- It provides the electrical-optical
conversion. It may be a semiconductor laser or an
Continue..
Optical cable- It serve as transmission medium.
Optical detector- It is responsible for optical to electrical conversion of data. It may
be a photodiodes, phototransistors or photoconductors.
Electrical receiver: It is used for electrical interfacing at the receiver end of the
optical link and to perform the signal processing electrically.
Destination: It is the final point at which we receive the information in the
form of electrical signal.
21 Did you know?
A small optical fiber can carry more data than a large copper cable.
It is a unidirectional technology.
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System
Transceiver Fiber Optic Cable
Transceiver
Electrical
Connector Electrical
Optical Optical Optical Connector
Optical
Port Connector Connector Port
A failure anywhere along this link will cause the entire link to fail
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Optical Fiber in Sea
Advantage of Optical Fiber
Immense bandwidth to utilize
Total electrical isolation in the transmission medium
Very low transmission loss
Small size and light weight
High signal security
Very low power consumption and wide scope of system
expansion etc.
Disadvantage
1) System installation is very costly.
2) Only point-to-point communication is possible.
3) Precise and costly instruments would be
required.
4) Splicing is time consuming.
5) It accept only unipolar codes.
Applications
Optical fiber have wider range of
application in almost all field, some
are specified below:-
In telecommunication field
Civil, consumer and industria l
application
In military applications s
Broadband applications n
s
In decorations, etc.
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