PHYSICS

PROJECT

ON

Optical Fiber
and its
Applications

Submitted by:

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 CERTIFICATE
the academic year2012-13 towards partialfulfillment of credit for the Phys

(Teacher’s Signature)

Acknowledgement

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The project could have never been
possible without the support of various
sources. It is extremely impossible
to thank every individual who has helped
me in completing this project. Some
people have helped in the basic
formularization and there were sources
that helped me in giving the ideas
a physical form/shape .I am extremely
grateful to my mentor$ Mr Jaswant
Redhu $ for his invaluable guidance in the
project right from the beginning. His vital
support helped the project to take a
logical and suitable shape. I take this
opportunity to thank the School
authorities$ for extending their full
support and cooperation in the project.

Last but not the least* I would like to

thank everyone who has offered a
helping hand when required.

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 NISHITH

12TH A

Important
Terms
O Optical Fiber: An optical fiber (or fibre) is a glass or plastic
fiber that ca ries light along its length. 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 communications.

O Refraction: Refraction is the change in direction of a wave due to a

change in its speed. This is most commonly observed when a wave
passes from one medium to another.

O Reflection: Reflection is the change in direction of a wave front at

an interface between two di ferent media so that the wave front
returns into the medium from which it originated. Common
examples include the reflection of light, sound and water waves.

O Scattering: Sca tering is a general physical process where some

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 forms of radiation, such as light, sound, or moving particles, are
forced to

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 deviate from a straight trajectory by one or more localized non-
uniformities in the medium through which they pass.

O Attenuation: is the gradual loss in intensity of any kind of

flux through a medium. For instance, sunlight is attenuated by
dark glasses, and X-rays are attenuated by lead.

✓ Total Internal Reflection: Total internal reflection is

an optical phenomenon that happens when a ray of
light strikes a medium boundary at an angle larger than a
particular critical angle with respect to the normal to the
surface. If the refractive index is lower on the other side
of the boundary and the incident angle is greater
than the critical angle, no light can pass through
and all of the light is reflected.
Optical Fiber Cable (OFC)

Optical /ibers are used in communication instead of metal wires

because signals travel along them with less loss$ and they are
also immune to electromagnetic interference. /ibers are also used for
ilumination$ and are wrapped in bundles so theycan beused to ca
ry images$ thus
a lowing viewing in tight spaces. Specia ly designed fibers are used
for a variety of other applications$ including sensors and fiber
lasers. Light is kept in the core of the optical fiber by total internal
reflection. This causes the fiber to act as a waveguide. /ibers which
support many propagation paths or transverse modes are caled
multi2mode fibers (MM/)$ while those which can onlysupport a
single modeare caled single2mode fibers (SM/).
Multi2mode fibers genera ly have a larger core diameter$ and
are used for short2distance communication links and for applications
where high power must be transmi ted. Single2mode fiber are used
for most communication links longer than 334 meters (5$644
ft).Joining lengths of optical fiber is more complex than joining

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 electrical wire or cable. The ends of
the fibers must be carefu ly cleaved$ and then spliced together either
mechanically or by fusing them together with an electric arc.

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 Applications
Optical fiber communication

Optical fiber can be used as a medium for telecommunication and

networking becauseit is flexible and can be bundled as cables. It is
especia ly advantageous for long2distance communications$ because
light propagates through the fiber with little attenuation compared to
electrical cables. This alows long distances to be spanned with few
repeaters. Additionally$ the per2channel light signals propagating in
the fiber can be modulated at rates as high as 555 gigabits per
second$ although 54 or 748b/s is typical in deployed systems. Each
fiber can carry many independent channels$ each using a different
wavelength of light (wavelength2division multiplexing (WDM)).

/or short distance applications$ such as creating a network within an

o<ce building$ fiber2optic cabling can be used to save space in cable
ducts. This is because a single fiber can often carry much more data
than many electrical cables. /iber is also immune to electrical
interference* there is no cross2talk between signals

Although fibers can be made out of transparent plastic$ glass$ or a

combination of the two$ the fibers used in long2distance telecommunication
applications are always glass$ becauseof the lower optical attenuation.
=oth multi2mode and single2mode fibers are used in communications$
with multi2mode fiber used mostly for short distances$ up to 334m (>44
yards)$ and single2mode fiber used for longer distance links. =ecause of
the tighter tolerances required to couple light into and between

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single2mode fibers (core diameter about

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 54 micrometers)$single2mode transmi ters$ receivers$ amplifiers and other components are gene

/iber optic sensors

Fibers have many uses in remote sensing. In some applications, the
sensor is itself an optical fiber. In other cases, fiber is used to connect
anon-fiber optic sensor to a measurement system. *epending on the
application, fiber may be used because of its sma l size, or the fact that
no electrical power is needed at the remote location, or because many
sensors can be multiplexed along the length of a fiber by using di
ferent wavelengths of light for each sensor, or by sensing the time
delay as light passes along the fiber through each sensor.

Optical fibers can be used as sensors to measure strain, temperature

,pressure and other quantities by modifying a fiber so that the quantity
to be measured modulates the intensity, phase, polarization,
wavelength or transit time of light in the fiber. Sensors that vary the
intensity of light are the simplest, since only a simple source and
detector are required. A particularly useful feature of such fiber optic
sensors is that they can,
if required, provide distributed sensing over distances of up to one
meter.

Extrinsic fiber optic sensors use an optical fiber cable, normally a

multi- mode one, to transmit modulated light from either a non-fiber
optical sensor, or an electronic sensor connected to an optical transmi ter.
A major benefit of extrinsic sensors is their ability to reach places
which are otherwise inaccessible. An example is the measurement of
temperature inside aircraft jet engines by using a fiber to transmit
radiation into a radiation pyrometer located outside the engine.
Extrinsic sensors can also be used in the same way to measure the
internal temperature of electrical transformers, where the extreme
electromagnetic fields present make other measurement techniques

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impossible. Extrinsic sensors are used to measure

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vibration, rotation, displacement, velocity, acceleration, torque ,and
twisting.

Other uses of optical fibers

/ibers are widely used in illumination applications.
They are used as light guides in medical and other
applications where bright light needs to be shone on
a target without a clear line2of2sight path. In some
buildings$ optical fibers are used to route sunlight
from the roof to other parts of the building (see
non2imaging optics). Optical fiber illumination is also
used for decorative applications$ including signs$ art$
and artificial Christmas trees. Swarovski boutiques
use optical fibers to i luminate their crystal
showcases from many different angles while only
employing one light source .Optical fiber is also used
in imaging optics. A co herent bundle of fibers is
used$ sometimes along with lenses$ for a long$ thin
imaging device called an endoscope$ which is used to
view objects through a sma l hole. Medical
endoscopes are used for minima ly invasive exploratory
or surgical procedures (endoscopy).
Industrial endoscopes (see fiberscope or bore scope) are
used for inspecting anything hard to reach$ such as jet
engine interiors. In spectroscopy$ optical fiber
bundles are used to transmit light from a
spectrometer to a substance which cannot be placed
inside the spectrometer itself$ in order to analyze its
composition. A spectrometer analyzes substances by

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bouncing light off of and through them. =y using
fibers$ a spectrometer

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can be used to study objects that are too large to fit
inside$ or gasses$ or reactions which occur in pressure
vessels .Optical fiber can be used to supply a low
level of power (around one watt) to electronics
situated in a di<cult electrical environment
.Examples of this are electronics in high2powered
antenna elements and measurement devices used in
high voltage transmission equipment.

@rinciple of Operation
An optical fiber is a cylindrical
dielectric waveguide (non
conducting waveguide) that
transmits light along its axis$ by the
process of total internal reflection.
The fiber core is su rounded by a
cladding layer
➢ Index of Refraction ( Refrective Index)

The index of refraction is a way of

measuring the speed of light in a
material. Light travels fastest in a
vacuum$ such as outer space. The
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actual speed of light in a vacuum
is about 344 mi lion meters
(56>thousand miles) per
second.
Index of refraction is calculated by
dividing the speed of light in a vacuum
by the speed of light in some other
medium. The index of refraction of a
vacuum is therefore 5$ by
definition .The typical value for the
cladding of an optical fiber is 5.7>.
The core value is typica ly 5.76. The
larger the index of refraction$ the
slower light travels in that medium.
/rom this information$ a good rule
of thumb is that signal using optical
fiber for communication wi l travel
at around B44million meters per
second. Or to put it another way$
to travel 5444kilometres in fiber$
the signal wi l take 3 milliseconds

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to

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propagate. Thus a phone call ca ried by fiber betw

Total Internal Reflection

When light travelling in a dense medium hits a boundary at a steep

without leaking out. This range of angles is called

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 the acceptance cone of the fiber. The size of this acceptance cone
and cladding .In simpler terms$ there is a maximum angle from the
precision to splice and work with than fiber with a sma ler NA. Sin

Types of optical Fibers

Single Mode Fiber

Fiber supporting only one mode is caled single-mode or mono-mode fiber. The
behaviour of larger-core multi-mode fiber can also be modeled using the

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wave equation, which shows that such fiber supports more than one
mode of propagation (hence the name). The results of such modeling of
multi- mode fiber approximately agree with the predictions of geometric
optics, if the fiber core is large enough to support more than a few
modes.

Multi Mode Fiber

In a multi-mode fiber, rays of light are guided along the fiber core by
total internal reflection. Rays that meet the core-cladding boundary
at a high angle (measured relative to a line normal to the boundary),
greater than the critical angle for this boundary, are completely
reflected. The critical angle (minimum angle for total internal
reflection) is determined by the di ference in index of refraction
between the core and cladding materials. Rays that meet the boundary
at a low angle are refracted from the core into the cladding, and do not
convey light and hence information along the fiber. The critical angle
determines the acceptance angle of the fiber
,often reported as a numerical aperture. A high numerical aperture
a lows light to propagate down the fiber in rays both close to the
axis
and at various angles, a lowing e ficient coupling of light into the fiber.
However, this high numerical aperture increases the amount of
dispersion as rays at di ferent angles have di ferent path lengths and
therefore take di ferent times to traverse the fiber

Bibliography
BooLs:

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  Physics (Part1&2) - Textbook for Cla s X I ; /ationalCouncil of
Educational Research and Training
 Encyclo#edias
Websites:

Image Courtesy:

Source and other Information:

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