Optical Fibers and Photonic Devices
C.A. Ross, DMSE, MIT
Braithwaite and Weaver chapter 6.4 (fibers)
Savage, Linking with Light, IEEE Spectrum p32, Aug. 2002
Saleh and Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics. Wiley 1991.Sec 8.3 (fibers). 18.1
Joannopolis et al, Photonic crystals, Princeton 1995
Optical Fibers
Fibers are made of silica, doped with boron oxide to lower refractive index; germanium
oxide raises refractive index. Two major factors limit optical fiber performance.
(1) Loss
Attenuation (dB) ={10/L}log(Pin/Pout)
L=fiber length
The minimum for silica is 0.15 dB/km, or 3.5% power loss per km.
Loss in silica is due to Absorption:
- electron transitions across band gap (8.9eV, 140 nm light)
- excitation of electrons within Si and O atoms (IR)
- absorption by impurities such as transition metals, <1 ppb(UV, visible light)
- excitation of bonds such as O-H (e.g. 1400 nm) or Si-O (3000 nm light)
And Rayleigh scattering, proportional to 1/λ4
(2) Dispersion
Snells law: n sinφ=n’sinφ’
Total internal reflection when angle of incidence exceeds φc: sinφc=n/n’
Fibers rely on total internal reflection, with a very small Δn,e.g.
core n=1.53, cladding n= 1.50 gives Φc=78.6°
Step index fibers can have modal dispersion:different modes of light traveling
at different angles traverse different path lengths so get out of phase.Leads
to spreading of pulses.A graded index fiber can cure this problem, or use a
single-mode fiber.(core < 3 microns diameter)
Materials dispersion:different wavelengths have different refractive index:
Dispersion coefft =-{λ0/c}(Э2/Эλ2)λ+λ0 ps/km.nm
For silica this is zero at 1300 nm wavelength.
Waveguide dispersion:even if materials dispersion is negligible, there is still
a dis persion of different wavelength signals because each mode spends a
different amount of time in the core and cladding. Compensating materials and
waveguide dispersion at 1500 nm wavelength gives the optimum performance.
Handout 8
Non-linear dispersion occurs at high light intensities where the refractive
index becomes intensiti-dependent. Finally, for birefringent materials
therecanbe polarization-dependent dispersion.
Refers to an entire optical system in which the flow of photons is
controlled(similar to “electronics”),Light is:
generated (lasers or laser diodes)
iransmitted (waveguides, or free-space optics)
modulitted (switched or scanned using electrical, optical or acoustic devices)
amplified or frequency-converted (non linear materials)
detected (PIN diodes)
Example:Communication system
Local:inexpensive multimode fibers,directly modulared LEDs,typically 850 nm
Long distance: loss and dispersion are important.Single mode fiber,distributed
feedback laser,external modulation,amplifiers every 100 km, dispersion
compensation.40 wavelengths simultaneously around 1550 nm.10 Gbit/sec x 40
channels, spaced 0.8 nm apart(100 GHz).
Laser -> Attenuator -> Modulator -> Multiplexer -> fiber with amplifiers ->
Add/drop multiplexer -> Demultiplexer -> Attenuator -> PIN diode
At present these are discrete components,but work is ongoing to integrate them
onto a chip.e,g, the OADM project at MIT’s Microphotonics Center.
Increase data rate by combining lower data rate signals:
DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing)- each data stream on a different
wavelength – 1 Tbit/sec
wavelength.Limited to 10 Gbit/s
Electrooptical modulator:use aMach Zehnder interferometer.Voltage changes
refractive index via Pockels effect(n∝E) or kerr effect(n∝E2)
Fiber amplifier C-band (1530-1560 nm) is amplified by a laser made by adding
Er to the silica fiber. Pump using 980 nm laser diode.
Similarly,the 1300 nm wavelength can be amplified using a Pr-doped fiber.
Fiber Bragg gratings: a fiber with a periodically varying refractive index.Acts
as a narrow-band filer,e.g. to pull out (drop) one channel from a fiber.
Couplers:different wavelength channels can be added to the fiber by bringing
another fiber (or waveguide)close,allowing light to couple between the fibers.
Thin film filter,e.g. a tantalum oxide/silica multilayer.By designing the
multilayer.it can have a photonic band gap containing a sharp transmission peak
(i.e. it is reflective except for one frequency which it transmits). These can
be in a demultiplexer.
Handout 8

wavelengths fiber